Southampton mulls more accessory apartments to ease housing shortage

Nearly 2,000 properties in Southampton Town could become eligible for accessory apartments under a plan designed to alleviate the South Fork’s housing crunch, according to Newsday. The town code requires that property owners have a three-quarter-acre lot to get a permit for an accessory rental. Local officials are weighing changing rules to allow permits for owners on half-acre lots in less densely populated hamlets such as Bridgehampton, Eastport, Flanders, North Sea, Northampton, Noyack, Tuckahoe, Water Mill and Westhampton. The plan dictates that those rents be kept at affordable levels to serve Southampton’s workforce. Newsday noted the number of eligible properties still wouldn’t meet the 4,729-unit shortage outlined in a 2008 housing study, a number that has likely risen over the last decade. [Newsday]