(April 7, 2025) The Welcome Home Westchester campaign hosted two dozen local officials on April 3 during its second annual Local Legislature Training, a program designed to provide crucial background, data, best practices and more to newly-elected officials on the housing shortage in Westchester County.
The Welcome Home Westchester campaign is a multi-stakeholder advocacy effort working to provide education and drive conversation toward building the housing we need for those who live and work in Westchester.
The program, hosted at Pace University Elisabeth Haub School of Law in White Plains, included introductory remarks from Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins, who emphasized, “There is not a question that we have a housing challenge.”
Presenters included Kate Slevin, Executive Vice President at the Regional Plan Association; Jacqueline Novotny, Senior Vice President at CBRE; John Barrett, CIREC, Senior Vice President and Managing Director Investment Sales Division at RM Friedland; Chance Mullen, Mayor at the Village of Pelham and Tiffany Zezula, Staff Consultant, Housing Action Council and Deputy Director at Pace University’s Land Use Law Center.
Tim Foley, CEO and Executive Vice President at the Building & Realty Institute of Westchester and the Mid-Hudson Region, fielded questions from the local officials and Michael N. Romita, President & CEO at the Westchester County Association, delivered the event’s closing remarks.
“You all know that the housing crisis is real and it’s important,” Romita said. “You [elected officials] stand in a very unique position to make this better.”
Welcome Home Westchester looks forward to continuing to work with local officials, business and nonprofit leaders, academics, think tanks, anti-homelessness and climate activists, faith leaders, home builders and developers and community advocates to shine a spotlight on the everyday barriers to providing the housing we need.