DUTCHESS COUNTY HOUSING NEEDS ASSESSMENT

Dutchess County, NY

How can a county with mounting affordability challenges make a commitment to progress?

SUMMARY

Dutchess County in the Mid-Hudson region of New York hired czb in the fall of 2021—18 months into the COVID-19 pandemic—to conduct its first housing needs assessment in over a decade. The project began amid a torrent of speculation about the impact of pandemic refugees from New York City on a housing market already beset by low vacancies and limited inventory.

By turning the focus of the housing conversation to what was truly knowable and actionable, czb dialed down the temperature and brought clarity to longstanding needs. At the project's conclusion, Dutchess County committed $12 million to seed a new housing trust fund that will help local jurisdictions with a wide range of new affordable housing interventions.

DUTCHESS COUNTY HOUSING NEEDS ASSESSMENT

Understanding how long-simmering trends have influenced housing needs

While there was considerable interest in the Mid-Hudson region about the impacts of COVID, as well as price escalations that immediately preceded the pandemic, czb took the long view. This revealed a series of demographic and economic trends that had been maturing over the years to produce a market with growing pressures on middle and lower-income renters.

How different types of households could change the landscape of housing in Dutchess County

czb's work included the development of three scenarios to identify potential housing needs over the next two decades. The scenarios demonstrated that the most probable course for the county was relatively slow growth, rapid aging of the population, and a continuation of the income disparities that were producing pressures for middle and lower income households in the early 2020s.

A clear goal for interventions going forward

Clear and actionable goals were imperative for the project to yield meaningful policy commitments. To that end, renters earning less than $50,000 were identified as the group most in need of additional help in the county's housing market, and a "catch up" goal of 2,155 new interventions was set—a number that was equivalent to 108 new interventions per year over two decades.

A Strategy for Action

First and foremost, the new Dutchess County Housing Needs Assessment stresses the need for commitments of local resources to go above and beyond what is currently accomplished with federal and state housing resources. A county housing trust fund, once established, will support a wide range of tools that can be mixed and matched by local jurisdictions to meet their needs and seize local opportunities.

A guide to defining achievable housing goals

czb's full report for Dutchess County is a guide to understanding long-simmering housing issues in the county and implementing the partnerships that will be needed to achieve clear and realistic goals. With $12 million committed to its lead recommendation, the report has already proven to be the county's most implementable housing report in decades.