With less than 60,000 residents, Hamburg, New York might fly under the housing policy radar, but the small town is the first in Western New York to approve inclusionary zoning. Buffalo could be next.
Barbara O'Brien reports that the town of Hamburg has approved a new inclusionary zoning law—the first of its kind for Western New York.
According to O'Brien,
the new provision requires developers to set aside 10 percent of the apartments in multi-family developments of eight or more units for people making less than the median income in Erie County. A single person must make $37,700 or less to qualify for the lower rent, and the income for a family of four would have to be $53,850 or lower.
Under the new law, developers can add a market-rate unit for every affordable unit built.
O'Brien reports on Hamburg's new inclusionary zoning law to inform the ongoing discussion regarding Buffalo's new Green Code. According to O'Brien, "[inclusionary zoning] is the same type of program People United for Sustainable Housing in Buffalo, or PUSH Buffalo, and other groups, such as Open Buffalo and the Partnership for the Public Good, are advocating as the city updates its zoning and land use plans with its new Green Code."
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Journal of the American Planning Association