Homes Too Rich for FFs Who Save Them

[Guest]

April 9, 2006

Homes Too Rich for Firefighters Who Save Them

By JOSEPH BERGER

The New York Times

BEDFORD, N.Y., April 4 —This town in Westchester County, famous for its famous — and well-heeled — residents, is sprucing up a rundown ranch house and planning to sell it at a bargain-basement rate to a member of an increasingly endangered species: a volunteer firefighter.

Shelter Island, the genteel summer colony on Long Island, suspended its residency requirement for police officers for a year because it could not fill its roster with locals, for whom even starter homes are now out of reach.

Westchester's cozy village of Hastings-on-Hudson, among others, allows volunteer firefighters to live outside its boundaries and is giving them and volunteer paramedics first claim on 18 moderately priced apartments built on village property.

Clarkstown, in Rockland County, is trying a more whimsical lure for volunteer firefighters: free passes to the town pool, a $500 value.

For two decades, as the suburbs have become more pricey, the number of people who can afford to live in the wealthiest communities and also volunteer or hold public jobs there has dwindled.

But now, in the wake of the recent real estate frenzy, more local officials are raising disturbing questions and looking for ways to address a growing problem:

Will their communities be able to field enough firefighters to save their homes from burning down, ambulance workers to get them to a hospital in time and teachers to give their children a literate start in life?

The problem is not strictly local. All around the country, high-priced communities are taking measures to shore up municipal work forces that can no longer afford to live within their borders. But the problem is particularly acute when it comes to volunteers like firefighters and ambulance crews, for whom proximity matters.

The ranks of emergency responders are typically filled by blue-collar workers, not the business executives or professionals who can afford the million-dollar homes that are now as common as the luxury sport utility vehicles in the region's suburbs.

"All these people have heart attacks, strokes and fires at the same rate as everybody else, but they don't volunteer at the same rate," said Jay Leon, the mayor of Ardsley.

He, like others, said he saw housing the municipal workforce as the looming challenge for suburbia in coming decades — so much so that some officials are now referring to so-called affordable housing in the suburbs as workforce housing.

Steve Levy, the Suffolk County executive, said the problem went beyond civil servants. Even major employers like the military equipment manufacturer Northrop Grumman say the high price of housing makes it difficult to recruit or retain workers.

"I, myself, when I'm trying to recruit talented folks I knew in Albany as an assemblyman, cannot pay them enough to come here," Mr. Levy said.

The number of volunteer firefighters in the nation has declined from 897,750 in 1984 to 800,050 in 2003, a 10 percent drop, according to figures on the National Volunteer Fire Council Web site. While the slide is usually attributed to the increase in two-career families who just do not have the time to volunteer, the soaring cost of housing is a mounting factor.

"There are parts of the country, particularly the two coasts, where the price of housing has so outstripped any income gains that moderate wage earners find it difficult to find a decent home in the community where they work," said Nicolas Retsinas, director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard and a former assistant federal secretary for housing.

While a true crisis may be years off, the impact is already being felt. School districts in southern Westchester have been closing schools after just a dusting of snow because more and more of their teachers live in communities 40 or 50 miles to the north, where the housing is cheaper and the snow falls thicker.

More fire companies are depending on neighbors to back them up because during certain shifts they cannot muster enough townspeople.

Frank Hutton, chairman of the Committee to Promote Volunteerism in the Rockland County Emergency Services, said that 20 years ago, two trucks would typically roll out toward a fire with 15 or 16 people on them; now they are responding with eight or 10 firefighters.

Suburban and rural communities have always depended on volunteers because, with serious fires a rarity, it did not make sense to finance a paid full-time force. Now, an increasing proportion of volunteer forces are made up of young men who live at home with their parents, said Thomas M. McCarthy, president of the Association of Fire Districts of Westchester County. He and others are asking: What happens once they start a family and begin looking for a home they can afford?

In 2005, the median price of a home in Westchester was $675,000, according to the Westchester County Board of Realtors. In Nassau the median home price is $505,000 and in Suffolk it is $410,000, according to the Multiple Listing Service of Long Island.

The solution for attracting blue-collar workers and even relatively highly paid teachers is to build moderate-priced housing, but such a remedy is fraught with conflicts over zoning, environmental impact, money and sometimes race.

Westchester, for example, asked its 43 municipalities to build a total of 5,000 "affordable" units between 1990 and 1999, and only six met their allocations, said George Raymond, director of the Westchester County Housing Opportunity Commission. Twenty municipalities did not build a single unit, and the county fell short of its goal by 3,360 units.

So in places like North White Plains, in the town of North Castle, only a dozen fire volunteers actually live in the hamlet. The fire district applied for an exemption from a state law requiring at least 45 percent of a force to live within the community.

"If we hadn't gotten the exemption, we would have a serious problem staffing people at any time," said John R. Soloman, fire commissioner of North Castle South Fire District No. 1, which includes North White Plains.

One of his lieutenants is Michael McAllister. Single and 44 years old, he lives in Yonkers and works as a car inspector for Metro-North Railroad near North White Plains. He is so zealous about firefighting that he hangs around before and after work to volunteer for the North White Plains force. And if an alarm goes off when he is at home, he can get to the fire in six minutes, driving at top speed. But that gets him there only in time for the second engine dispatched to the fire.

Mr. McAllister could move to North White Plains, but he would have to pay twice his $618 rent.

In the town of Bedford, made up of the hamlets of Bedford, Bedford Hills and Katonah, the median household income for its 18,600 residents is more than $100,000, with celebrated residents like Martha Stewart making a good deal more. Volunteers are increasingly coming from outside Bedford's bounds.

"The ones with mega bucks are used to having services provided for them and not used to getting up at all hours of the morning and going out and fighting a fire, then hanging around to pack up the hose," said John Beach, an electrical contractor who lives in Bedford and works as a volunteer firefighter for the Bedford Hills Fire Department.

Mr. Beach was able to buy his house in Bedford hamlet 33 years ago because it cost $55,000. It is now worth more than $600,000. "I'd be hard-pressed to afford it now," he said.

So far, Mr. Beach said, no loss of a house or life "took place as a direct result of a lack of manpower." But, he added, "you can see down the road it's going to be harder and harder to meet the demands without resources."

Bedford already lets the fire companies recruit among highway, water and other municipal workers who often do not live in town. The town also created the Blue Mountain Housing Development Corporation to ferret out opportunities for middle-income housing. According to its chairman, Donald O. Devey, 75 such condos and rentals have been created in 20 years, some with priority given to municipal workers and volunteer firefighters.

But Mr. Devey cautioned that it might be difficult to meet the county's request for 368 units affordable for its workforce because zoning requires most homes to be built on four-acre lots, and large swaths of the town are in the New York City watershed.

But when the town purchased a 10-acre parcel to build a water storage tank and offered Blue Mountain the tattered shingle-sided ranch house that came with it, Mr. Devey seized the opportunity.

The house is for a volunteer firefighter — yet to be picked — and the whole community has pitched in, as if there were a barn-raising. The Rev. Paul Alcorn of Bedford Presbyterian Church and more than 300 volunteers are spending weekends replacing shingles and hammering wood planks for a porch. Electricians and plumbers have also pitched in, with Habitat for Humanity providing leadership and expertise.

"When you've had 300 people work on the house," Mr. Alcorn said, "then you have more people thinking about affordable housing and that our firemen can't live in this community anymore."

The hope is that by June a firefighter's family will move in and start paying off the $195,000 cost of the house.

With funds raised by Habitat, the town is planning to build another house next door, and it will be reserved for any municipal employee: firefighter, police officer, teacher or garbage collector.

James Killoran, the executive director for Habitat's Westchester branch, said that payments on that mortgage will amount to $625 a month. In the rest of the county, he said, "you can't get a closet for that."

[corporal 6]

it's about time someone figured this out.

[grumpyff 1,159]

Westchester, for example, asked its 43 municipalities to build a total of 5,000 "affordable" units between 1990 and 1999, and only six met their allocations, said George Raymond, director of the Westchester County Housing Opportunity Commission

This was a big discussion back in 1990, as you can see not much was done. Unfortunately, I think it might be too little, too late. I've posted in other discussions on this board, one of the reason I moved out Pleasantville, was lack of housing I could afford, that my family could fit in. I moved 30 miles north, just within the limits the City of New York places on its employees. Even now, at times, money is tight, even with the wife working. Unfortately, I can see more and more towns/villages going to paid or paid/combination departments, driving the taxes up even more. This will make housing even more expensive for young members, who like, the artcle states

Now, an increasing proportion of volunteer forces are made up of young men who live at home with their parents, said Thomas M. McCarthy, president of the Association of Fire Districts of Westchester County. He and others are asking: What happens once they start a family and begin looking for a home they can afford?

[GFD70 4]

Westchester, for example, asked its 43 municipalities to build a total of 5,000 "affordable" units between 1990 and 1999

I'm not looking to start a paid vs volunteer debate but when you have to start having taxpayers pay to build affordable housing to keep you membership numbers up I think it's time to rethink how your department operates.

[grumpyff 1,159]

Not trying to start a fight either, but the politicians at the time looked at the cost of affordable housing, and turned their backs on it. I agree that some municipalities need to take a serious, unbiased look at their emergency service (fire/ems) and see where it is going. If the need for paid services maybe required, then they need to start planning. Starting a paid service can not occur overnight. Thing like staffing/benefits/budget/equipment/housing/training all need to be addressed now. Its not like Fire Dept. XYZ can call up the county Dept. of Personnel tommorrow and say " we need 10 firefighters, right away". Again, I get the feeling that a lot of politicians are turning their backs on this issue, just like they did 16 years ago. "If I don't see the problem, then there is no problems to be seen"

[Guest]

volly medics? Or do they mean those who volly for a local VAC?

[grumpyff 1,159]

probably volunteer VAC members. Remember the media sees anyone from EMS, and thinks that person is a paramedic.

[Guest paramedico987]

10-4 y'all!

[e92l44 0]

No volunteers?

That's when you HAVE TO hire PAID FFs....I am all for Volunteer FFs, you guys are great, but.........It's a double-edged sword. No vollies show up, what choice do they have? I guess they can pay neighboring towns to cover them, you guys would know better than me, but it seems to me that they would have to hire paid guys. No?

The thing is they know that we will ALWAYS do the right thing, (volunteer and show up). Therefore, from a union (paid) standpoint, we are our own worst enemies.......and I mean that in a very LOVING way.....Don't write bad things about me............LOL!

What is the answer?

[ex-commish 490]

No volunteers?

That's when you HAVE TO hire PAID FFs....I am all for Volunteer FFs, you guys are great, but.........It's a double-edged sword.  No vollies show up, what choice do they have?  I guess they can pay neighboring towns to cover them, you guys would know better than me, but it seems to me that they would have to hire paid guys.  No?

The thing is they know that we will ALWAYS do the right thing, (volunteer and show up).  Therefore, from a union (paid) standpoint, we are our own worst enemies.......and I mean that in a very LOVING way.....Don't write bad things about me............LOL!

What is the answer?

←

The answer is simple....either volunteer depts aggressively recruit more volunteers, enter into pre-arranged mutual aid agreemtents, or hire people. I don't see any other way.

Andy Mancusi

Chief

Hawthorne FD

[JohnnyOV 2]

volly medics? Or do they mean those who volly for a local VAC?

←

I think that cortland regional paramedics are volunteer

[Guest]

I don’t think this should be totally a paid/volly argument since the issue involves other municipal workers too. While volunteer numbers are decreasing and I don’t disagree with a lot of what has been said, I’ll put that issue aside for the moment, since the main issue brought up in the article is that there’s a group of people willing to volunteer, but they are bring driven from the communities that many have lived in for a long time and devoted many volunteer hours to. They are being driven out by a new group of people who are so self-interested that they sometimes don’t even know their own town’s EMS or FD is completely volunteer. I think the deeper issue here is that high cost of living is removing the people from town who put a lot of effort into it, and replacing them with people who don’t give a damn. A town that prioritizes this type of affordable housing is making a statement that it values people like teachers, FFs, EMTs, sanitation workers, and police officers contributing to the character of that community.

[firecapt32 282]

Problems lets see do you want to be a volunteer firefighter or a volunteer firefighter in a certin town or village? priorties are important. subsidized housing--- thats what it is call it what ever but its still subsidized housing is not for everyone. Are we then paying them to live in a certin area to protect the public?

what do they have to do to meet the minium?? who watches over them?? what happens if they fail to meet the minium? I see a lot of unsanswered questions out there.

If you want to be a volunteer does it matter where??

[Guest mnfbhmc1]

first of all the paper is wrong in regards to hastings there are no paid ems members ,just emt's,cfr's and ambu members,there are less than five members that live outside of hastings and i am one of them,whats the big deal,taxes would go through the roof in some of these towns if they had to go paid. Who cares a job is a job.Our fires burn RED I guess I some paid Depts. theres only burn GREEN.The last time I met a paid guy he said to me I give you guys a lot of credit.Is sorrow diferent when a fire fighter dies in the line of duty paid or not.

[vwwh1 0]

This problem just keeps coming up again and again, just in different forms.

Time to figure out an answer, hire! does that mean that say...bedford can afford to go out an hire a bunch of guys...maybe, but maybe not...that is where the BIG picture comes in. TIME to look outside the box!...consolidate...oh my...I said it...join smaller depts. and hire between them, get rid of the extra 12 rigs that cost 500g's or more a piece, have a combo. dept. with Vol. rig in each town/village and everyone is a member of the bigger dept. and not of a company...but a member of the DEPT. and all are equal. The bill is shared by both town/villages and you get better response, a combo dept. consolidated effort. The answer is to open your eyes and stop sticking your head in the ground and drop the fifedomes. This problem is not going away. Many of the smaller communities have the worst problem. They have no vols. but the call volume is not enough and the tax base is not enough to go paid....but the answer is to make the dept. bigger join the smallers depts. to grow, add call volume to justify, and have a larger tax base now to pay for guys. Insurance is now shared, so is buying power of a larger dept. can sell off duplicated engines, trucks, etc. Simple solution...just someone needs to get the *&(*^ to stand up an do it. And it shouldn't come from a disaster.

[PCFD ENG58 1,085]

oh boy 'what he say, what he say' I AGREE

[HFD23 37]

LEts face it if they need to hire it means more paid jobs so hopefully some of those dedicated vollies can write the grades on the test and get hired, its only creating more jobs and thus more a opertunity for some vollies to get hired as career FF's

Edited April 13, 2006 by HFD23

[4truck48 25]

Tax breaks, affordable housing, retirement incentives, free pool passes, some even want medical coverage. At what point do you stop being considered a VOLUNTEER?