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BEDFORD HILLS, N.Y. The Bedford Town Government passed an Affordable Housing ordinance this week, finishing what has been in the works for more than a year. The ordinance complies with the housing settlement agreed upon by Westchester County and the federal government in 2009. Bedford's ordinance is officially titled the Affordable Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Units (AAFFH).
In 2009, the county reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that required 750 units of affordable housing be built in 31 predominately white communities in Westchester by 2016. Part of the agreement also stated that the county would assist its municipalities with their town or village laws.
Bedfords new ordinance requires an affordable housing unit to be affordable to the person who makes 80 percent of the areas median income. Today, the yearly salary for the main provider of a family of four in Bedford would be $84,000, with the number adjusted by how big the family is.
Despite the countys assistance, Jeff Osterman, planning board director, said the town already had guidelines on its books.
The town in general has done an awful lot with affordable housing in different forms, Osterman said. The purpose of this law is to support the countys initiatives to provide housing for all populations. It is a blend of what the county provided, which is a model zoning ordinance to the communities involved, plus what we already had on the books.
Osterman continued, We had done a fairly similar law in 2005 and if you compare the two, youll see the differences are not terribly great.
The new ordinance does have some differences, however, Osterman said Tuesday. Of the notable changes, the ordinance declares that any unit of five or more subdivisions needs for 10 percent of those to be affordable units. Anything less than five subdivisions, the new provision will not kick in.
Another addition is that if a developer is not providing affordable housing, such as subdivisions of four or less units, the developer will be asked to pay the town, which will be spent on affordable housing development. Bedford already had a fee in lieu program, Osterman said.
To see the full ordinance which was ruled into action this week, visit the Bedford website.
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