Officials Celebrate Opening Of Affordable Housing Apartments In Southampton Monday

The faces behind an affordable housing project that encountered fierce community resistance during its seven years of planning and development were commended for their perseverance during the apartment complex’s ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday morning.

The Sandy Hollow Cove Apartments in Tuckahoe, a 28-unit affordable housing development, is officially open. All units have been assigned and tenants are already moving in, according to Curtis Highsmith Jr., the executive director of the Southampton Housing Authority.

Sandy Hollow Cove was developed through a partnership between the Southampton Housing Authority, a town agency charged with providing affordable housing, and Georgica Green Ventures, a Jericho-based, for-profit company that builds affordable housing. Their concurrent 37-unit apartment complex, Speonk Commons, is slated to open within the next few months.

On Monday morning, October 7, executives from the housing authority and Georgica Green Ventures were joined by county and town elected officials, as well as executives from New York State Homes and Community Renewal, the agency that secured millions in funding for the project.

“This is a groundbreaking development here, and I know it’s a sign of what is ahead,” County Executive Steve Bellone said to the crowd after individually thanking everyone who played a major role in the project.

The main speaker at the ribbon-cutting was David Gallo, the president of Georgica Green Ventures. Other speakers included RuthAnne Visnauskas, the commissioner of Homes and Community Renewal, County Legislator Bridget Fleming, Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman, Mr. Highsmith and Bonnie Cannon, the chair of the housing authority.

Ms. Fleming, who has pushed for local affordable housing and who has been involved in this project since being a Southampton Town Board member, gave an impassioned speech at the event that was met with applause.

“The fear-based resistance that we on the Town Board sat through — hours and hours, lawsuits, getting yelled at, getting called names in the newspaper, all those challenges as Dave pointed out requires a little bit of courage to get past — those challenges were based on fear and this project answers those fears,” the legislator said. “This is a beautiful project.”

Mr. Highsmith gave a heartfelt speech that shed light on what these new units meant for some of the families who just moved in and what it was like working directly with the teams at Georgica Green Ventures and the housing authority to complete this undertaking.

“I’ve had the opportunity to actually speak to some of the tenants. I was here when some of them leased up. And I watched them come out of the units in tears saying they thought they had won the lottery,” Mr. Highsmith said. “This is emotions. This is family. This is something more than just housing. This is bringing appreciation and a sense of pride into people who didn’t have an opportunity and would never have had one had we not stepped out on faith for it.”

Sandy Hollow Cove has studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom rental apartments for people who meet certain income requirements. Most of the units were set aside for households earning up to 60 percent of the area median income, or AMI, while the remainder were for households making up to 80 percent.

Sixty percent of AMI amounts to $52,080 for a single person, $59,520 for two people, and $74,480 for a family of four. Eighty percent of AMI comes out to $69,440 for a single person, $79,360 for two people, and $99,200 for a household of four.

The local AMI, which is determined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, reflects median income across Suffolk and Nassau counties rather than Southampton Town only.

A housing lottery was held on July 29 at Southampton Town Hall for both Sandy Hollow Cove and Speonk Commons, totaling 65 units. Town officials picked 268 applications at random and assigned each of them a number in order. The No. 1 pick had first priority for a unit in either of the apartment complexes.

For the ribbon-cutting, the Sandy Hollow Cove community center was used to serve snacks and refreshments, allowing those in attendance to see its interior. One of the handicap-accessible units was also available for viewing. Its door was propped open, and visitors walked in and out throughout the event.

During Mr. Schneiderman’s speech, he addressed, as did others who spoke, the need for more affordable housing on the East End.

“Let me say this — if you work in the Town of Southampton and you want to live in the Town of Southampton, you shouldn’t have to win the lottery, whether it’s the Mega Millions or the Southampton housing lottery,” the supervisor said.

He mentioned the town’s recent efforts to fulfill the need for more affordable housing, like the Town Board’s unanimous passage of legislation to allow homeowners to add accessory apartments.

“This is not going to be the last of these housing developments,” Mr. Schneiderman said of Sandy Hollow Cove. “It’s going to be one of the first. We’re going to keep doing more and we have to. If we want to retain a sense of community, the soul of the community, then we’ve got to find a way for our workforce to live here.”