The Human Toll

As Southampton and East Hampton towns, and Sag Harbor Village, embark on efforts to finally address the growing affordable housing crisis, it’s important to take note of the story of Steve Thorsen, told at a recent Express Sessions discussion of the topic in East Hampton, and also in these pages last week.

It’s important to keep focus on the reason this is essential work, and Thorsen’s story shows why. He’s been in affordable housing for 30 years, Whalebone Woods in East Hampton, and labels himself “an example of a person who wasn’t going to be able to live here till there was affordable housing.” His name being pulled in the town’s housing lottery was very much like any other lottery win.

This win also benefits the community at large. Thorsen has raised three children — including a teacher and a physical therapist — and two are living with him. They are deeply entwined in the local community, the very definition of “locals.”

But perhaps not for long. Neither of his kids is wealthy, but they make too much to qualify for affordable housing today, even if spaces are available. It demonstrates that the affordable housing crisis is not just for the lowest-wage workers, essential though they may be; there is an aching need for housing that’s affordable to middle class couples and young professionals. “They don’t want a total handout,” Thorsen said of his kids, “but they want to be able to stay.”

The bottom line is that affordable housing has a generational impact on individual lives, and also on the community, for better or worse. The stakes are high, in terms of both gains and losses.