Housing Mythbusters

More Mythbusters

It is unfortunate that many have taken this important issue and tried to make it a political issue. We have tried to keep focused on our projects and the facts regarding the issues. But so many Myths are originating from the political campaigns going on that some Myths needed to be addressed.
Myth #5: "If these properties come off of the grand list in the future, what would be the adverse affect on our tax revenues, as well as the mill rate?"
This Myth came from a letter to the editor in the Register Citizen. This individual seems to think GHT will take property OFF the tax rolls.

MYTH

This individual doesn't understand how taxes work in our State or our Town. Just because a home is owned by a non-profit corporation doesn't mean it is exempt from paying property taxes - on homes or cars. And for a rental property, the landlord pays taxes from the rents.

As the Goshen Housing Trust has told everyone repeatedly, Town of Goshen property taxes will be paid on any affordable housing we own or sell to others. In fact, when we take an undeveloped property and develop housing on it, we are ADDING to the Grand List, not reducing it.
Myth #6: "The Goshen Housing Trust has been elevated to a governing status in this town and people overwhelmingly object to it. "
This Myth is ... well this one is just dumb.

MYTH

The Goshen Housing Trust hardly has governing status. Come on!

Everything we do is subject to review, public hearings, and lots of laws and regulations. We are governed, not governing.

Just like the Goshen Land Trust, we are a non-profit that must live and operate within the laws of our Town, State and Country. We are no different.

The Goshen Land Trust was formed by a group of citizens to address the issues of preserving open space in our Town. The Goshen Housing Trust was formed by a group of citizens to help address housing needs of the young and seniors in our Town - a need that has repeatedly been raised by the people of this town over the years.

Each of these groups are run by citizen volunteers with the best interests of the Town in mind.

Each works within the processes defined by the law.
Myth #7: "There is no need to fix something that is NOT broken, affordable housing is not an issue in Goshen."
The Myth being spread here is that there is no housing issue. Also that the Goshen Housing trust made this up. In secret. Its a conspiracy.

MYTH

The need for housing diversity to address the need of the young and seniors has been talked about in this Town since at least 1988 when a survey of its citizens was done. Well-attended open community meetings have been held on the issue over the years at which the indisputable data that makes the issue clear was presented.

In 2016 as part of updating the Town's Plan of Conservation and Development, a full house, open planning session was held in which, once again, the people of the Town identified housing diversity for the young and seniors as a high priority. See the picture, above - maybe you where you there?

The clear result of this inclusive, formal planning process was that the Town has a housing issue.

And, in fact, in the Plan document that the Planning and Zoning Commission issued stated specifically that working with the Goshen Housing Trust to address this problem was a goal. Check it out.

How's that for being secretive?

We have actively explored many options for addressing this issue; rarely in secret.

In 2012, we explored acquiring a piece of Town-owned land for which we held an informational meeting at GCS Cafeteria that was well attended. We didn't pursue the property in the end due to a legal issue with it. But we had a great meeting, did town-wide mailings, etc.

Since then we have actively worked with local real estate brokers exploring the possibility of buying homes on the market for conversion to affordable housing. We came close on a number of these. We also investigated many parcels of undeveloped land around the Town for purchase.

We have also participated in the Northwest Hills Housing Council for many years in open public meetings discussing our plans along with others.

Apparently the people who are saying there is no issue and that we have been secretive were off doing something else while our volunteers were working on the issue for our Town??
Myth #8: If Goshen Housing Trust Wasn't Hiding Something, Then Why Did They Wait So Long To Talk About Beach Street?
The Goshen Housing Trust contacted some of the direct neighbors of the Beach Street parcel as early as October 2018. We met and reviewed everything we knew about our plans at the time. We offered to continue to work with the neighbors to make our project as acceptable as possible.

The neighbors response was to hire an attorney and tell us they would fight the project. At that point, we were forced to hire an attorney to defend us.

Our attorney advised us that we should not speak publicly about our plans. The law defines a communication process around the approvals required to do a project such as the one we were contemplating. Extensive engineering and planning is required. Our attorney advised that we wait until ready with complete plans to begin that process. The approvals process, which is both extensive and inclusive of the Town through public hearings, would provide plenty of opportunity for the details of the project to be known and the sentiment of the Town to be heard.

So we were constrained in what we could say because we were being threatened legally and we were trying to be respectful of the land use process prescribed by law.

Of course, our opposition has been free to spread misinformation unchallenged for months now.
Myth #9: On Tuesday GHT Announced its Plans for Village Marketplace. One question we keep hearing is:

"How will the TOWN pay for it?”
Well the Myth here is that the Town will have to pay for this project.

They won't.

That is a MYTH that some put forward to make people fear what we are doing.

Just like the Goshen Land Trust pays for the land it acquires without assistance from the Town, the GHT will pay for its purchase of Village Market with out the Town paying anything.

Not only will GHT pay for the purchase and renovation of the apartments and commercial spaces, it will contribute to the Town by paying taxes on the property which our tenants in turn will pay through their rents.

The Town of Goshen has never given a dime to the GHT and we are not asking for any for this project.

We will primarily pay for this with a good old fashioned mortgage. The cash flows from the rents will pay the mortgage. We will take advantage of grant funds available to us for affordable housing from the Federal and State governments in order to invest in improvements.

Frankly, this is why the GHT model is so powerful for our Town. The Town's critical housing issue is being addressed without the Town spending anything creating the housing.


What About The Hidden Costs?

What hidden costs?

Village Marketplace already exists. It has 17 residential units in which people have been living for the past 40+ years. It is pretty clear that the cost of any municipal services associated with Village Marketplace are already in the Town's budget.
REPORT THOSE MYTHS!

Have you heard a MYTH? Let us know so we can address it.

Send your MYTHs to GoshenHousing@optonline.net

Thank you!

ATTEND OUR INFORMATION MEETING

Please join us and plan to attend our first Information Meeting on July 27th, Registration is required but there is plenty of room!

Learn about why affordable housing is important for Goshen.

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Visit Our Website at http: www.GoshenHousingTrust.org