Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress
Our Mission
Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress is a nonprofit organization that provides objective research, planning, and educational training throughout the region. Its work identifies civic challenges and promotes regional, equitable, and sustainable solutions to constantly improve the quality of life in Hudson Valley communities. Pattern develops its work upon a considerable foundation of facts and experience, without political aims or affiliations.
Building Consensus Through Collaboration
When business and academic leaders founded Pattern in 1965, their goal was to build consensus for a pattern of growth that will ensure a high quality of life for the nine county Mid-Hudson Valley Region. The work plan included the protection of the natural environment, taking from it only those resources needed to promote economic prosperity, and providing adequate opportunities and incentives for capital formation and meaningful, gainful employment.
In that spirit, Pattern brings together business, nonprofit, academic and government leaders from across Columbia, Greene, Sullivan, Ulster, Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, and Westchester Counties to collaborate on regional approaches to housing, municipal sharing and local government efficiency, education, land use policy, transportation and infrastructure to move the dial, inspiring growth and vitality for our regional economy.
Pattern’s Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
It is important to Pattern that diverse populations within the Hudson Valley are beneficiaries of its mission to enhance the growth and vitality of the region and to improve regional quality of life. Pattern believes it is uniquely suited to “move the dial” on the integration of issues of inclusivity and fairness into its traditional areas of work including, but not limited to housing, education, health, community development, economic policy, government efficiency and environmental quality. Pattern can do this because of its research capabilities, its broad relationships and ability to convene diverse groups. Learn more about Pattern’s commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
NEWEST PATTERN REPORTS
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There are dozens of large, underutilized parking areas across the Hudson Valley. Built under outdated and excessive parking mandates, these parking lots now sit mostly vacant while development pressures are directed toward farms, forests and other greenfields. Underutilized parking lots, often co-located with existing infrastructure and services, present a significant opportunity. By prioritizing redevelopment of these largely empty sites for new uses, communities can accommodate growth and meet community needs, such as housing, while reducing pressure to build on greenfields, ultimately supporting more sustainable and efficient land-use patterns.
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This latest report includes annual data for 2019-2025, along with data from the fourth quarter of those years. The annual data show divergent trends for home prices and the total inventory of homes available on the market. The median price of homes continued to rise in all nine counties from 2024-2025, pushing homeownership further out of reach for most of our neighbors. At the same time, more homes were available on the market as listings, sales, and the year-end inventory of available homes all increased.
For more than a decade, Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress has compiled annual and quarterly reports that analyze the housing market across our region. These reports have allowed us to spot trends, anomalies, challenges, and opportunities within the homebuying market across our nine counties.
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This year’s Out of Reach report documents the widening gap between housing costs and what Hudson Valley residents can afford. Using national fair-market rent data and regional income figures, the report calculates both the Rent Gap and the Mortgage Gap across nine counties. Since 2020, rent gaps have grown sharply—particularly in Ulster, Westchester, and Columbia—and in Westchester, even two working adults sharing a two-bedroom apartment are now cost-burdened.
The findings also reveal a mismatch in housing policy. Because Area Median Income includes higher-earning homeowners, it overstates what renters actually earn. While many programs target units at 80% AMI, most working renters earn below 50% AMI, leaving much of the region’s “affordable” housing out of reach.
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What the NYSDEC wetlands updates mean for the regionOn January 1, 2025, revised freshwater wetland regulations went into effect from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). These new regulations represent the first substantial update to state wetland regulations since they were first implemented in 1975. A change of this significance has predictably prompted a range of reactions, both positive and negative. As an unbiased and politically unaffiliated policy research Organization, Pattern is uniquely positioned to provide an early analysis of the updated freshwater wetland regulations. This report represents Pattern’s effort to provide a balanced assessment of the new rules and how they may impact the region.
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As of the writing of When Hotels Become Home, more than 550 families, including 588 children enrolled in public schools, were living in hotels and motels across the four counties. The number of schoolchildren living in those hotels and motels has increased by 106 percent in the past 15 years, with the largest increase coming in the two years immediately following the pandemic. State education data show that homelessness among schoolchildren is a steadily growing problem in the Mid-Hudson region.
In the report, Pattern outlines the trends and data that illustrate these challenges, the underlying causes, the costs associated with providing shelter, and civic issues associated with the spike in demand for emergency housing. We end with a call to action for our local, state, and federal government officials who have the authority to design a better system that ensures all our neighbors have access to housing that is safe, stable, and truly affordable.
Local Zoning, Regional Needs – outlines how other states have preserved the core intent of home rule while also requiring their towns to allow for the development of diverse housing that meets statewide and regional needs and examines the strategies, requirements, and legal precedents utilized by New York’s neighboring states to produce affordable housing for their residents.
The report examines the underlying laws, regulations, and legal precedents related to zoning and housing in the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. All those states are so-called “home rule” states, except Vermont.
Our annual Out of Reach (OOR) report examines the affordability of rental housing throughout the nine counties we serve: Columbia, Dutchess, Greene, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster, and Westchester. This report is largely based on data published annually by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), which compares fair-market rents (FMR) with average renter wages.
This year’s report continues to underscore an irrefutable truth: even with long work hours or multiple jobs, most renters in our region struggle to pay for rent and modest living costs. Over the past five years, rents across our region have increased by anywhere between 25-45%. With inflation hitting a 40-year peak in 2022, the basic costs of living – food, transportation, healthcare, and more – are also out of reach.
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MAIN STREET: Hudson Valley
A regional resource center providing a comprehensive approach to strengthen main streets through commerce, community and culture.
In recognition of the importance of main streets as drivers of economic growth, social connectivity, and cultural experiences, Pattern is pleased to announce a new Initiative called MAIN STREET: Hudson Valley. The mission of this initiative is to re-energize the pre-pandemic momentum of the past ten years by providing tools and support systems to allow main streets, neighborhoods and community hubs to flourish in the new post-pandemic economy. Through efforts like façade renovation, adaptive re-use, marketing, code enforcement and more, communities can realize main streets as the hubs of commerce and community engagement that define their unique sense of identity.
