Suffolk County Workforce
Housing Commission

"The need for affordable housing has skyrocketed to the top of my list of priorities," said County Executive Steve Levy. "As noted in the Long Island Index 2004, the lack of affordable housing in our area is resulting in a migration of our young people away from their homes and their families," said Levy, referring to the recently released Long Island 'report card' project sponsored by the Rausch Foundation which identified the lack of affordable housing among the region's most significant problems. "This 'brain drain' is also impacting our local economy as businesses are finding it more and more difficult to recruit and keep a skilled workforce," Levy said.

The Commission has been charged with, among other things, streamlining the workforce housing permitting process, creating an inventory of potential sites for development of workforce housing and assisting the County Executive in implementing certain key recommendations made by his transition team's workforce housing committee. The transition team recommendations likely to get the most serious consideration include conducting a comprehensive inventory of parcels within the county to identify those appropriate for development or redevelopment, working with local municipalities to refine or develop zoning codes to stimulate the creation of affordable housing units, offering incentives to builders who agree to dedicate percentages of new development as affordable units and the creation of a county Workforce Housing Website that would serve as an educational and informational resource center for those in need of affordable housing, developers and investors which would link visitors to sites containing information on initiatives such as down payment assistance programs, mortgage counseling, the county's land acquisition program to identify which areas of the county have been targeted for preservation, etc.

"County Executive Levy's goal is to make positive changes for Suffolk County. No area needs positive change more than the production of homes affordable to Suffolk's workers," said Jim Morgo, who Levy tapped to head the commission, "I am honored that the County Executive has confidence in me to work with him to get good things accomplished."

"It's simply unfair that our young people are being denied the opportunity to experience the same American dream that others experienced here on Long Island," Levy said. "While the affordable housing issue has usually been the domain of local municipalities, the crisis has become so severe that I believe it's imperative that this county government moves forward with an aggressive plan to increase the stock of affordable housing to meet the needs of the workforce."

Levy has directed the Commission to identify previously developed sites for re-development with the goal of bringing the towns in on the front end to obtain needed zoning changes, get commitments from builders who will have proper incentives, and buy or even condemn dilapidated pre-existing structures, guided by "Smart Growth" principles. Eventually, builders who agree to development portions of these sites with appropriate numbers of workforce housing units will be able to buy the properties back from the county with appropriate permits already in place. This would streamline and fast-track the process to expedite construction of affordable units in an effort to start meeting the demand.

The Commission issued its report in December 2005. Click here  for a copy.

The Commission determined that it will support workforce housing developments that meet certain stated criteria. For these criteria and instructions on applying for the commission's endorsement click here.