This is a fascinating post and I can’t wait to do a deep dive into the Pattern for Progress report later this evening. My husband and I have only lived in Hudson for nine years at this point, but the trends in housing and commercial real estate are really difficult to watch, especially since the pandemic. We’ve remarked to each other more than once that there’s no way we could afford to move to Hudson now; in less than a decade we’ve been priced out of our own city.
I’ve given up any hope of the city somehow controlling the number of buildings bought by absentee investors that are allowed to just sit vacant instead of being used for housing, so it feels like ADU’s might be the best bet. There are plenty of garages and carriage houses that could be fixed up, or people who have enough room in their yard for a nice little one bedroom apartment or two. Extra income, extra housing, it feels like it could be a win-win. The problem with that is building costs. I just don’t see how it could be financially possible to build or renovate and then afford to make the apartments available as affordable workforce housing. My husband and I live in a duplex, my retired mother lives on the other side, last year we took on a building project that at the moment will function as an extension on our side, some extra space we can enjoy, but once she is not able to live alone anymore will provide her with separate living space under our roof, and we can then turn her two bedroom side of the duplex back into an affordable rental. We’ve been met with disdain and weird aggression from nearly everyone in this building process, we were flat out told by one of the local companies bidding on the foundation that there is sometimes an unspoken “Hudson tax” and quotes given to people inside the city are often higher because the people here have (or appear to have) more money and the city is more difficult to work with. We found out a few weeks ago that an element that has been in our engineer/architect stamped plans from day one, and on file with the city for months, is going to have to be rebuilt because it has just now been discovered it’s slightly off code, to the tune of two months of my husband’s and my combined salary. I literally cried when I got that news.
We did months of research before starting this project to ensure that we could afford it before starting something we couldn’t finish, at the moment it is coming in over 200% of the high end of the national average for new construction, and 14 months later we still cannot live in it. This is a project the size of a two bedroom ADU. How can anyone who’s not already wealthy afford to build these additional dwelling units, and then how could they possibly be affordable? On virtually every aspect of this project we asked for multiple quotes from multigenerational local businesses and they were always the highest; I fear that we are in this never-ending cycle, an ouroboros of wealthy people moving into the area and raising prices, and local businesses taking advantage of that, further raising prices just because someone will now pay them, until living even remotely comfortably is out of reach to all but the most wealthy. There are some tax breaks available to people who make workforce housing, but as far as I’ve read those seem to mostly be in the form of PILOT programs available to already obscenely wealthy individuals building large projects as investments. I don’t have solutions, and this feels like it’s become a rant at this point, but I love this town, and this is something that keeps me up at night. I feel like the only solution lies in a large percentage of people agreeing to be less selfish, and I worry that’s a point so far in the rearview mirror culturally that it’s a foolish thought to even have.
We have a shop on Warren street, and rent is so high it’s very difficult to afford to offer affordable merchandise. I’ve made a point of always having something stupid-but-nice in the shop that someone with just a $10 bill can afford; the $9 bags of imported Swedish fish should be $11-12 (that number is about to grow even higher with the new tariffs), but I keep the price low by adding $50 to an expensive antique. The person who buys that $750 champagne bucket is subsidizing 50 bags of Swedish fish, because this shop is my world and I’ve decided they can afford it. I feel like our housing solution lies somewhere along these lines, we need to stop subsidizing wealthy mega projects and concentrate more on helping a middle class family turn that garage into an ADU…but I’m at a loss right now, and my husband is staring at the wall of text I’ve been writing probably with justified concern. So, I’ll just wrap it up and say I’m so glad I found this Substack, and I’ll be diving into the report later. Thanks so much for starting this project!
I hear you -- it’s heartbreaking to watch the affordability challenges unfold, both for residents and for local businesses. Your building project story really highlights how difficult it is for anyone who isn’t already wealthy to manage these housing or renovation projects -- so sorry you went through that. It's clear that this cycle is only escalating, with new residents driving up costs, and local businesses and workers adjusting their prices to match.
I’m especially grateful to hear from you as a business owner on Warren Street — you’re right, it’s one thing to talk about housing issues, but it’s another to see it directly impacting small businesses. I truly respect and admire the businesses that are still here, doing their best to stay accessible. I never want to come off as unsympathetic to the position that business owners like you are in. It’s such a tough spot, and the fact that you’re working to make sure there’s something affordable in your shop is really inspiring.
As for ADUs, there is a program that might be helpful to know about: the Plus One ADU Program through RUPCO, which provides funding to help with building or renovating accessory dwelling units in Columbia County. It’s one of the few opportunities I’ve seen that might help homeowners navigate some of the financial barriers you’ve described.
Thank you for sharing your story and for being a part of this conversation. And for reading!
That’s great, I’ll look into the Plus One ADU Program (it’s too late for us, but I know neighbors have expressed interest in turning a barn/garage into an ADU)!
Exquisite article! I left Hudson in 2015 and would have loved to rerun but there’s no way I would survive there and even before I relocated I didn’t really feel welcome in the local shops. I traveled to Greenport to do my shopping and dining out. My kids even longed to return to Hudson but unfortunately it wasn’t affordable.
Really well done piece. As a former Hudson resident who was priced out of the market I can identify. As a person who works in housing I nod in agreement.
This is a fascinating post and I can’t wait to do a deep dive into the Pattern for Progress report later this evening. My husband and I have only lived in Hudson for nine years at this point, but the trends in housing and commercial real estate are really difficult to watch, especially since the pandemic. We’ve remarked to each other more than once that there’s no way we could afford to move to Hudson now; in less than a decade we’ve been priced out of our own city.
I’ve given up any hope of the city somehow controlling the number of buildings bought by absentee investors that are allowed to just sit vacant instead of being used for housing, so it feels like ADU’s might be the best bet. There are plenty of garages and carriage houses that could be fixed up, or people who have enough room in their yard for a nice little one bedroom apartment or two. Extra income, extra housing, it feels like it could be a win-win. The problem with that is building costs. I just don’t see how it could be financially possible to build or renovate and then afford to make the apartments available as affordable workforce housing. My husband and I live in a duplex, my retired mother lives on the other side, last year we took on a building project that at the moment will function as an extension on our side, some extra space we can enjoy, but once she is not able to live alone anymore will provide her with separate living space under our roof, and we can then turn her two bedroom side of the duplex back into an affordable rental. We’ve been met with disdain and weird aggression from nearly everyone in this building process, we were flat out told by one of the local companies bidding on the foundation that there is sometimes an unspoken “Hudson tax” and quotes given to people inside the city are often higher because the people here have (or appear to have) more money and the city is more difficult to work with. We found out a few weeks ago that an element that has been in our engineer/architect stamped plans from day one, and on file with the city for months, is going to have to be rebuilt because it has just now been discovered it’s slightly off code, to the tune of two months of my husband’s and my combined salary. I literally cried when I got that news.
We did months of research before starting this project to ensure that we could afford it before starting something we couldn’t finish, at the moment it is coming in over 200% of the high end of the national average for new construction, and 14 months later we still cannot live in it. This is a project the size of a two bedroom ADU. How can anyone who’s not already wealthy afford to build these additional dwelling units, and then how could they possibly be affordable? On virtually every aspect of this project we asked for multiple quotes from multigenerational local businesses and they were always the highest; I fear that we are in this never-ending cycle, an ouroboros of wealthy people moving into the area and raising prices, and local businesses taking advantage of that, further raising prices just because someone will now pay them, until living even remotely comfortably is out of reach to all but the most wealthy. There are some tax breaks available to people who make workforce housing, but as far as I’ve read those seem to mostly be in the form of PILOT programs available to already obscenely wealthy individuals building large projects as investments. I don’t have solutions, and this feels like it’s become a rant at this point, but I love this town, and this is something that keeps me up at night. I feel like the only solution lies in a large percentage of people agreeing to be less selfish, and I worry that’s a point so far in the rearview mirror culturally that it’s a foolish thought to even have.
We have a shop on Warren street, and rent is so high it’s very difficult to afford to offer affordable merchandise. I’ve made a point of always having something stupid-but-nice in the shop that someone with just a $10 bill can afford; the $9 bags of imported Swedish fish should be $11-12 (that number is about to grow even higher with the new tariffs), but I keep the price low by adding $50 to an expensive antique. The person who buys that $750 champagne bucket is subsidizing 50 bags of Swedish fish, because this shop is my world and I’ve decided they can afford it. I feel like our housing solution lies somewhere along these lines, we need to stop subsidizing wealthy mega projects and concentrate more on helping a middle class family turn that garage into an ADU…but I’m at a loss right now, and my husband is staring at the wall of text I’ve been writing probably with justified concern. So, I’ll just wrap it up and say I’m so glad I found this Substack, and I’ll be diving into the report later. Thanks so much for starting this project!
I hear you -- it’s heartbreaking to watch the affordability challenges unfold, both for residents and for local businesses. Your building project story really highlights how difficult it is for anyone who isn’t already wealthy to manage these housing or renovation projects -- so sorry you went through that. It's clear that this cycle is only escalating, with new residents driving up costs, and local businesses and workers adjusting their prices to match.
I’m especially grateful to hear from you as a business owner on Warren Street — you’re right, it’s one thing to talk about housing issues, but it’s another to see it directly impacting small businesses. I truly respect and admire the businesses that are still here, doing their best to stay accessible. I never want to come off as unsympathetic to the position that business owners like you are in. It’s such a tough spot, and the fact that you’re working to make sure there’s something affordable in your shop is really inspiring.
As for ADUs, there is a program that might be helpful to know about: the Plus One ADU Program through RUPCO, which provides funding to help with building or renovating accessory dwelling units in Columbia County. It’s one of the few opportunities I’ve seen that might help homeowners navigate some of the financial barriers you’ve described.
Thank you for sharing your story and for being a part of this conversation. And for reading!
That’s great, I’ll look into the Plus One ADU Program (it’s too late for us, but I know neighbors have expressed interest in turning a barn/garage into an ADU)!
Exquisite article! I left Hudson in 2015 and would have loved to rerun but there’s no way I would survive there and even before I relocated I didn’t really feel welcome in the local shops. I traveled to Greenport to do my shopping and dining out. My kids even longed to return to Hudson but unfortunately it wasn’t affordable.
Really well done piece. As a former Hudson resident who was priced out of the market I can identify. As a person who works in housing I nod in agreement.