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As Housing Shortage Escalates, Welcome Home Westchester Urges Municipal Leaders to Take Housing Action
Westchester County officials attend ‘Housing 101’ training; unveiling of housing policy agenda
White Plains, NY, April 21, 2026 – More than two dozen elected officials from cities, towns and villages in Westchester County joined the Welcome Home Westchester campaign (WHW) for a “Housing 101” training on Monday, April 20.
The annual training, designed for newly-elected municipal officials, brings housing experts and advocates together for presentations and discussions on addressing the urgent housing needs in Westchester communities. Attendees heard data on the county’s increasing housing shortage, along with local perspectives and best practices from their peers. With the U.S. Census Bureau’s recent announcement that Westchester is the fastest-growing county in New York, and has reached its highest population ever, the need for housing has also spiked.
Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins delivered remarks at the event, held at Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University in White Plains. He acknowledged that difficult housing conversations are happening at all levels of government.
“It’s a challenge where we are right now,” he stated. “The average house price in Westchester is $994,000 – that’s just not affordable to most people, period.”
Maulin Mehta, New York director at Regional Plan Association, shared statistics about the current housing shortfall, which is about 21,000 total units today. He noted that at the current growth rate, Westchester County is on track to being short 44,000-77,000 housing units by 2040.
Local officials also heard about state opportunities, including the NYS Pro-Housing Communities Program and numerous grant programs, from Ross Karp, downstate development director at New York State’s Homes and Community Renewal (HCR). He shared that the area median income (AMI) for a family of four in Westchester County is $170,000 – a HUD-defined figure that determines who qualifies for affordable housing in the region.
Michael Romita, president & CEO, Westchester County Association, and Jan Fisher, executive director, Nonprofit Westchester, emphasized the importance of smart development and housing the workforce that keeps Westchester’s economy afloat.
“We are never going to have true economic and workforce development unless we have an open, accessible, real commitment to housing for everyone,” Fisher stated.
Tiffany Zezula, deputy director at the Land Use Law Center, advised municipal leaders to use state and local tools to analyze their communities’ individual housing needs, while representatives from the villages of Briarcliff Manor and Port Chester discussed the benefits their communities have enjoyed from building more housing and offered unique approaches to development.
Port Chester Village Manager Stuart Rabin, Industrial Development Agency Chairman Frank Ferrara and Greg Cutler, AICP, director, Department of Planning & Economic Development, urged municipalities to tackle housing development from a holistic standpoint.
“Housing shouldn’t be viewed on an island,” Ferrara said, encouraging elected officials to consider ways they can improve the areas where housing is added. “We want to benefit both the community and new neighbors we’re bringing in.”
Briarcliff Manor Mayor Steven Vescio said that maintaining the quality of life in Westchester communities can and should be done simultaneously with housing growth.
He asserted, “We, as government officials, need to find ways to relieve the tax burden or no one will want to live here.”
Welcome Home Westchester is a multistakeholder advocacy effort consisting of business and nonprofit leaders, academics, think tanks, faith leaders and community advocates working together to drive a public conversation around fixing the housing shortage in Westchester County. For more information about the Welcome Home Westchester campaign and how you can take action, please visit www.welcomehomewestchester.org.