Oct 9, 2007 8:24 am US/Eastern
Affordable Housing Still Elusive On Long Island
Resident Starts 'Stay On Long Island' Group
HAUPPAUGE, N.Y. (AP) ―
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Economists continue to warn about "brain drain" due to high housing costs on Long Island.
CBS/AP
Long Island officials have been talking for years about affordable housing - and trying to keep young adults from moving away.
Natalie Gaebelein is a 24-year-old college graduate from Brevard College in North Carolina who returned to Long Island only to realize she can't afford to live here. She says at least five of her friends have left Long Island.
Gaebelein told Newsday says You either live at home, which is pretty embarrassing ... or somebody's basement. Gaebelein pays $1,000 a month for a basement apartment.
She and some friends have started a grassroots group called "Stay on Long Island."
They've gotten financial backing from developer Gerald Wolkoff, who has been trying to get support for an affordable house project in Brentwood.
Economists have long sounded an alarm about the link between affordable housing and a "brain drain" on Long Island. Between 2000 and 2006, some 122-thousand people between the ages of 25 and 44 left Long Island. Economist Pearl Kamer says many are college graduates with needed skills. She says if employers can't find workers they too will move away.
"Stay On Long Island" will have its first meeting on November 15th at the Brentwood campus of Suffolk Community College.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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