NYS housing shortage and STAR property tax relief

We need housing, but not luxury housing

The key phrase in the cover story “Homelessness rate, need for emergency shelters up” News, Sept. 24] was in the sub-headline: “As rents surge on LI, lack of affordable housing growing concern for residents.”

While there is a great deal of building on Long Island, it seems to be mostly luxury housing. In Great Neck and Mineola, rents in new buildings are often at least $3,000 a month for a one-bedroom apartment, and proposed “senior housing” in Port Washington North is in the form of luxury three- and four-story townhouses. This is not the housing we need.

What is needed is housing that is affordable to workers and seniors living on a fixed income. We already have too much luxury housing at the cost of destroying natural habitats and overtaxing our precious aquifer. I am not against building housing, but it must be done intelligently.

— Suzanne Mueller, Port Washington

Since we are surrounded by water, we can’t build out, so we are going to build up? Port Jefferson Station wants to build 280 apartments at a 1950s-era strip mall [“New lease on life,” Our Towns, Oct. 1]. It is already difficult to drive into lower Port Jefferson, so our politicians feel adding more people will alleviate this?

We took day trips to Montauk but haven’t done that in two years because the 90-minute drive now takes three hours.

Adding more people to this island will drive more away. We used to live on a beautiful island. Also, these apartments will not be affordable. It’s all smoke and mirrors, something our politicians are adept at.

— Valerie Romeo, Bayport

Don’t blame STAR plan for home shortage

Let’s see if I understand this correctly. Authors of a recent research paper say that one reason that first-time homebuyers are finding it harder to afford a home is because of this state’s School Tax Relief program (STAR) [“Property tax relief study,” News, Oct. 19].

Older homeowners are getting a reduction in their school tax bill, from a few dollars to a few thousand, so they are less willing to give up these benefits and sell their homes. Really?

If selling, where do they move? Out of state, or do they buy another home on Long Island and get the STAR benefit again? Even moving into a smaller home instead of staying put in an oversized empty nest will not change the shortage of affordable housing.

Younger homebuyers are having a hard time because of high home prices. Even if the seniors left their larger homes, those prices aren’t going down.

— Mark Herzog, Rockville Centre