The Middletown Town Council will be holding a meeting on July 15 to discuss the town’s efforts to address the need for affordable housing.
The meeting was postponed two weeks from its original July 1 session in order to provide an opportunity for all interested parties to attend and provide input, said Town Administrator Shawn J. Brown.
Representatives with the town’s consultants Pennrose and Union Studios will be on hand to discuss recommendations for the town regarding the production of affordable housing units.
The town is currently in the process of conducting a housing survey aimed at getting feedback from residents and business owners about their housing needs. The survey is available online and must be submitted by June 30 in order to be accepted.
“For the sake of transparency, we wanted to push this conversation back so that everyone who’s impacted and effected could be at the table,” said Brown. “The Town Council has stressed that affordable housing is its No. 1 priority and we’re working hard to make sure we’re doing what we can to help.”
Based on feedback from the state, the town’s initial applications for state support for affordable housing projects were not as desirable as they would have been in order to attract funding. The town had hoped to create up to 22 affordable housing units at the old Peckham School next to the Middletown Senior Center, and up to 35 units at the Oliphant Lane site next to the current school’s administrative and maintenance offices.
The town’s Affordable Housing Committee is expected to hear from Pennrose and Union Studios at its next meeting on July 10 in order to discuss the further steps necessary to carry out the town’s housing initiatives.
The next opportunity for the town to submit an application for state funding is in December.
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) assisted a What’sUpNewp journalist with the reporting included in this story.
