CONTACT:
Anika Nahar, Campaign Communications Coordinator
The Building and Realty Institute of Westchester and the Mid-Hudson Region
[email protected]
The Welcome Home Westchester Campaign Among Honorees for New York Housing Conference’s 2022 Public Service Award
(ARMONK, N.Y.) The Welcome Home Westchester campaign was recognized for its work in public service at the New York Housing Conference’s 49th Annual Awards on December 1, 2022. This year’s event theme, “Making a Difference” focused on the high impact of affordable housing, making a difference in both lives and communities across New York state.
Welcome Home Westchester, which consists of leaders from various organizations working together to drive a new public conversation around the housing shortage in Westchester County, will be honored alongside East End YIMBY and Open New York, two organizations that also focus heavily on grassroots advocating for pro-housing policies within their local communities.
“Our campaign is thrilled to be standing alongside our allies in Open New York and East End YIMBY as part of a growing YIMBY (“Yes In My Backyard”) pro-housing movement,” said Tim Foley, Chief Executive Officer of The Building & Realty Institute. “Whether it’s through data-driven white papers, through after-action analyses of what actually has happened when multifamily housing was built in our cities, towns, and villages, through community forums, or through Internet memes and web videos, we and our partners in the Welcome Home Westchester campaign are trying to drive a new conversation around housing at the local level. The simple fact is that we need new homes of all different shapes and sizes to meet the present-day needs of our communities, and if we all work together, we can make that happen.”
“We are proud to be partners with Welcome Home Westchester in changing the conversation around housing in Westchester so that every community understands the economic and social benefits of having a wide range of housing opportunities,” said Anahaita Kotval, Chief Executive Officer of Lifting Up Westchester. “We congratulate them on their vision and this well-deserved award.”
“Westchester faces an urgent crisis. The lack of housing that is affordable represents a major threat to the vitality of the county. The toll of the housing crisis is felt disproportionately among employees in the nonprofit sector and the people served by the sector. Nonprofit Westchester is a proud partner in the Welcome Home Westchester campaign and grateful for the leadership, research and data brought forward by the Building and Realty Institute to advance the building and development of workforce housing, to fight homelessness and drive a new conversation around housing,” said Jan Fisher, Executive Director of Nonprofit Westchester.
“Our housing shortage continues to be a major drag on our local economy and a challenge for many employers who consider relocating to Westchester. Moreover, housing development is a major economic engine in its own right, supporting short-term construction jobs and long-term service sector jobs. The Westchester County Association is proud to work alongside the Welcome Home Westchester campaign to help find solutions to the housing shortage and advocate for policies and projects that will bring more housing into our communities and stimulate our local economies,” said Michael Romita, President and Chief Executive Officer of Westchester County Association.
“We are proud to be a partner in the Welcome Home Westchester campaign. We need more affordable housing! Affordable housing is a springboard for the economic and social upward mobility of thousands of individuals and families, from all backgrounds, from all communities, in Westchester County. An investment in more affordable housing now results in generational and lasting benefits for all,” said Ron Abad, Chief Executive Officer of Community Housing Innovations.
The Welcome Home Westchester campaign is primarily focused on two areas: Changing the narrative when it comes to the need for housing and challenging the status quo for Westchester’s 47 municipalities when it comes to land use. Since being launched in 2021, the campaign has been able to produce in-depth studies through data and research that demonstrate the crucial need for housing and debunk some of the myths brought upon by local NIMBY “(Not In My Backyard”) voices.
To learn more about what the Welcome Home Westchester campaign has been doing to change the conversation on housing, visit www.welcomehomewestchester.org.
The Welcome Home Westchester campaign combines several companies involved in the home building and development of housing with economic leaders like the Westchester County Association and Nonprofit Westchester, academics and think tanks that have extensively examined the housing question, organizations dedicated to fighting against homelessness and supporting families in need, faith leaders and community advocates to drive forward a new conversation around housing in the county.
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