Derik Kane of Rochester-based LaBella Associates presents Schoharie County’s first housing plan at the July 19 county Board of Supervisors meeting. Photo by Chris English.
By Chris English
SCHOHARIE COUNTY — Schoharie County has some significant housing challenges that can be improved through a combination of hard work, collaboration and other means, according to the first housing plan developed for the county by Rochester-based LaBella Associates and presented in draft form at the Friday, July 19 county Board of Supervisors meeting.
In dozens and dozens of pages packed with detailed maps, graphs, charts and facts about zoning and land use regulations, age of homeowners, housing prices, affordability and many other areas, the plan draws some conclusions and offers several recommendations and goals moving forward.
"Overall, the county struggles with a high demand for housing, old and poorly maintained homes, limited affordable units and infrastructure challenges," the draft plan states. "These issues create a significant barrier to improving housing affordability and availability for the people served by the county.
"In summary, the combination of limited income, stringent lending practices for older adults, a shortage of available and quality homes, high costs and insufficient support programs creates a challenging environment for housing affordability in Schoharie County."
Among the many recommendations and suggested goals _ presented in great detail in the draft plan _ are establishing an affordable housing committee or task force; establishing a fair housing policy and designating a fair housing officer; offering tax incentives and resources to developers willing to build mixed-income housing; improving pedestrian infrastructure and promoting walkable neighborhoods; more public education on housing needs and focusing new housing in village centers to take advantage of existing infrastructure and preserve open space in the outlying more rural areas of the county.
In guiding the supervisors through the plan at the July 19 meeting, Derik Kane of LaBella Associates and county Director of Planning and Community Development Shane Nickle highlighted some interesting trends outlined in more detail in the draft plan. Among them:
The county's population is aging. In 2010, the number of residents 55 and older was 9,616 but by 2020 had increased to 11,831, a 23 percent increase. Residents in that age group now represent 37.9 percent of the total county population. And, those older residents increasingly want to remain in the homes they have been in for many years and age in place. Housing ownership among residents 84 and older has increased 145.4 percent from 2010 to 2020.
There is a lack of affordable senior housing in the county, the draft plan adds. Conversely, there has been a 17.6 drop in the population of county residents 24 and younger in the past decade.
"I've always felt there was a lack of housing in Schoharie County," said Supervisor John Leavitt of Carlisle. "I've noticed the reduction in our younger population. Is that because of a lack of work? A lack of housing?"
Kane responded that the housing plan and study did not get into specific reasons for the decline in residents 24 and younger.
"We have no housing for that segment of the population," Leavitt added.
"The biggest challenge for our economic development is housing," said BOS Chairman William Federice of Conesville. "Maybe education too, but definitely housing."
Schoharie County is not a hotbed of new housing construction, the plan points out. From 2000 to 2022, 1,482 building permits were issued in the county. Since 2020, only four municipalities have issued more than 10 building permits.
To highlight the issue of affordability, the draft plan states that housing-burdened households _ defined as households paying 30 percent or more of their total income toward rent or mortgage payments _ is 55.7 percent of county households, a 100 percent increase since 2010.
The most popular form of housing in the county continues to be single-family dwellings, which comprise about 75 percent of all housing. Next are manufactured homes at 12.8 percent; duplexes, triplexes and quadplexes at a combined 9 percent; and apartments making up the remaining 5 percent. The average price of a single-family home in the county has risen from $117,062 in 2010 to $183,726 in 2022, the draft plan notes.
"It's a pretty robust plan and we are still refining it," Kane said. He added a final draft should be ready by early August.
"It's a living document," said Nickle of the draft plan. "We're not finished yet. It's a starting point. It's something we've never done before. It could take many years to get to where we want to be. We are not thinking we are going to fix the county's housing problem in 2025."
Nickle said LaBella Associates is being paid $138,000 for the plan, with the county paying half that amount and the other half being funded by the federal Appalachian Regional Commission.
In other news from the July 19 BOS meeting, board members approved Local Law No. 3 authorizing property owners to request the removal of unlawful occupants from dwellings.
"Unfortunately, squatters now have more rights than landlords," explained Federice in an email to this newspaper. "The trespass laws are not enforceable in tenant/landlord situations or even with someone who claims to have rights. Our local law is an attempt to give law enforcement more of a legal mandate to remove people who are not authorized by the owner to occupy the property."
The Board of Supervisors also approved a contract not to exceed $65,000 to MIDTEL of Middleburgh for Wi-Fi installation and five-year system operation in the Village of Middleburgh. The money is coming from a state Community Development Block Grant awarded to the county, according to a written resolution provided at the meeting. The MIDTEL proposal was selected from among three received.
"It's free Wi-Fi open to anyone in the village," Federice stated in the email.
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