Ulster’s Area Median Income jumps, pushing ‘affordable’ and ‘workforce’ rent limits even higher

KINGSTON, N.Y. — New 2025 Area Median Income numbers released by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development are set to lead to higher rents for affordable and workforce housing in Ulster County.

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[Jenna] Goldstein, Ulster County Community Organizer for For the Many, slammed the increases in an email to the Freeman this week.

“It is offensive and completely out of touch with reality that HUD is allowing already-unaffordable rents to go up even more,” Goldstein said. “The new AMI numbers make it very clear that there is no agency—locally, federally, or statewide—that is actually invested in making rent affordable for everyday people. The only option is for us to organize and pass laws that create sustainable, permanently affordable housing and cap exorbitant rent increases for all tenants, like the Permanently Affordable Social Housing for New Yorkers Act and the Rent Emergency Stabilization for Tenants (REST) Act.”

“Just this week, Kingston residents showed up in force at a Common Council meeting to speak in favor of both laws—because people want expanded rent stabilization, social housing, and solutions that actually make housing affordable, not a list of numbers and percentages that only serves to price people out of their homes,” Goldstein added.