The Business of Living
The current housing market boom in Dutchess County is the product of economic development, but at a cost.
Since 2000, the number of households in Dutchess county has continued to increase while population growth has slowed, according to the Dutchess County Housing Needs Assessment. This coincides with a decline in rental vacancies as more individuals occupy units than do families, with the average household size dropping from 2.63 people in 2000 to 2.42 in 2020.
However, the individuals occupying these homes are not from the local population. After COVID-19, there has been an influx of people moving from the New York City area into the Hudson Valley, people who have higher incomes and better rental histories.
“These poor people [locals] get hit the hardest,” said Joyce Stanton from Century 21 Hudson Valley. “The local market kind of doesn’t exist for them, not unless they have a really good job, because the people from the city, you can’t imagine what they’re getting paid down there.”
Not only this, a large portion of the housing market is controlled by absentee investors that buy up properties to use as vacation rentals, taking homes away from the local community. The nonprofit organization For the Many is currently lobbying for various bills such as Homes Are Not Hotels, which would require vacation hosts to provide proof that their listing is their primary residence and issue fines to the absentees.
All this considered, the demand for housing has skyrocketed, and with it, the prices of rent. But the average household income in Dutchess County has stagnated, with a 3.3% average growth since 2001 versus the national average of 3.4% according to the Housing Needs Assessment. Employment follows a similar trend, there has only been 9.3% growth compared to 22.5% nationally between 2001 and 2019.
Lakethia McCullar from Hudson River Housing notes that the hardest part about getting people in a home is the challenge of finding them a job.
“We give them all the resources to go into these jobs, but a lot of [employers] just look at where they came from, and they aren’t willing to employ them.” And it leaves people depressed, without hope, and unable to pull themselves up by their bootstraps.
Yes, there are programs for those in need of housing. There is Section 8, which will pay for the majority or all of the rent, but it can take as long as three years to become enrolled. And even then, there are very few landlords who will actually accept them and they will not say why. Low-income housing is an essential asset, however, the dangerous environment is not a viable option for those struggling to stay on the right path.
Now locals are moving to where the rent is cheaper, such as Columbia county, so they can try to afford to live.
“This is how economic development happens,” said Stanton. “People go where the price is low, it’s migration.” Generations of history live within the people of Dutchess County, poor in assets but rich in culture, working hard to live.
“Nobody asks not to have,” said McCullar. “You have to just give them a chance.”
