News & INSIGHTS

A long-awaited study of the Onondaga County housing market tells us, in great detail, what the community already knows: We have too few homes, and not enough types of them, to accommodate the people who live here — let alone all of the people Micron’s semiconductor plant is expected to draw.

While the study shies away from prescribing solutions, we see the data as a call to action to every elected and appointed official who has a hand in making or enforcing housing policy:

Grab the rope and start pulling.

The county’s consultant, CZB, estimates that to accommodate more than 20,000 new households related to Micron, we’ll need to build 25,000 units by 2040 in a mix of apartments, condos, row houses, townhouses and starter homes. To reach that goal, builders would have to put up 1,700 units per year for the next 15 years.

That’s an aggressive target, especially in the current environment of restrictive zoning, high interest rates and rising costs for materials and labor.

County Executive Ryan McMahon points to 7,000 units in the pipeline, but most (if not all) of them are still on paper. It will be years before anyone lives in them.

County government has few levers to pull to encourage new housing. It can provide some incentives to developers through its industrial development agency and a new grant program called O-CHIP. It also can provide infrastructure, like water, sewer and roads.

Towns and villages control the planning and zoning. It’s really up to them to allow new housing to be built. McMahon’s role is to persuade them to do it.

The housing study is one tool.

It argues for a lot more construction in a mix of styles, sizes and ownership/rental models. It shows how the county’s aging population and declining birth rate have reduced household sizes, making the case for smaller housing options. It highlights the drag on values caused by aging housing stock in the city of Syracuse and first-ring suburbs, and the county’s history of sprawl without growth that weakened the market. The study acknowledges the challenges of building affordable housing for low- and middle-income residents in the current cost environment.

Another tool in McMahon’s toolbox is the comprehensive plan, called Plan Onondaga, released a year ago.

It laid out a general vision for how the county could grow. “PlanOn” foresees new housing in existing population centers, such as the city of Syracuse and villages, and cluster developments in town centers like the former ShoppingTown and Great Northern malls. It prioritizes smart growth, limits suburban sprawl and preserves some rural spaces.

Several towns are developing their own comprehensive plans — some for the first time — to decide where new housing could go. CZB urges them “to use planning processes to decide what the community can say ‘yes’ to.”

Historically, municipal governments have leaned toward protecting existing property owners from changes to their communities. Now, with growth barreling down on us, municipalities also need to consider the people on the other side of the equation — those who need housing now and will need it in the future.

Planning for growth is a 180-degree turn from managing decline. The community and its leaders can either look at it as a problem or an opportunity.

Let’s adopt the opportunity mindset — and meet the challenges of growth with open minds, open hearts and a spirit of creativity.

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