What is the Ulster County Housing Smart Communities Initiative?

The Ulster County Housing Smart Communities Initiative (Housing Smart Communities) is a certification and capacity-building program that supports communities in meeting their housing needs. The program provides guidance, technical support, and incentives for local municipalities working to address their housing and affordability challenges.

How does the program work?

Ulster County communities choosing to participate in the program will begin a certification process to become a Housing Smart Community and be awarded a certification level (e.g., Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum) based on the number of Housing Smart Actions taken by the municipality. In turn, municipalities will receive support services and incentives from the Ulster County Planning Department to develop and adopt housing-related policies that address the community’s housing affordability challenges.

This program is one of five strategies included in the Ulster County Housing Action Plan which was adopted in 2021.

Housing Smart Communities Webinar – Program Overview

In October 2022, a series of informational webinars were held as part of the launch of the Housing Smart Communities Initiative. Below is a recording from our webinar on October 17th, 2022.