East Hampton Advances Plan for 50 Affordable Housing Units

East Hampton advanced a plan to add a few drops of housing to its desert of affordability.

The ritzy Hamptons town transferred ownership of two vacant properties on Route 114 in Wainscott to the East Hampton Housing Authority, Newsday reported. The local housing authority plans to build 50 units on the 6.5-acre site.

“We could have 10 more of those and have 100 percent occupancy,” Catherine Casey, the authority’s executive director, told the publication.

There are still steps to be taken to get the project going, a process that has been percolating since East Hampton purchased the wooded properties for $1.8 million in 2019 and 2020. For starters, the housing authority will need to team up with a developer and manager for the development.

The layout needs to be examined to help determine where the buildings can actually be constructed, according to Casey. Sitework and design could take 12 to 18 months.

Eventually, the affordable development is to become the second by the town — and the first since 2008. It will house residents earning up to 130 percent of the area median income.

On Three Mile Harbor Road, a 50-unit development is capped at 60 percent of the AMI. More than 500 prospective renters recently lost a housing lottery that awarded 41 of the units.

There’s been plenty of talk in East Hampton about adding housing affordable to the town’s stretched-out workforce, but progress has been slow.

In 2022, East Hampton launched an “All Hands on Housing” initiative to address the affordability crisis in the East End town. That year, to fund affordable housing, residents approved a 0.5 percent tax on real estate transactions.

Last week, the Hochul administration designated East Hampton as a “pro-housing community.” It was the first town in Suffolk County to get the nod. The certification comes with access to a $650 million pot of state funds for economic development.

— Holden Walter-Warner