Grassroots group launches regional housing campaign

Grassroots group ‘For the Many’ Thursday announced a new regional housing campaign dubbed “Homes are not hotels.”

The effort is aimed at completely banning non-owner-occupied vacant rentals in municipalities in the Hudson Valley.

The proliferation of those short-term tourist facilities is driving up the cost of housing for local residents as well as limiting the already short supply of rental apartments, the organization maintains.

The organization, with the support of Newburgh City Council members and officials from Orange and Ulster counties, will be targeting their drive in Newburgh, Beacon, Kingston, Poughkeepsie, and New Paltz.

Newburgh Mayor Torrance Harvey said that city’s council is 100 percent behind the effort.