October 19, 2023
Speaker Heastie Continues Statewide Tour in Columbia County, Announcing $3 Million in Funding for Affordable Housing
Pictured in the photo with Speaker Heastie is Assemblymember Didi Barrett, New York State Habitat for Humanity CEO Mary Robinson, Habitat for Humanity Hudson CEO Al Bellenchia, Hudson River Housing Executive Director Christa Hines, Mayor of Hudson Kamal Johnson and members of the community.
Speaker Carl Heastie continued his annual statewide tour today, joining Assemblymember Didi Barrett to announce $3 million in funding to support the construction of affordable housing across Dutchess and Columbia counties.
“The Assembly Majority remains committed to supporting our local communities in making housing fair and equitable for all,” said Speaker Heastie. “This funding will ensure our rural communities are not left on the sidelines on our mission to make housing affordable for New Yorkers all across the state.”
“I want to thank Speaker Heastie for his generous support of my district and for recognizing the particular obstacles we face in the Hudson Valley region that make the development of new affordable housing challenging, including the smaller scale of our communities, local zoning restrictions, inadequate water and sewer infrastructure, workforce shortages and the rising cost of construction,” said Assemblymember Didi Barrett. “We all know that housing is a statewide crisis and we tried in the last budget to start to address this. But it is clear to me that there is no one size fits all solution.”
Speaker Heastie and Assemblymember Barrett visited a home constructed by Columbia County Habitat for Humanity and met with homeowners Iftakher Chowdury and Shanaj Begum. Together, Speaker Heastie and Assemblymember Barrett announced $3 million dollars to support the construction of more affordable housing across the Hudson Valley region, with $1.5 million allocated to Columbia County Habitat for Humanity to purchase material to create more affordable homes for first-time homeowners and the other $1.5 million allocated to Dutchess County-based Hudson River Housing for the development of affordable rental units. Both of these organizations received a significant amount of funding allocated specifically for housing in the City of Hudson, which continues to face a profound affordable housing crisis exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.