Young adults leaving at alarming rate: study

Anthony Oreilly

Young adults ages 24-35 have been fleeing Long Island towns and villages to more economically diverse neighborhoods at an alarming rate since 2000 due to a lack of affordable housing, according to a study published last week. 

The Village of Kings Point has lost 58 percent of its young adult population in the same time span, according to the study, the highest rate of any municipality on Long Island. 

Nassau County as a whole saw a decrease of 12.43 percent despite a nationwide gain of 2.76 percent in the same demographic, according to the study conducted by Community Housing Innovations.

Executive Director of Community Housing Innovations and Great Neck native Alexander Roberts said the study found that young adults moved away from the exclusive and wealthy neighborhoods because they could not afford the single- family residences that have been built in favor of affordable multi-family residences. 

The results of the study were announced at a press conference last week in the Village of Great Neck Plaza, which has seen a 14 percent decrease in the amount of young adults since 2000. 

The neighboring villages of Great Neck Estates and Great Neck have seen a decrease of 44 percent and 21 percent respectively. 

Community Housing Initiatives praised Village of Great Neck Plaza Mayor Jean Celender for recently approving a mixed-use housing development on Grace Avenue, built by developer Hooshang Nematzadeh. 

“We recognize that lack of affordable housing is contributing to the exodus of youth and that has negative consequences for the health of our community, its volunteer fire and emergency medical services, and its tax base,” Celender said in a press release. “And that’s why we have moved ahead with sustainable growth in our downtown.”

Nematzadeh, who is the owner of Nemat Homes Inc. and Kings Point trustee said he believes it’s important for villages to zone for multi-family housing developments, especially around public transportation. 

Villages and municipalities have pushed the young adult population out through an act known as “exclusionary zoning,” the act of designating land for single-family residences instead of multi-family homes, Roberts said. 

The laws, Roberts said, are also affecting senior citizens and low-income minorities who can’t afford the single family housing developments. 

“Exclusionary zoning is a blunt instrument, it affects everybody,” Roberts said. 

These laws, Roberts said, contradict the Long Island Workforce Housing Act, a state law passed in 2008 which requires 10 percent of any development of five or more units to be set aside for families with incomes less than 130 percent of the area median income. 

“But even that standard is not being followed and neither municipalities nor New York State are enforcing the law,” the study says. 

Roberts said his organization is calling on state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to make sure municipalities are enforcing the law.

“We’d like him to look into how it’s being enforced,” Roberts said. “We feel that it’s his responsibility to make sure it’s enforced.” 

In addition to problem of being able to afford a residence, Roberts said, young adults also prefer the landscape of makeup of neighborhoods in upper Manhattan and Brooklyn. 

“[Millenials] want a dynamic downtown,” Roberts said. “The preferences of the millenial generation are very different than that of suburbanites. They like walkability and diversity.”  

Roberts said the highest concentration of young adults leaving Long Island were in the wealthiest and most exclusive villages, such as Kings Point. 

“The more expensive and exclusive, the greater the exodus,” he said.

A single family residence in Kings Point was recently listed for sale at $7.2 million and includes its own elevator, a spa, outdoor jacuzzi and home theater. 

Calls to the Village of Kings Point for a comment on the study were unavailing.

Nematzadeh, however, said the decision to zone for multi-family housing should be “up to the board of trustees and mayors of every village, because they have to take the views of the residents into account.”

Roberts said the study was not meant to lambast the single family houses built across Long Island, but to point out the need to have them coexist with affordable housing. 

“Every municipality has an obligation to provide a full array of housing,” he said.

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