Community Housing Needs Assessment in Lake Placid, NY

The Challenge

As a popular vacation and second-homeowner destination, the Town of North Elba and Village of Lake Placid face a workforce housing crisis. With rising second-home ownership levels, housing affordability is an ongoing issue in the community.

The local workforce increasingly commutes from outside the community, which is impacting local businesses’ ability to recruit and retain employees. A growing number of short-term rentals in the community has exacerbated housing affordability and availability issues for the workforce.

The Solution

Camoin Associates was hired to develop a community housing needs assessment identifying the critical housing issues facing the North Elba and Lake Placid communities, with a focus on preserving a year-round working population.

The assessment included a comprehensive analysis of the existing housing supply, community input via a public open house and survey, an employer housing survey analysis, a quantitative workforce housing unit needs analysis, and strategies to address critical housing issues.

The Impact

The housing needs assessment identifies current unmet housing needs, with a particular focus on moderate-income or workforce-level households.

As a result of the needs assessment, the Town is working in partnership with a private developer on a 200+ unit workforce housing development with income-targeted units.

Since the report’s completion, Camoin Associates has also completed an assessment of short-term rental ordinances as the Town and Village work to create equitable regulation of these units. In addition, the report brought attention to rental and condominium housing needs, and Camoin Associates then completed a separate housing market demand and relocation analysis.

Image Source: Opal Unpacked https://opalunpacked.com/street-smart-lake-placids-main-street-2/