East Hampton launches 'town's most significant housing effort to date' to address affordability

East Hampton Town officials are ramping up efforts to create more affordable housing units in 2022, a year when residents will likely be asked to vote on a new .5% real estate transfer tax to fund housing.

East Hampton Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc earlier this month announced the town’s "All Hands on Housing" initiative, which assigns each town board member an area of focus and called it the "town’s most significant housing effort to date."

"The dramatic rise in housing costs and declining inventory of year-round rental properties is threatening to unravel the fabric of our community," the supervisor said during his annual State of the Town address Jan. 4. "I see the housing problem as one of the most serious and immediate threats to the well-being and sustainability of our community."

He noted that East Hampton has 600 affordable units but also the highest poverty rate in Suffolk County, which according to 2015-19 U.S. Census data is 10.9%.

Van Scoyoc in a news release said each of the four town council members will take the lead on projects including a planned single-family home development on land the town purchased at 395 Pantigo Rd., a rental project on 8.5 acres the town purchased in Wainscott and an approximately 50-unit rental project being developed by the East Hampton Housing Authority on Three Mile Harbor Road. The town will also look for new parcels for development, and Van Scoyoc will oversee preparations for holding a vote approving the new .5% real estate sales tax to fund such projects.

The Peconic Bay Region Community Housing Act, signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul in October, is modeled on the Community Preservation Fund that levies a 2% tax on real estate transfers for preservation and water-quality initiatives. Assemb. Fred Thiele Jr. (I-Sag Harbor), the bill’s sponsor, has stressed that it includes exemptions for those at the lower end of the market.

If enacted, it could raise tens of millions of dollars across the East End annually for housing amid the pandemic-driven real estate boom. East Hampton Town took in $61 million in preservation fund revenue in the first 11 months of 2021 compared with $34.69 million in the same time period in 2020.

The towns will first prepare and adopt housing plans before adopting a local law enacting the fund and ultimately holding a public referendum. Objectives can include offering buyer assistance, developing new projects and other measures.

"Basically, the plan is for them to tell the public how they’re going to spend the money," Thiele said. "A lot of the work has been done, but I would expect by the beginning of the summer that they would have their plans ready to go."

Meanwhile, officials in Sag Harbor Village, which straddles Southampton and East Hampton towns, last week also presented a summary of affordable housing goals, including creating more accessory dwelling units and identifying land suitable for projects.

"Everybody in this village one way or the other is impacted by this problem," said Mayor Jim Larocca. "It certainly will be the leading issue in 2022."

By Vera Chinese

vera.chinese@newsday.com@VeraChinese

Vera Chinese joined Newsday in 2017 after working as an editor for the East End lifestyle publication northforker and a general assignment reporter for the New York Daily News.