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Board agrees to have attorneys draft wording for town-backed affordable-housing landlord incentive
Summary
Trustees authorized staff to ask district attorneys to draft a resolution responding to a Town of Southampton proposal that would incentivize landlords (for example, on accessory apartments) to create affordable housing; the board approved moving forward by voice vote.
Board members reviewed a proposal the Town of Southampton submitted asking for school-district cooperation on a resolution to support development of additional affordable housing via financial incentives for landlords who create affordable accessory apartments. Staff described the proposal and asked whether the board wanted attorneys to draft verbiage.
After discussion about the policy's intent, a motion to have staff and counsel draft the resolution language was made and seconded. The board approved the motion by voice vote; the president called, "All in favor? Aye," and recorded, "Motion carried." The memorandum discussed by staff described the initiative as an amendment "to support the development of additional affordable housing by providing a financial incentive to the landlords," and noted the town's assessor-based measure would avoid reassessment for property owners who agree to keep units affordable.
Trustees said they wanted to see specific draft language and intended to consider the board's role before a petition or ballot proposition appears; one member reminded colleagues that qualifying an organization to appear on a ballot (as part of a proposition) is a legal threshold but not an endorsement by the board.
Next steps: Staff will submit the town's proposal to the district attorney for drafting and return a proposed resolution or motion language to the board for review and possible action.
