Nearly 40 Percent Of LI Homeowners Can't Afford Their Homes

LONG ISLAND, NY — Long Island is, unsurprisingly to anyone who lives here, among the least affordable places in New York for homeowners. That's according to a report from the state comptroller's office, which ranked both Nassau and Suffolk counties in the top 10 when it comes to the highest share of homeowners severely burdened by housing costs.

Housing is widely regarded as affordable when household residents pay no more than 30 percent of their income to live there. But the report, released in June, said affordable housing remains "elusive" for many New Yorkers, whose monthly costs are often significantly higher.

The office also found a clear pattern between upstate and downstate households — the lowest share of overburdened households were in upstate regions, while the highest were in New York City, Long Island and the Hudson Valley.

In Nassau County, 37.2 percent of households were overburdened by housing costs from 2013 to 2017, the comptroller report said, citing the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey estimates. Just under 17 percent of Nassau households were severely burdened by housing, meaning at least half their income went towards housing costs.

• Rank: 6th highest share of overburdened households
• Median monthly owner costs: $2,494
• Median owner income: $121,764

In Suffolk, the numbers were even higher — about 39 percent of households were overburdened by housing costs, and 17.5 percent were severely burdened.

• Rank: 2nd highest share of overburdened households
• Median monthly owner costs: $2,239
• Median owner income: $105,889

Housing costs include expenditures such as utilities, fuel, mortgage payments, insurance and real estate taxes.

High housing burden is a reality for nearly 40 percent of New York households, the report found. In 2017, housing costs for about 2.8 million of the state's 7.3 million households — including nearly half of all rental households and more than 25 percent of homeowners — exceeded the affordability threshold, Census data showed. Of those, nearly 1.4 million households were severely overburdened.

That means far too many New Yorkers are forced to forego other basic needs just to make ends meet, Thomas DiNapoli, the comptroller, wrote in the report.

"High housing costs may force families and individuals to scrimp on other necessities or go without them altogether," he said. "Many find it impossible to put aside savings for emergency needs, college or retirement; some may face eviction or conclude their only choice is to move to lower-cost locations."

The New York State Association for Affordable Housing, a trade group made whose members include developers, contractors, professional service companies and financial institutions, said state elected officials play a "vital role" in building — and preserving — housing that low- and middle-income residents need. Investing in such housing boosts the local economy and benefits communities, with new construction revitalizing neighborhoods and attracting businesses, services, new homes and more.

A 100-unit affordable housing development, the group said, can be expected to create 175 construction jobs, 20 additional permanent jobs, $29.6 million in economic spending during construction and $3.6 million in sustainable local economic activity, not to mention millions in worker compensation.

The group pointed to two affordable housing developments on Long Island as success stories that can be replicated: Brooke Pointe, a 39-multifamily unit complex in Valley Stream, and the Riverview Lofts, a 115-unit, mixed-use development in Riverhead.