For many of us in the civic community single family detached homes have constituted the preferred alternative. Houses with front yards, back yards, and side yards seem to epitomize the American dream. In the arena of housing we have equated large lots with rural, and rural with wholesome, and healthy communities. Indeed many people moved to the suburbs for the privacy and security exemplified by the single family home.

Unfortunately, as all of us who can afford such privacy, and promised security rush to the fringe of suburbia to attain it, we experience only the economists unyielding the law of diminishing returns. Privacy en masse results not in a renewal of the frontier spirit and healthy thriving communities but instead precipitates suburban sprawl. Sprawl after all is made up mostly of housing.

Single family detached housing is the most expensive and land consuming form of housing on the market. It eats up large amounts of open space, and requires large public investments in utilities, and road construction. It clearly results in congestion, deteriorating air quality, and loss of habitat. and isolates people within subdivisions with roads which seem to imitate the labyrinths of the ancient world.

Clearly, if we wish to resolve the problems which confront us, and build healthy, close knit communities we must begin to reexamine some of our old assumptions and begin to paint with the whole palate of housing alternatives.

The four primary types of housing described above can be mixed and matched to create a wide palate of housing options. Such mixing and matching has created many vibrant neighborhoods examples of which abound on L.I. in such places as Huntington, Patchogue, and Sag Harbor, and in new sustainable communities such as Kentlands Maryland. Unfortunately in new developments that mix and matching does not occur. Instead, developers have succeeded in segregating housing by age groups, income groups, race, and family types.

The Planned Retirement Community - There is no question that we need to provide additional housing for our seniors. But the methods by which we achieve this laudable goal should be diverse and varied. We need to paint with more than one color. Our over reliance on planned retirement communities reduces the choices open to seniors and isolates them in gated, age segregated communities.

Many seniors would prefer to “age in place,” to remain in the neighborhood and community which they have grown to know and love. As Andres Duany states in The Suburban Nation, “Imagine being able to grow old in a neighborhood that can accommodate your changing housing needs while also providing a home for your children and grandchildren.”

To accommodate such housing choices our neighborhoods must contain a diversity of housing options. Options such as “granny flats” accessory units where seniors or anyone in need of a moderately priced housing unit, occupy a second living unit or apartment with a separate entrance on a single lot.

The integration of apartments, duplexes, and triplexes within neighborhoods is another option. Such diversity of building types has been used successfully in Kentlands. In Kentlands the building type varies but the buildings are compatible in terms of architectural style.

Providing for apartment units above stores is yet another option. This option welcomes seniors who may no longer feel comfortable behind the wheel of a car into the center of communities and within walking distance of shops, libraries and other community amenities.

Affordable Housing - The need for a moderately priced housing goes beyond seniors. Unfortunately, many politicians find it less palatable to promote affordable housing for all, than to promote PRCs. As civic leaders we need to underscore that our young people and families of moderate income are also in need of a diversification of our housing stock.

According to HUD the definition of affordability is for a household to pay no more than 30 % of its income on housing. Families who pay more than 30% of their income on housing may have trouble affording such things as food, clothing, transportation, and medical care.

A study conducted by Pearl Kamer, chief economist of the L.I. Association found that on Long Island monthly housing payments exhaust more than 30 % of the incomes of 235,000 Long Island homeowners and 78,000 renters, which translates into approximately 1/3 of all local housing.

Kamer’ found that in Suffolk County 24.3% of renters and 13.9% of homeowners spent 50% or more of their incomes on monthly housing costs. In 1999 according to HUD statistics, 600.000 of the nation’s 6.7 million moderate-income renter households (those earning 80 to 120% of the area median income) paid more than 30 percent of their incomes for housing.) To acerbate the problem the economic downturn that began in 2000 has been accompanied by a rise in home prices. While homeowners’ incomes increased by only 2% in 2000, housing costs rose by 4%.

Such statistics underscore that there is a need for other housing options beside single family and PRCs. In its October 2000 issue ABCO made a number of recommendations concerning the diversification of home type, and the issue of affordability. Among our recommendations was the recommendation that the town adopt an inclusionary zoning ordinance. Which would simply require that 15 to 20% of the units within a subdivision be “moderately priced.” This recommendation would help to insure that affordable units are equitably dispersed, and that moderately priced units are available to those in need regardless of age.

We need to encourage housing which rather than exacerbate the problems we face, will instead help to resolve them. Housing which will encourage the interaction of residents rather than their isolation, housing which will promote the preservation of habitat, and farmland, housing which will reduce sprawl and the congestion and air pollution which results from it. Because housing is the most prevalent form of development we experience the type of housing which we encourage will color our entire communities

Who's Who? For information about this author and our consultant team click Here

Duany, Andres, Plater-Zyberk, Elizabeth, & Speck, Jeff. Suburban Nation, 2000, North Point Press

Hall, Porterfield, Community by Design, McGraw-Hill, 2001.