Lottery Winner Moves Into Affordable Home In Flanders

The first of 11 first-time homeowners, winners of the Southampton Town Housing Authority’s 2012 workforce housing lottery, cut the ribbon on his new home in Flanders last week.

Almost 18 months after his name was drawn from a brass cylinder at the Southampton Town Senior Center in Hampton Bays, Rich Lalomia was able to enter his new home on Brookhaven Drive on the morning of last Wednesday, April 23. Mr. Lalomia, a budget assistant for Southampton Town Comptroller Leonard Marchese, was renting in Hampton Bays before moving into his new three-bedroom, two-bathroom house earlier this week. Ground was broken on the house last May.

“Owning an affordable home on Long Island has, unfortunately, become out of reach for many residents,” said State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., who attended last week’s ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Mr. Lalomia’s home is the first of nearly a dozen affordable houses, which will cost the lottery winners only $152,000, that will be constructed in the town. Six more will be built in Flanders, two in East Quogue and one each in Noyac and North Sea. All of the homes, funded with $40,000 grants for each courtesy of the New York State Homes and Community Renewal Program, are expected to be completed by the end of the year.

Mr. Lalomia declined to be interviewed.

Michelle Cannon, chairwoman of the Southampton Town Housing Authority, said she’s “ecstatic” about the progress of the project, adding that she expects to host the next such ceremony next month.

“We’re going to keep cranking them out,” she said on Tuesday. “We’re going to push the bar and put houses wherever we’re allowed to put them, because they’re needed.”

All 11 houses will be built on lots previously owned by Suffolk County and donated to the town for the construction of affordable homes. The county took over the properties after their prior owners failed to pay their real estate taxes.

“This program helps make safe, quality housing a reality for the hard-working men and women of the East End,” Mr. Thiele said.

In order to enter the lottery, potential buyers had to qualify for a mortgage, be first-time homeowners and earn less than $77,400 a year in income for a family of three or $86,000 for a family of four. Monthly mortgage payments for the homes, including property taxes, comes to about $1,300, according to town officials. Mortgage applications were aided by the Long Island Housing Partnership as well.

Southampton Town Councilwoman Bridget Fleming trumpeted the success of the program at the ribbon cutting.

“The need for workforce housing is at a crisis point on eastern Long Island, so there is still work to be done,” she said. “But we are pleased that, thanks to our successful joint efforts, a hardworking member of our community has a chance to be a homeowner.”

Fifty-five names were entered in the drawing, which was held in September 2012. Southampton Town residents, and the employees of local businesses, were given priority in the lottery.