GUILDERLAND — Since Guilderland’s Industrial Development Agency’s board adopted a workforce housing policy, Chief Executive Officer Donald Csaposs says developers are “looking for a leverage point.”

Csapos explained at the board’s Jan. 27 meeting that he’d heard from several developers, “And it’s like, ‘OK, you’ve got this policy and you say if you set aside X percent of units for people making 80 percent or less of area median income, you’re potentially eligible for a PILOT arrangement,” he said, referencing a payment in lieu of taxes.

“I’ve heard now from three different development interests who have all asked essentially the same question,” Csaposs said: What is the number and where can I find it?

Workforce housing isn’t as clearly defined as other types of aid-eligible housing, like affordable, defined by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development as “housing on which the occupant is paying no more than 30 percent of gross income for housing costs, including utilities.” Nor does the state law governing IDAs explicitly name housing in general as a project-type eligible for financial aid.

The Guilderland IDA examined policies from Dutchess, Suffolk, and Onondaga counties drawing particular insight from Onondaga’s policy, portions of which were incorporated as part of the formal policy adopted by the board in November to deal with housing projects seeking financial benefits from the town. 

At the policy’s core is its 25-80 rule, which says, if a housing developer requests assistance from the IDA, then at least 25 percent of its units are to be set aside for individuals who earn 80 percent of the Albany County area median income.

Csaposs explained, “What we approved … that was based off a percentage of the area median income for Albany County. Now, if any of you wants to log on to your computer this evening and Google [the] area median income for Albany County, unfortunately, you’re going to get more than one answer.”

The Department of Housing and Urban Development set Albany County’s 2025 AMI at $116,100.

The resolution passed by the IDA board in November refers to HUD’s area median income, but it doesn’t clarify if 80 percent of AMI is meant to be one person’s income, $65,050; two people, $74,350; a three-person household, $83,650; four, $92,900; or something different. 

“I think for the sake of clarity … we need to be able to put on our website the AMI for Albany County as defined by this agency is X,” Csaposs told IDA board members. “And this is where it comes from.”

As for what the number will ultimately be and when and where it will be posted, Csaposs told The Enterprise by email, “We're still discussing that internally. When we finalize the location, it will be put on our website.”