March 25, 2010
Moving Forward with Workforce Housing Panel Convenes
On March 25th the Westchester/Fairfield (New York) District Council convened a panel discussion titled Moving Forward: Next Steps for Workforce Housing in Westchester. The discussion centered on best practices in building workforce housing in high-income areas. The panel explored opportunities in implementing the terms of the fair housing settlement in U.S. ex rel. Anti-Discrimination Center v Westchester, which requires Westchester County, New York to build 750 units of workforce housing in seven years.

Panelist included Mayor Liz Feld of Larchmont and Mayor Peter Scherer of Pleasantville, Attorney John Marwell, Architect Beth Kitchen and Developer Bill Balter. The panel was moderated by Developer Robert Sanborn.

Attorney John Marwell began the discussion with an overview of the land use decisions and a summary of the basic points of the fair housing settlement stipulation. In a power point presentation, Developer Bill Balter demonstrated how to build affordable projects in communities once resistant and now accepting of such housing. He also noted several key elements of a successful housing proposal and how government provided needed support to close financing gaps. Architect Beth Kitchen also used a power point presentation to illustrate successful transit oriented developments that provided affordable housing. Mayor’s Feld and Scherer discussed how to building consensus within their respective communities. Each Mayor noted gaining local support for affordable housing began with community wide meetings airing many concerns of residents. Mayor Scherer emphasized the need to make small steps so that residents feel they are part of the decision making process.

October 2009 Task Force Meeting Report
On October 16, 2009, ULI Westchester/Fairfield’s Workforce Housing Task Force, with the assistance of Joan Carty, a District Council member and ULI National Urban Community Advisor hosted a workshop at the University of Connecticut, Stamford Campus titled, “Workforce Housing Strategies and Best Practices: What Opportunities Exist for Connecticut?”, which convened a group of developers, financing institutions, and state and local officials to discuss the best practices for financing new workforce housing in the State of Connecticut.

The workshop was moderated by ULI Senior Resident Fellow for Housing, John McIlwain, and was sponsored by the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston, with additional support provided by POKO Partners, Jonathan Rose Companies and First County Bank. Throughout the day, participants heard from panelists, including Edward Hjerpe III, Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston, Joan McDonald, Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, Tim Bannon, State of Connecticut Housing Finance Authority, Richard Gerwitz, Citibank, N.A., Ethan Handelman, CAS Financial Advisory Services, and Vicki Davis, Urban Atlantic.