The Town Board voted unanimously on Thursday, July 23, to pass a resolution pledging to help alleviate the ongoing housing crisis, the first in a series of steps toward certification under the state’s Pro-Housing Communities Program.
State officials use the term to describe a market in which supply has not kept pace with demand, pushing costs past what local incomes can carry. A 2024 report by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli found roughly 3 million New York households were living with housing insecurity in 2022. The report identified cost burden as a major driver: 2.9 million households, nearly 40 percent of the state’s total, were paying 30 percent or more of their income toward housing, and about 20 percent were paying more than half.
In Windham, the gap between prices and wages is stark. The median home listing price is $599,000 and the median sold price $635,000, according to Realtor.com. This is roughly eight times the town’s median household income of $76,477. Housing is generally considered affordable at about three times income. By that standard, buying a median-priced home in Windham would require an annual income of about $212,000.
John Brust, a principal at Delaware Engineering, an Albany-based consulting firm, brought the resolution forward in hopes of accessing funding for economic development. He said the state offers certain grant programs only to municipalities certified under the program.
“New York State has a widely acknowledged housing crisis,” Brust said. “For a community to take advantage of state-funded economic development grant money, the community has to be what’s called a ‘pro-housing designated community.'”
Certification is a prerequisite for state discretionary funding, according to Homes and Community Renewal, the state housing agency. If designated, Windham would be eligible for programs including the Downtown Revitalization Initiative, New York Forward, the New York Main Street Program, the Regional Council Capital Fund, the Public Transportation Modernization Enhancement Program and capital grants through Market New York. The state budget enacted last year also created a $100 million Pro-Housing Supply Fund, open only to certified communities, for the water and sewer work needed to support new housing.
The resolution, which the state requires be adopted as written, states that the town of Windham “believes that the lack of housing for New York residents of all ages and income levels negatively impacts the future of New York State’s economic growth and community well-being.”
It also encourages “housing production of all kinds” in Windham as a stimulus for economic development, and cites accessible housing as a priority for residents with “sensory and mobility disabilities.”
That provision addresses a documented need. DiNapoli’s report found 43 percent of New York households including someone 75 or older faced housing insecurity, compared with 34 percent nationally. Among households with someone between 62 and 74, the figure was 37 percent, against 29 percent nationally.
Under the resolution, town officials commit to streamline “permitting for multifamily housing, affordable housing, accessible housing, accessory dwelling units and supportive housing,” to adopt policies “that affirmatively further fair housing,” to incorporate “regional housing needs into planning decisions,” to increase “development capacity for residential uses” and to enact policies that encourage housing development townwide.
The resolution also commits Windham to adopt policies that “affirmatively further fair housing,” language drawn from the federal Fair Housing Act, which obliges recipients of federal housing money to take active steps against segregation rather than simply avoid discriminating. DiNapoli’s report found sharp disparities statewide: 55 percent of households headed by a Hispanic person, 50 percent of those headed by a Black person and 48 percent of those headed by an Asian person reported at least one housing insecurity problem, compared with 31 percent of households headed by a white person.
Windham qualified under the program’s second pathway. Municipalities that can document housing growth—upstate, permits increasing their housing stock by 0.33 percent in a year or 1 percent over three years—certify on their permit record alone. Those that cannot must adopt the state’s model resolution.
According to a map Brust provided at the meeting, only two towns in Greene County, Lexington and Cairo, have been certified. The town of Hunter has submitted a letter of intent.
Elsewhere in the Overlook region, the designation is more widespread, with Shandaken, Woodstock and the town of Saugerties all certified. Olive, Hurley and the village of Saugerties have submitted letters of intent. Statewide, 300 localities had been certified and more than 420 had submitted letters of intent as of May 2025.
Census figures show how much of Windham’s housing stock sits idle. In five-year estimates covering 2020 through 2024, the town had an estimated 654 occupied housing units and an estimated 1,687 vacant units, of which 1,631, or nearly 97 percent, were classified as “for seasonal, recreational, or occasional use.” That is 2,341 homes in all, 72 percent of them not occupied year-round. The town’s median household income, $76,477, trails the state median of $85,974.
Supervisor Tom Hoyt said he hoped the designation would bring needed grant funding to the town, particularly to smaller hamlets like Maplecrest. He said he had discussed grant money with the Sugar Maples Center for Creative Arts, an arts center on Big Hollow Road operated by the Catskill Mountain Foundation.
“I’ve had a sit-down with the people that run Sugar Maples because they were looking to apply for some grants for their housing for their students,” Hoyt said. “This would also revitalize the Maplecrest area. The hotel that they’ve brought back to life, it would help them bring it back to life even more if we assist them with this designation.”
Hoyt said the designation was a “positive step forward.”
“It helps them and it also helps us as well,” he said.
Brust said the resolution was the “first step in the process.”
“Then there are a few more steps, and we can help the town with that,” he said. “They involve things like letting the state know about building permits, the percent of new housing stock approved every year, and things like that.”
Brust said the state would provide a determination within 90 days of a complete submission. If Windham receives the designation, the town must resubmit permit and zoning data annually to maintain it.
“The state wants to see that, if you are a pro-housing designated community, you are doing everything in your power to create more housing in the state,” Brust said.
Connor Greco is a staff reporter for The Overlook covering Windham, Hunter, and surrounding Greene County communities. Send correspondence to connor@theoverlooknews.com.
