The League of Women Voters of the Hamptons, Shelter Island, and the North Fork will host a virtual forum on the Nov. 8 ballot proposition that will ask voters to approve a .5-percent real estate transfer tax that would support the community housing opportunity fund.
“Affordable Housing: Hope or Promise?” will be aired on Tuesday at 7 p.m. on SeaTV’s YouTube channel, youtube.com/c/seatvsouthampton, and be archived there for subsequent viewing. Andrea Gabor will moderate the forum, which will feature Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr.; Tom Ruhle, director of East Hampton Town’s Office of Housing and Community Development; Curtis Highsmith, executive director of the Southampton Town Housing Authority, and Deputy Supervisor Amber Brach-Williams of Shelter Island Town.
The referendum will put before voters the real estate transfer tax, which would be in addition to the 2-percent transfer tax on real estate transactions that funds the community preservation fund. The Peconic Bay Region Community Housing Act, signed into law last year, authorizes the five East End towns to establish community housing funds to be paid for by that transfer tax. Should the referendum pass, the fund would become operational in January 2023.
Speakers at the virtual forum will explain how the transfer tax would work, discuss each town’s current and planned affordable housing units, and detail its plans for how the new funds could be used.
Should the referendum pass, buyers of a property would pay the .5-percent transfer tax, with the first $400,000 exempt up to $2 million, beyond which the full purchase price would be taxable. First-time home buyers would be exempt. Money could be spent in myriad ways, from buying land and buildings to town-led or public-private construction projects for sale or rent, rehabilitation of existing buildings, down payment and other financial assistance to buyers, loans to construct accessory dwelling units, creation of housing for employees of local businesses, purchase of individual units within existing multi-unit housing complexes, and housing counseling.
In East Hampton, the town board launched an All Hands on Housing initiative in January, an effort to alleviate the extreme scarcity of affordable housing and its effect on the staffing of businesses, government, schools, and emergency services, as well as on traffic, as many of those who cannot afford to live in the town commute from points west. Some residents are also living in illegal or substandard conditions.
The league also plans candidate debates ahead of Nov. 8, Election Day.
