[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 152 (Friday, November 22, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2135-E2136]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      LONG ISLAND'S HOUSING CRISIS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. STEVE ISRAEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, November 22, 2002

  Mr. ISRAEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to once again note the severe 
affordable housing crisis my constituents face on Long Island.
  Today's Newsday carried an article by Christian Murray revealing some 
truly disturbing statistics. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 26 
percent of Long Island households pay more than 35 percent of their 
gross monthly income on either rent or mortgage. For over fifty years 
Americans have been cautioned to keep housing expenses under 25 percent 
of their income. The 35 percent average is a genuine crisis.

[[Page E2136]]

  Pearl Kamer, an economist who wrote the report for the Island's 
leading affordable housing organization, the Long Island Housing 
Partnership, noted that ``with many people paying so much on housing, 
there is little left over for food and medical care.''
  Mr. Speaker, this housing crisis is having a terrible effect on Long 
Island's families. The fact that young people--often college graduates 
with good jobs--cannot find adequate, affordable housing, means that 
those young people are leaving Long Island. And if companies can't rely 
on a stable workforce, they will choose to locate somewhere else.
  The lack of affordable housing on Long Island is not merely about 
some families having to pay too much. It is a problem that permeates 
every part of our community's life. Young people are forced out of our 
region. Jobs disappear as companies decide they can no longer depend 
upon a solid workforce. And our communities dissolve as the very 
foundation on which that community was built erodes.
  Mr. Speaker, when the 108th Congress convenes in January, we must 
quickly address the issue of adequate housing in America.
  I ask that the text of today's Newsday article be included in the 
Record at this time.

                [lsqb]From Newsday, Nov. 21, 2002[rsqb]

                    Mortgaging LI's Economic Future

                         (By Christian Murray)

       Skyrocketing rents and booming home prices are forcing more 
     than 200,000 Long Island households to pay more than one-
     third of their income on housing, according to a 
     comprehensive new study released yesterday.
       The study, ``Lack of Affordable Housing: Prescription for 
     Economic Disaster,'' found 26 percent of Long Island 
     households pay more than 35 percent of their gross monthly 
     income on either rent or mortgage.
       ``These findings are dire,'' said Pearl Kamer, a regional 
     economist who conducted the study for the Long Island Housing 
     Partnership. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban 
     Development guidelines say households should not spend more 
     than 30 percent of their gross income on housing.
       ``With many people paying so much on housing, there is 
     little left over for food and medical care,'' Kamer said at a 
     news conference at North Shore University Hospital in 
     Manhasset yesterday. Kamer added that the high cost of 
     housing is forcing many people, especially young families, to 
     leave Long Island, and this exodus will hurt the region when 
     the economy picks up and companies can't find workers.
       While affordable housing has long been an issue on Long 
     Island, the problem has been exacerbated by the hot real 
     estate market in the past four years, when home prices have 
     soared 81 percent while household incomes have risen only 14 
     percent, Kamer said.
       Jim Morgo, president of the Hauppauge-based Long Island 
     Housing Partnership, said he has established a task force of 
     industry and nonprofit officials to take the study's findings 
     to every municipality across the Island, as a means of 
     prodding officials to make way for more affordable housing.
       The study, based on 2000 census figures, analyzed median 
     incomes and housing costs in more than 250 communities by 
     individual census tract.
       It found that about one quarter, or 165,000 of Long 
     Island's 672,000 homeowners, paid at least 35 percent for a 
     place to live--including mortgage payments, property taxes 
     and insurance. In some Nassau County neighborhoods, including 
     Elmont, Hempstead Village, Uniondale and Roosevelt, at least 
     20 percent of the owners spent more than 50 percent of gross 
     income on housing. And this scenario also occurred in the 
     Suffolk neighborhoods of Wyandanch, North Amityville, North 
     Bay Shore and Brentwood.
       The study also found that one-third of tenants across Long 
     Island paid more than 35 percent of household income in rent. 
     In many neighborhoods--such as Central Islip, North 
     Amityville, Wyandanch and Lawrence Village--about 40 percent 
     of renters pay more than half their wages on shelter. Rental 
     units account for about 19 percent of Nassau's housing stock 
     and 18 percent of Suffolk's--low, compared with 38 percent of 
     Westcheter and 27 percent in Rockland.
       But some Nassau neighborhoods, including Manorhaven, 
     Hempstead Village, Great Neck Plaza, Long Beach and Glen 
     Cove, have more than 40 percent of their housing units in 
     rental apartments. And in Suffolk, Bay Shore and Patchogue 
     both have high ratios of rental units to owner-occupied 
     housing.
       Elizabeth McCarthy, who grew up in Dix Hills and works at 
     Canon USA's Lake Success offices in marketing, said at the 
     news conference she's been struggling to find housing after 
     graduating from Marist College in 1998. Earning about $31,000 
     annually, she rented a studio apartment for $900 per month in 
     Bay Shore--but it was too costly. ``I thought about leaving 
     the area [lsqb]Long Island[rsqb].'' She started looking for a 
     house with her parents. ``I was shocked to find that there 
     was nothing out there, never mind anything in my price 
     range.'' Eventually, she was able to buy a subsidizing 
     affordable home through the Housing Partnership at the 
     Highview, a complex in Huntington.
       Kamer added that since the 2000 census, when the data were 
     gathered, the affordable-housing crisis has most likely 
     worsened.
       Kamer said that many young workers, unable to afford 
     housing here, are leaving. And many of these workers who have 
     lower-paying jobs are essential to the Island's economy.
       Suffolk County Executive Robert Gaffney said some towns are 
     reluctant to build rental units or affordable housing, 
     fearing that it will decrease the value of an area. But if 
     employers don't have the labor force they'll need because 
     young workers leave, they'll set up businesses elsewhere.
       Among Morgo's list of possible solutions is his call to get 
     towns to allow for greater zoning flexibility, when 
     developers put forward proposals for affordable-housing 
     units. While many young people earn much more than their 
     parents, he said, they are unable to afford a home. ``It's 
     the inversion of the American Dream,'' Margo said.


                           Feeling the Pinch

       Communities on Long Island with the highest percentages of 
     homeowners spending more than 35 percent of their income on 
     housing costs. Minimum 3,000 housing units.

       1. Hempstead Village: 34.9 percent.
       2. Elmont: 34.2 percent.
       3. Brentwood: 31.1 percent.
       4. Dix Hills: 30.0 percent.
       5. Central Islip: 29.9 percent.
       6. Copiague: 29.7 percent.
       7. Bay Shore: 29.5 percent.
       8. Franklin Square: 29.3 percent.
       9. North Valley Stream: 29.3 percent.
       10. Freeport: 28.8 percent.
       11. East Islip: 28.7 percent.
       12. Greenlawn: 27.9 percent.
       13. Uniondale: 27.8 percent.
       14. West Babylon: 27.5 percent.
       15. Deer Park: 27.4 percent.
       16. Ridge: 27.0 percent.
       17. St. James: 25.9 percent.
       18. Selden: 25.9 percent.
       19. North Massapequa: 25.8 percent.
       20. Glen Cove: 25.7 percent.
       21. Lindenhurst: 25.7 percent.
       22. Long Beach: 25.7 percent.
       23. West Islip: 25.7 percent.
       24. South Farmingdale: 25.6 percent.
       25. Merrick: 25.5 percent.
       Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000.

       

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