Building luxury units won't keep kids on Long Island

The 292-unit Arboretum in Farmingville is wonderful “New LI housing opens,” LI Business, June 29]. The $150 million project is on 62 glorious acres, and you can rent one of these units for the starting price of $3,650 a month for a two-bedroom, two-bath apartment. If you need more space, you can price up to $5,400 for a three-bedroom detached house.

Personally, I don’t know anyone who can afford these wonderful units. Sadly, the workers living in their vehicles will not be moving into any of the units [“A desperate reality: Workers living in cars,” News, June 30].

We are driving our young people off Long Island because there’s hardly any affordable housing for them. Many hardworking people can’t stay here.

When greed builds palaces for the well-off and shuts out the working class, we may as well give our kids a ticket out of town when they graduate from high school so they get the opportunity to live comfortably in another place. They won’t be doing that here as long as luxury housing is what’s mostly being built.

— Carol Galati, Ridge

So, Long Island home prices set a record [“LI home prices hit new highs,” News, June 18]. If you are a homeowner, you might be feeling pretty good. But not so fast.

Remember the maxim about a rising tide lifting all boats? Things have a way of canceling themselves out.

The only people celebrating should be those who own more than one house, particularly a vacation or retirement home out of state.

We all have to live somewhere, whether we rent or buy. So a home is now worth significantly more than it cost. Sell it and walk away with a big pile of cash. But where will you live?

If you buy another house, its price has also risen significantly. And, through this process, we are exiling many young people, keeping them from settling on the Island.

— Bruce Stasiuk, Setauket