Meeting colors

OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD

Record of Proceedings

Westchester County Committee on Appointments Meeting – Monday, October 19, 2026

Board of Legislators & Committees — Monday, October 19, 2026

BodyWestchester County, New York

SessionBoard of Legislators & Committees

DateMonday, October 19, 2026

StatusNEW · FILED

Video Record

0:00 / 12:31

Transcript — VerbatimClick a timed line to jump · ⧉ to share it

Speaker numbers apply only to this recording. Names come from transcript evidence. “Possibly” marks uncertain attribution.

Speaker 1

0:19

I'm the chair of the appointment.

Speaker 2

0:20

This meeting is being recorded and summarized.

Speaker 3

0:22

Thanks too.

0:24

Good afternoon.

0:25

My name is Anantan Ambiar.

0:26

I'm the chair of the appointment committee, and I am going to call this meeting right 402.

0:32

And we will start with uh attendance.

0:35

I am here, Vice Chair Clemens.

0:38

Yeah.

0:38

Thank you.

0:39

Legislative Fluzio.

0:42

Thank you.

Speaker 4

0:44

Here.

0:44

Thank

Speaker 3

0:44

you.

0:46

Thank you, Chairman Gashi.

0:48

Okay.

0:49

And uh we have one item on the agenda today, which is item 2026-482, uh deployment of Thomas McGrath to the Westchester Housing Opportunity Commission.

Unassigned speaker

1:00

Mr.

Speaker 3

1:00

Graph, would you like to join us at the table?

1:02

Thank you for coming in today.

1:04

Thank you for joining us.

1:05

Um quickly, we've uh received your application background.

1:10

What we typically do in this meetings is just ask um you know the applicants, just give us a brief history about you know your background, uh, your interest in the role, uh, what you think the issues and roles that you can you can help with, just uh open-ended for us to get to know you a little bit more.

1:26

So all yours.

Tom McGrath · Speaker 5Inferred

1:27

Thank you.

1:28

My name is Tom McGrath.

1:30

Uh been in the real estate business for about 48 years.

Unassigned speaker

1:34

Uh

Tom McGrath · Speaker 5Inferred

1:34

32 of those years were with the community preservation corporation, which is a private not-for-profit lender, investor of affordable housing based in New

Speaker 1

1:44

York

Tom McGrath · Speaker 5Inferred

1:45

City.

Unassigned speaker

1:45

Um it

Tom McGrath · Speaker 5Inferred

1:46

was a statewide organization.

1:51

Um I've also uh been chairman of the board of Blue Mountain Housing,

Unassigned speaker

1:55

town

Tom McGrath · Speaker 5Inferred

1:55

of Edwards, not for profit uh housing agency or uh actually housing development corporation.

2:03

I was chairman for maybe 20 years and uh did a lot of interesting things together.

2:11

Um I recently moved to North Salem,

Unassigned speaker

2:14

so uh not a full-fledged member anymore.

Unassigned speaker

2:18

Um ex officio member of the boomer, but active daily in uh what we're doing various projects in uh town of Bedford, just

Tom McGrath · Speaker 5Inferred

2:29

sort of stayed with it.

2:31

But I've spent as I said, 32 years of affordable housing.

2:35

I've worked closely with Westchester County over those years.

2:37

I've worked closely with uh New York State, uh, also working with the city developing uh new programs for small buildings.

2:45

It's always been much harder to finance and create affordable housing for smaller properties.

2:51

So we've worked together to come up with uh a number of different lending products that uh are now available and that we're

Speaker 1

2:59

using with Blue Mountain.

Tom McGrath · Speaker 5Inferred

3:01

Um

Unassigned speaker

3:02

so

Tom McGrath · Speaker 5Inferred

3:02

my interest has been in affordable housing, very active in it.

3:05

Uh that's a brief fact I have the center

Unassigned speaker

3:09

questions.

Speaker 3

3:10

That's great.

3:10

That though, thank you.

3:11

Um obviously critical area of of uh interest and importance.

3:15

I I personally represent District 7, um, which is large farm marinak, Rye, Ryanack, and Harrison, and housing is is something that's so important, right?

3:25

Because it's not I mean, it's not just um teachers, it's it's first families, it's senior citizens, things like that.

3:33

And one of the things that we're struggling with is that our towns and municipalities keep saying there's no land available, which which I I think is a is a concern everywhere, but I don't agree with that because there's there's opportunities still without land available second floors, there's there's town-owned properties, things like that.

3:48

Yes.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting

Affordable Housing█████████████████████████████████████████████90%

Community Engagement█████10%

Summary of Proceedings

Westchester County Committee on Appointments Meeting – Monday, October 19, 2026

On Monday, October 19, 2026, the Westchester County Board of Legislators Committee on Appointments convened at 4:00 PM in the Committee Room at the Michaelian Office Building, 148 Martine Avenue, White Plains, NY. Chair Anant Nambiar called the meeting to order at 4:02 PM and adjourned it at 4:14 PM. The agenda contained one appointment item. After a discussion of affordable housing experience and county housing challenges, the committee unanimously approved the appointment of Thomas McGrath to the Housing Opportunity Commission.

Discussion Items

Item 2026-482 – Appointment of Thomas McGrath to the Westchester County Housing Opportunity Commission: The resolution would appoint Thomas McGrath as an at-large member for the term May 11, 2026 to December 31, 2028. McGrath told the committee he had been in the real estate business for about 48 years, including 32 years with the Community Preservation Corporation, a private not-for-profit affordable housing lender and investor based in New York City. He also served about 20 years as chair of the Blue Mountain Housing Development Corporation in Bedford and recently moved to North Salem. He stated that his interest has been in affordable housing and that he has worked closely with Westchester County and New York State, including developing lending products for smaller properties.
In response to committee questions, McGrath discussed opportunities for housing without available land, including adding units above underutilized one- and two-story commercial buildings. He said the lower part of the county has sewers while the northern part of the county faces a lack of sewers, making development more difficult. He cited a 13-unit project in Katonah in which three units were affordable, and said Bedford adopted a requirement that 20 percent of additional housing created must be affordable, double the 10 percent figure, and set it at 60 percent AMI. He noted that the town had created 100 to 150 units over time and that many residents could not identify them because the units were well integrated.
A committee member raised concerns about NIMBY opposition and the narrative that affordable housing affects schools, noting that school districts have lost at least 10 percent of enrollment over the last ten years and are projected to lose at least another 5 percent over the next five years. The member said multifamily housing does not necessarily generate many schoolchildren because families are having fewer children and waiting longer to have them. McGrath recommended education and awareness, saying people often assume affordable housing means very low-income, rent-free, or unemployed tenants, when most tenants pay their own rents and affordable rents in Westchester County can exceed $2,000 per month.

Key Outcomes

The committee moved and seconded a motion to approve the appointment of Thomas McGrath to the Housing Opportunity Commission. The motion passed unanimously by voice vote with all members present voting yes.
The committee approved a motion to adjourn, and Chair Nambiar adjourned the meeting at 4:14 PM.

SUMMARIZED BY OPENPUBLICA AI

TRANSCRIPT VIA PUBLIC VIDEO
openpublica.com