Editorial of 04/30/2026

Hooray for Housing

Hooray for the City of Oneonta Planning Commission, which unanimously approved the Rehabilitation Support Services Solstice Commons housing project earlier this month. We apologize for not catching the typo in that organization’s name in last week’s front-page article…

Almost a year ago to the day, members of the housing work group for the Otsego County “2025 Community Needs Assessment”—the final version of which was released last August by Opportunities for Otsego—met to discuss feedback from the Community Needs Assessment Survey from which information for that report was gathered in part.

According to OFO, “Discussion groups were prearranged to encourage discussion between a cross section of sectors within the community. Group leaders were provided with a list of questions, based on quantitative and qualitative community data, to facilitate solution focused discussions.”

In its report, OFO identified housing as one of the county’s most pressing needs. Recapping our editorial of September 4, 2025, that report reads in part:

• Over the past 10 years, Otsego County lost 2.5% of its housing units. Of the estimated 30,011 units, nearly one-quarter are vacant with 80% deemed seasonal or for recreational use.
• The median year housing was built in Otsego County was 1954. An estimated 11% of housing units were built after 2000 and 70.4% were built before the 1978 lead paint ban.
• Fair Market rate for rental housing has increased 18.1%-45.7% over the past seven years, while median home sales prices have increased 32.9% since 2020. As such, 42.7% of renters and 26.8% of [homeowners] in Otsego County are “cost burdened.”

We believed then, and we believe now, that without the advent of additional housing of all kinds—and without thoughtful economic development—we cannot begin to address the needs of Otsego County’s low-income individuals.

The housing work group’s list of solutions and interventions to address community gaps reinforced our thinking in its first five recommendations:

• Develop housing to address and alleviate increasing housing costs for year-round residents.
• Expand manufacturing jobs to bring year-round residents to the area.
• Increase inventory of low-income/subsidized housing to alleviate excessive wait lists.
• Community education/awareness campaign on benefits to supportive housing (e.g. RSS and Springbrook projects).
• Review and update county and municipal laws/ordinances that create bottlenecks, impede progress, increase costs, and limit the inventory of multi-family dwellings and year-round housing (e.g. number of unrelated individuals in one one-unit, short-term housing, rent control laws, zoning).

It has been a long road for RSS. Our readers may remember that their proposal to purchase city-owned land at 27 Market Street was met with pushback from the community that resulted in a “no” vote by five members of the City of Oneonta Common Council, effectively squashing what then-Mayor Mark Drnek considered to be “the first step in a plan for development that is the realization of a neighborhood, featuring all types of housing…market rate, supported, and work-force-affordable.”

The failed proposal would have included a mixed-use, professionally managed building with 47 energy-efficient apartments available to those earning 30–70 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI); first-floor commercial space that will energize downtown; and 30 on-site parking spots, according to RSS Director of Strategic Partnerships Christine Nealon.

Nealon describes the Solstice Commons project as a “61-unit housing community at 164 River Street, on a parcel owned by RSS and zoned appropriately for this type of building. It is designed to provide both affordable and supportive housing in a way that blends with, and complements, the existing neighborhood. It is not a shelter, nor is it a treatment facility. It is high-quality, professionally managed, code-compliant, and thoughtfully designed housing that will strengthen our community.”

In a “Partial Observer” opinion piece written by Nealon and published by AllOtsego on October 2, 2025, she explained that tenants who make 30-70 percent of the area median income and some individuals living with Serious Mental Illness will call Solstice Commons, Home. “By definition, Nealon wrote, “SMI refers to any diagnosis that can disrupt daily life, such as major depression. With proper support, individuals with SMI live independently, work, and contribute fully to their communities. Nationally, about 15 million adults, or 6 percent of the U.S. population, live with an SMI (NIMH).

“Importantly, tenants at Solstice Commons would not be strangers to Oneonta. They already work here, raise families, and contribute to our schools, businesses, and neighborhoods. With the stability of affordable housing and on-site support, they can and will maintain wellness and continue to thrive,” according to Nealon.

We are excited to see this RSS project moving forward. We are excited as well by the housing proposal for 217 Main Street in Cooperstown, the former Where It All Began Bat Company. According to an opinion piece written by Cooperstown Mayor Ellen Tillapaugh by AllOtsego on June 5, 2025, “the village has long been interested in that site’s potential for housing.” In the potential 50 unit (35 one-bedroom and 15 two-bedroom), three-story building, Springbrook, with partner Vecino Group, is hoping to build eight dedicated, one-bedroom units for individuals for which Springbrook would then provide on-site support services. We are excited as well by “The Grove,” a Simple Integrity project in the Village of Cooperstown in which 11 one-bedroom rental apartments are planned, along with four duplexes to be sold.

So hooray for RSS. This win was a long time coming. Hooray for housing—in all its forms and functions. And hooray for the folks that make these projects happen.