Southold explores affordable housing plan for 31-acre Youngs Avenue parcel

Southold moved to study 31.4 town-owned acres on Youngs Avenue for affordable housing, opening a rare public-land option that could serve local workers, young families, seniors and town employees priced out of the North Fork market.

Town Planner Mara Cerezo called the site a “once in a generation planning opportunity,” a description that fits the scale of the parcel and the town’s unusually direct control over it. On April 7, the Southold Town Board, meeting at the Peconic Community Center Auditorium in Peconic, voted to direct the Community Development and Housing Department to prepare a Request for Proposal for the Youngs Avenue Community Housing Parcel, identified as SCTM No. 1000-55.-5-17.

The action does not put shovels in the ground, but it does move the discussion from a general housing goal to a defined site and a formal next step. Because the property is already town-owned, Southold has more flexibility than if it had to assemble land from private owners one lot at a time. That matters on the East End, where land costs are one of the biggest barriers to building below-market homes.

Suffolk County’s housing programs could play a role if Southold advances a plan. County housing officials say their affordable and workforce housing programs can provide land acquisition and infrastructure funding through capital bond proceeds, with preference given to projects of 10 or more units. The county says rental units assisted by those programs must be affordable to households at or below 80% of area median income, while ownership units must be affordable at or below 100% of area median income.

The need is easy to see in Southold’s own housing numbers. Earlier reporting found the town has more than 14,000 homes, about 10% are available for year-round rent, and 37% are second homes. Nearly half of renters and more than 30% of homeowners were paying more than 30% of income on housing, a standard widely used to measure unaffordability. The median North Fork home sale price hit $805,000 in the fourth quarter of 2021, a figure that has helped turn public land into one of the few realistic ways to add homes that year-round residents can afford.

What happens next will depend on density, infrastructure, environmental review and the final mix of units. Southold’s Housing Advisory Commission says its job is to identify appropriate sites for affordable housing and make recommendations to the Town Board, and the town’s Housing Fund, created by legislation in May 2004, gives officials another tool if they decide the Youngs Avenue parcel should become housing. The question now is whether a large public tract can produce enough homes to matter without overwhelming the neighborhood or the town budget.