KINGSTON – With the comforting sound of construction behind them and the threatening sound of thunder above them, Kingston Housing Administrators, city, county and state lawmakers announced on Tuesday the official beginning of phase two of the city’s housing redevelopment project.
Rain began to fall in a downpour just as everyone dug their gold shovels into the dirt in a ceremonial groundbreaking.
Kingston Housing Authority Executive Director Harolda Wilcox re-emphasized the goal of the project.
“We proudly mark our 75 years of service to the Kingston community—reaffirming our mission to provide safe, affordable housing to low and very low-income residents.”
“All of our families in Kingston are going to benefit from these projects for now and for the next 30 years,” said Kingston Mayor Steve Noble. “To be able to give others the opportunity to have safe, accessible, affordable housing is exactly what we all should be doing.”
“Public housing is an important part of the housing solution to the housing crisis,” said Ulster County Executive Jen Metzger. “I want to thank Governor Hochul for her support. This is the kind of partnership that strengthens neighborhoods, supports seniors, and builds a healthier, more resilient future for Kingston and Ulster County.”
The $110 million project includes the rehabilitation of 158 existing apartments at Colonial Gardens and Wiltwyck Gardens on Flatbush Avenue. It will also replace the aging Penn Court development, adding 80 apartments for seniors, including 30 supportive apartments for seniors who were formerly homeless.
About $35 million in funding for the project came from New York State Homes and Community Renewal as well as federal and state low-income housing tax credits. $2 million comes from the Clean Energy Initiative (CEI), while Ulster County is providing $700,000 through its Housing Action Grant Program.
Phase One of the project was last year’s renovation of the Leonard and Vera Van Dyke Apartments.
In alignment with the state’s design and sustainability guidelines, the redevelopment incorporates energy-efficient features, such as solar power and electric vehicle charging stations with the help of Mountco Construction and Development Corporation.
RuthAnne Visnauskas, commissioner and CEO of New York State Homes and Community Renewal, says this is a big step in creating the type of housing that is needed in communities across the state.
“There are so many families who are struggling to live affordably, and Kingston has been impacted as much as anyone if not more by this crisis,” said Visnauskas. “The rent here has increased more than 20 percent in five years. Many tenants are rent burdened because incomes have not grown at the same rate that rents have. We are very focused under the Governor’s leadership on both creating a supply of new housing and, at the same time, investing in renovating the housing we have. With this project, we get to do both.”
Visnauskas says across the state over 37 hundred units of public housing at 16 housing authorities have been preserved since the Governor implemented her $25 billion, five-year housing plan, which is on track to create or preserve 100,000 affordable homes statewide.
“We are looking to speed up the process and looking at every regulation we can to try and cut down the time it takes to get shovels in the ground,” said Visnauskas.
Mayor Noble says he looks forward to phase three of this redevelopment with the renovation of about 100 Rondout Garden Apartments. He says that could happen in another two years or so.
Housing officials say there is typically a waiting list for affordable housing and there will soon be a lottery system in place. All residents will continue to pay no more than 30 percent of their income toward rent.
Counselors will be available to help potential tenants fill out applications.
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