Tri-Town Coalition invites experts to discuss affordable housing

MILLERTON — Eager to learn fresh strategies for engaging different segments of the community to address local affordable housing options, the Tri-Town Coalition’s Millerton-North East working group invited area residents to a special meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 9, featuring affordable housing experts Melissa Kaplan-Macey and Christie Stewart.

The special meeting was held via Zoom at 7 p.m. due to the coronavirus pandemic, and drew community members and local representatives from the municipalities of Millerton and North East, Amenia and Pine Plains.

Stewart identified herself as director of Fairfield County’s Center for Housing Opportunity (FCCHO) in neighboring Connecticut. Formed by four organizations — including Regional Plan Association (RPA) where Kaplan-Macey works — she described FCCHO as a regional collective impact initiative created to tackle housing affordability.

Pulling some highlights from the document, “The Way Forward: A New Narrative for Housing in Fairfield County,” Stewart said FCCHO understood early on that, in order to promote affordable housing, they had to make sure the ecosystem and housing system was conducive to it. In the last two years, she said FCCHO has put together a pool of resources to be made available to Fairfield County residents. Knowing that they needed to tackle the issue of building political will, Stewart drew inspiration from social rights activist Desmond Tutu’s quote, “Don’t raise your voice, improve your argument.”

“Through a fairly contentious time right now, this statement has never been more wise in my work than it is right now,” Stewart said. “This is a fraught issue: housing, and what we’re trying [to do] is get everybody on the same page to the degree that we can.”

When talking about affordable housing, Stewart discussed the concept of narrative change. She explained that one of the most powerful things they can do is tell stories that people want to be a part of and try to understand what’s disrupting the conversation on affordable housing. Reshaping the narrative around housing is critical, and Stewart advised attendees not to shortchange its value, “because, like in most things, we all have usually more in common than we do that separates us, so to start talking about housing as a shared investment in community and as an asset and not a deficit is really a key part of this.”

Introducing herself as Vice President of State Programs and Connecticut Director RPA, Kaplan-Macey described RPA as a nonprofit research, planning and advocacy organization “dedicated to improving the New York metropolitan region’s economic health, environmental sustainability and quality of life.” 

Kaplan-Macey said when a survey on affordable housing needs was sent out in Connecticut and received 195 responses from those with diverse housing situations, more than 50% of the respondents listed the high cost of housing, the lack of housing variety and their town’s unsupportive culture toward affordable housing as their most prevalent concerns.

Kaplan-Macey leafed through the “Planning For Affordability in Connecticut” guidebook and spoke about bringing local leaders in on designing an affordable housing plan, advising they proactively plan for affordable housing and create a constituency of advocates for more affordable housing in the community. She also advised creating an inclusive planning process and communications strategy.

As a pivotal piece in the process, Kaplan-Macey talked about creating a “positive narrative,” namely having a local conversation about values and personal connections as a jumping-off point for the housing plan. Values create and reinforce a shared sense of purpose, she said, and a community values statement will serve as a “north star” as the residents develop their plan’s principles, goals and actions. Other actions outlined in the guidebook include developing a housing needs assessment, a land use and zoning assessment and understanding the community’s housing market. Kaplan-Macey also guided her audience through the different implementation strategies.

Both experts engaged in a thoughtful dialogue with their audience following their presentation. On top of asking how the strategies outlined could be implemented in their region, attendees shared what has been done so far to pursue affordable housing in the Harlem Valley.