LI's housing shortage is a problem for everybody
OPINION / COMMENTARY / GUEST ESSAYS
By Nancy Rauch Douzinas and Sol Marie Alfonso-Jones, Newsday
Long Island comprises a wealth of assets — plentiful natural resources, updated transportation infrastructure, growing industries, and academic, research and medical institutions offering excellent employment opportunities to rising generations of Long Islanders.
But such opportunities cannot be leveraged without affordable housing, and in the past two years, our region’s housing prices and rents have increased, by more than 40% by some measures. Today, more than 300,000 Long Island homeowners and renters spend more than 30% of their income on housing costs and struggle to live in the towns in which they grew up.
This issue has percolated for decades and was documented for 15 years by the Long Island Index. Its repercussions on our local economy continue to be dire: Businesses struggle to attract staff, and manufacturers to attract skilled workers. The only solution is to expand and diversify our housing supply.
But how to achieve this, given our political fragmentation and dysfunctional zoning laws? Over the last year, the Rauch Foundation and Long Island Community Foundation have sponsored conversations among housing advocates, developers, health and human services providers, business and civic groups, and philanthropy organizations to grow consensus on the way forward, including looking at how other regions are addressing the need for affordable housing.
