Advocates say high number of applicants for 84 affordable apartments at Bay Shore indicates demand for housing outpacing supply in LI

Nearly 1,300 people have applied for 84 affordable rental apartments at a new luxury complex in downtown Bay Shore, housing advocates say, highlighting demand for housing that far exceeds supply on Long Island.

More than half of the apartments planned for the former Touro College campus, from studios to one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, will be ready for rent in November, a developer spokesman said. The 418-unit complex, called Shoregate, has been in construction since 2018 and is being built by Tritec, the company behind other major projects like the $1 billion Station Yards in Ronkonkoma.

Market-rate units range in price from $2,480 to $5,300, while affordable units range in price from $1,991 to $2,751.

Households with incomes at or below 80% of the median income in the Nassau/Suffolk area, as determined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Isliptown, can apply. Rents are capped based on requirements set by the city and include a utility allowance, according to the Long Island Housing Partnership, an affordable housing organization overseeing the distribution process for the Tritech development.

The city of Islip asked Tritec to set aside 20% of the total units to be affordable when approving the developer’s application to build at Bay Shore, the developer said.

Local law requires developers to designate 10% or 20% of units in new multifamily developments as affordable, depending on location, the city said.

Housing Partnership President and CEO Peter Elkowitz said he expects more applications will be submitted before the Sept. 18 deadline. Applicants’ names are randomly selected and placed on a waiting list in ranked order by lottery.

Elkowitz said the number of applicants for the Bay Shore development is “normal.” More than a thousand applicants applying for the lottery have become more popular recently “due to the need for additional affordable units here on Long Island.”

“What we’ve seen is that there’s insatiable demand right now for housing at all price points,” said Chris Kelly, vice president of marketing at Tritec.

Elsewhere on Long Island, separate from the housing partnership, about 120 first-time homebuyers in Greenport threw in their hat this summer for the chance to buy five affordable housing units in a new building on the waterfront. Also last summer, more than 500 people applied for 18 affordable apartments in Westbury.

While housing advocates said efforts to include affordable units in new developments like Shoregate are beneficial to renters, They say this is not enough.

“Clearly for the number of applications versus the number of units available, we need to increase that by 10-fold, 15-fold,” said Ian Wilder, CEO of Long Island Housing Services, Inc. “We also need housing for people at lower price points… This is not a criticism of the builder, this is a criticism of how we approach housing.”

Martin Cantor, director of the Long Island Center for Social and Economic Policy, said Bay Shore’s 84 affordable units are “commendable,” but not “even a drop in the bucket” toward solving Long Island’s housing needs.

“Should we applaud the effort? Absolutely. But will it make any difference? No.”

Shereen Dennis, 42, who rents a two-bedroom apartment in Bay Shore with her daughters, ages 14 and 2, applied for the Shoregate Apartments in hopes the opportunity would allow her to continue living in the community where she lives. Likes.

“I am now in a small two-bedroom apartment, paying for my arms and legs, and it barely fits me and my baby… I need more space,” she said.

Over the past five years, the city of Islip has approved the development of approximately 1,040 affordable units in multifamily projects, Supervisor Angie Carpenter said in an email to Newsday. This number does not include approved attached apartments.

The city offers tax breaks and other incentives to developers who allocate affordable units, Carpenter said. Projects in some zoning districts may also be allowed to increase density by up to 10% if the difference would provide more affordable units.

At the state level, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced over the summer that New York would provide $650 million to local governments, including those on Long Island, seeking to expand housing as part of her new plan to combat the housing affordability crisis.

Hochul also continued to advance a plan — criticized by several Long Island lawmakers, including Carpenter — to combat the housing affordability crisis across the state, which would require annual benchmarks for housing growth; Providing $250 million to fund new roads and municipal services; And creating a state board that could veto local zoning laws to break down barriers to new apartments and homes.