A Campaign for an Albany County Housing Trust Fund

We call for the creation of a dedicated, flexible housing trust fund to support the development and preservation of affordable housing opportunities in Albany County.

Local housing funds – commonly referred to as housing trust funds – help leverage public resources and attract further private investment to the community. Housing trust funds allow cities, counties or regions to tailor housing investments to the local context and set their own eligibility requirements.

Successful housing trust funds are capitalized by a dedicated, sustainable revenue source that is separate from annual budget appropriations and one-time investments. Common revenue sources include real estate transfer taxes, document recording fees and linkage fees.

Albany County has a housing crisis.

In Albany County, the Fair Market Rent (FMR) for a two-bedroom apartment is $1,313. In order to afford this level of rent and utilities — without paying more than 30% of income on housing — a household must earn $4,373 monthly or $52,520 annually. Assuming a 40-hour work week, 52 weeks per year, this level of income translates into an hourly Housing Wage of $25.25. The minimum hourly wage in Albany County is $14.20.

Home prices across the county — and our entire region — have skyrocketed alongside the cost to rehabilitate or build new housing units. The average values of homes today are between two and three times higher than they were two decades ago and well above where they peaked before the 2008 financial crisis. We know that wages have not kept pace with rising housing costs.

$25.25

ALBANY COUNTY
HOUSING WAGE

Community needs, community solutions

An Albany County Housing Trust Fund is needed to bridge the gap between skyrocketing costs and available funding for affordable housing.  This gap funding would improve the housing quality of existing units, increase the availability of housing  (particularly family housing), and ensure more affordable purchase prices and rents.  These local investments will help the County, developers and social service providers leverage additional funds from the public and private sectors. 

We call for a community nonprofit organization to manage the Albany County Housing Trust Fund’s applications, selection, funding disbursements, compliance monitoring and reporting requirements. This administration structure would allow the fund to receive both dedicated revenue funds as well as leveraged investments from banks, developers, philanthropic foundations and other private sources.

Successful housing trust funds are capitalized by a dedicated, sustainable revenue source that is separate from annual budget appropriations and one-time investments.

Supporting local and state priorities

The 2021 “Blight to Betterment” report from the County Legislature highlighted the need for a multifaceted approach to housing development and preservation – the need for enhanced code violation penalties and an expedited foreclosure process, the need to maintain county or Land Bank owned properties, and the need for incentives to encourage more homeownership, particularly the purchase of vacant, blighting properties.  All of these issues can be addressed with financial incentives available from a local Housing Trust Fund.  

With Governor Hochul’s July 2023 announcement of the New York State “Pro-Housing Communities” designation, localities will receive priority scoring on funding applications when they can demonstrate housing growth and/or a commitment to housing development. The creation of an Albany County Housing Trust Fund can serve as a catalyst and demonstrable commitment to addressing our local housing crisis, and will unlock new funding to meet this challenge.

In January 2022, a coalition of local housing advocates published the policy paper “Making Affordable Homeownership Work in Albany, NY,” which outlined solutions to expand equitable access to homeownership. The first solution presented was the creation of a local housing trust fund. Read the full policy paper here.

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Coalition partners

Affordable Housing Partnership

Albany County Land Bank

Albany Community Land Trust

Arbor Hill Development Corporation

Capital Area Council of Churches

Center for Law and Justice

Council of Albany Neighborhood Associations

Habitat for Humanity Capital District

Housing for All

The Justice Center at Albany Law School Community Economic Development Clinic

New York State Council of Churches

South End Community Collaborative

South End Improvement Corporation

Trinity Alliance

United Tenants of Albany