Hudson Valley Alliance for Housing and Conservation

Healthy communities need both abundant, affordable housing and protected land that supports clean water, food production, climate resilience, and outdoor access.

Land is the common denominator - neither affordable housing nor conservation goals can be achieved without it. This unique, regional approach built on shared values, trust and mutual support is creating a new playbook.

Brought together by project co-conveners Rebecca Gillman Crimmins and Steve Rosenberg under the auspices of initial project sponsor Regional Plan Association (RPA), 14 of the region’s leading land trusts and affordable housing organizations are partnering to advance the effort. All 14 groups, along with The Nature Conservancy and eight private donors, contributed $183,000 to support the initial phase of work.

The groups participated in ten monthly meetings facilitated by the Consensus Building Institute beginning in July 2022, to build relationships and trust, share information, learn from experts in both fields, and consider what they can undertake together. In this short period, they have achieved several important outcomes:

• Developed a shared purpose statement that encapsulates the values and goals that bind them in this work.
• Created a list of shared public policy ideas for further exploration to de-silo existing programs and support both sectors; and
• Supported by RPA, created a GIS-based map of places that may be well-suited to collaborative projects.

In Spring 2023, Phase 2 of the project began with funding from The New York State Conservation Partnership Program (NYSCPP) and New York’s Environmental Protection Fund, administered by the Land Trust Alliance in coordination with the state Department of Environmental Conservation, which grant is being administered by grantee and fiscal sponsor Columbia Land Conservancy (CLC).

The Current Context

The Hudson River Valley region that we call home is becoming an increasingly unsustainable and inequitable place to live. A variety of factors have contributed to the present reality: single family sprawl over denser, smart growth development; the COVID-19 real estate boom; vulnerable existing rental housing, and the perception that affordable housing brings unwanted change to communities. These factors have contributed to untenable real estate appreciation, the displacement of low-income and Black and Brown communities, and dwindling housing stock for families with modest incomes. Natural assets such as the Hudson River and its tributaries, hunting and fishing areas, and informal community open spaces are increasingly at risk due to unfettered real estate development. Climate change is threatening the environment. The loss of biodiversity, threats to sustainable agriculture and local food supply, urban heat islands, storm surges, and flooding are impacting our residents, infrastructure and resources. These challenges affect us all.

Affordable housing and land conservation organizations have made progress addressing these issues within their own sectors. Yet, the problems we face are too urgent, massive and intertwined to be solved alone. The current siloed approach is not accomplishing enough.

Our Vision

Our Work Together

We are banding together to take a holistic approach to these complex and urgent problems, and have a larger-scale impact. Collectively, we can better serve Hudson Valley residents and communities by meeting the need for affordable housing, conserving important lands for human and ecological benefit, and adapting to and mitigating the effects of climate change. This collaborative approach allows us to leverage and learn from each sector’s successes, resources, methods, and constituencies. We hope that our collaboration will drive progress, serve as a model for change within and across sectors, and result in increased collaboration among our organizations and stakeholders. Our network makes us more nimble, equitable and expansive in serving our collective constituencies and realizing our vision.

We expect our work to include:

• Learning about each sector’s best practices and outcomes;
• Identifying shared interests and opportunities for collaboration;
• Leveraging our collective strength to pilot new approaches;
• Advocating for changes in public policy; and
• Communicating our shared priorities to our respective organizations, constituents, policy makers, and the public.

We hope that our collaboration will contribute to a thriving Hudson River Valley region that is more welcoming, inclusive, affordable, accessible, and sustaining all who live here now and in the future.

Regional Plan Association staff provided technical capacity to identify locations where the conditions appear to be conducive to on-the-ground collaboration. These are places where there is both suitability and perceived receptivity towards land conservation and affordable housing initiatives. The sites listed below reflect a quantitative analysis based on smart growth, land conservation and climate resiliency criteria, and a qualitative analysis of perceived political receptivity based on feedback from HVAH&C participants. Through this process RPA identified 32 potentially receptive localities, at least two per county within the study area. The locations include urban, suburban, and rural conditions.

Al Bellenchia, Executive Director/CEO, Columbia County Habitat for Humanity. The group provides affordable homeownership for traditionally underserved communities. Al has global experience in strategic planning, marketing, management, and organizational development. Under his leadership, Columbia Habitat is evolving to provide more homes and services to low to moderate-income families. He is a Trustee of The Friends of Lindenwald (home of President Martin Van Buren) and a director of the Kinderhook Tri-Village Rotary Club.

Columbia Land Conservancy - fiscal sponsor, participating organization. Marissa Codey, Special Projects Advisor, Columbia Land Conservancy. The Columbia Land Conservancy brings people together to conserve, appreciate and enjoy land. Marissa has 20+ years of experience working with individuals, families, community groups and partner organizations to facilitate conservation projects and transactions, many of which incorporate affordability provisions and techniques.

The Consensus Building Institute (CBI), Project facilitation and coordination. CBI is a nationally and internationally recognized not-for-profit organization, that provides organizational development and high-skilled facilitation for state and federal agencies, non-profits, and international development agencies around the world. Ona Ferguson, senior mediator, has for 20 years designed and facilitated committees and big public meetings with a focus on helping groups work constructively together on natural resource and public policy issues. Sophie Carillo-Mandel, associate, has over a decade of combined experience in facilitation services, on-the-ground natural resource management, and event planning. Abby Fullem, associate, supports the facilitation and mediation of environmental and public policy processes.

Rebecca Gillman Crimmins, the project’s co-convener, has worked on the financing and development of affordable and supportive housing, as well as planning and policy in government and nonprofits for over 10 years. She is currently the Senior Vice President of Real Estate and Development at the Institute for Community Living. Previously, she was an Assistant Vice President at New York State Homes and Community Renewal financing affordable housing across the State.

Regional Plan Association - GIS, website administration. RPA is an independent non-profit civic organization that develops and promotes ideas to improve the economic health, environmental resiliency, and quality of life of the New York metropolitan area. Moses Gates, Vice President, Housing & Neighborhood Planning, Regional Plan Association, leads the organization’s planning, research and advocacy efforts in affordable housing, economic development, and urban design. Marcel Negret, Sr. Planner, Regional Plan Association, combines systemic thinking with design, spatial analysis, and data visualization to support planning and advocacy efforts at both the regional and neighborhood level.

Steve Rosenberg, the project’s co-convener, is the former Sr. VP of Scenic Hudson and Exec. Director of the Scenic Hudson Land Trust. Steve served on the board of the Land Trust Alliance for nine years. He has led many efforts bringing land, equity and conservation together at the regional scale, including authoring the NYC/Hudson Valley Foodshed Conservation Plan, launching Scenic Hudson’s River Cities Program, and leading efforts to transform the Hudson’s post-industrial waterfronts into safe and inviting public places.

In this next phase, the participating organizations and project team are working together to:

• Communicate differently about their work, to implement the principles and values set forth in this process.

• Model collaborative projects, through regular, facilitated meetings of the ten participating groups and smaller working groups.

• Reach out to and expand the circle of organizations and interests involved in this emerging network.
• Share the work with state, county and local officials and agency staff.
• Develop policy proposals and legal structures to support cross-sector collaboration.

As the project advances, the groups will demonstrate through their work that communities are more sustainable when both needs are being met. Ultimately, the goal is to: bring about affordable, energy-efficient housing near existing town and city centers, accessible to conserved land; address the twin, rural challenges of housing families and workers and conserving farms and natural areas; adapt former industrial/commercial sites into housing, conserved land and renewable energy; and redevelop urban sites with affordable housing and access to parks, jobs, and local food. All of this will result in more equitable and climate-forward places to live.

The Hudson Valley Affordable Housing & Conservation Strategy has been featured at several forums in and outside of the region:

• November 2022 Lincoln Institute of Land Policy Colloquium on Community Land Trusts and Conservation Land Trusts, case study presented by co-conveners Rebecca Gillman Crimmins and Steve Rosenberg

• February 2023 Connecticut Affordable Housing and Land Conservation Summit, Keynote presented by co-conveners Rebecca Gillman Crimmins and Steve Rosenberg

• March 2023 Massachusetts Land Coalition Annual Conference, Keynote presented by convener Steve Rosenberg

• May 2023 New York Land Trust Conference, Workshop presented by co-conveners Rebecca Gillman Crimmins and Steve Rosenberg, Habitat for Humanity of Columbia County executive director Al Bellenchia, and Scenic Hudson Land Trust executive director Seth McKee.

• May 2023 Annual Conference of New York State Affordable Housing Association, panel presentation by convener Rebecca Gillman Crimmins

• Steve Rosenberg spoke and moderated a panel discussion at the Salisbury Forum in September.

• Rebecca Gillman Crimmins and Steve Rosenberg keynoted the Mohonk Consultations Conference at Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz in November.

Donations of $10,000+

The project could not have proceeded without generous support provided by:

• The New York State Conservation Partnership Program (NYSCPP) and New York’s Environmental Protection Fund, administered by the Land Trust Alliance in coordination with the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

• The Nature Conservancy

• Community Preservation Corporation

• Mission Title

• Susan Ferris

• Dutchess Land Conservancy

• Scenic Hudson Land Trust

• And a number of generous, anonymous donors

This section describes the methodology used to identify places where there is both suitability and receptivity towards additional land conservation and affordable housing initiatives. The suitability of a place was determined based on the quantitative analysis of physical attributes of both built and natural conditions. Receptivity was determined based on qualitative documentation of perceived local receptivity towards housing and conservation initiatives.