Suffolk: LIBOR Backs Housing for First Responders

"REALTORS® believe that if you are brave enough to put your life on the line for a community, you are more than deserving of living in that same community as a fellow neighbor and taxpayer," said LIBOR Nassau/Suffolk Government Affairs Committee Chair Paige Ryan, testifying before the Suffolk County Legislature in support of a new housing bill.

"The bill introduced by Legis. Rebecca Sanin (D-Huntington Station) requires any new affordable developments that receive county workforce housing funding to set aside at least five units or 10% of the property's total number of apartments, whichever is less, for volunteer firefighters and EMS workers. Sanin said the goal is to help the departments retain younger volunteers at a time when home prices continue rising," reported Newsday. 

"Sanin hopes the measure would be one tool to help solve the struggle she's heard from fire and EMS officials in her district: retaining new recruits."

The inspiration for this bill, a LIBOR-supported initiative in the Town of Huntington, has already made its first successful match: 

"A Greenlawn firefighter became the first beneficiary Wednesday of a Town of Huntington program to assist first responders find affordable housing. The program puts first responders in good standing with their departments at the top of the list when affordable housing units–rental or ownership–become available," reported Huntington Now.