In the past decade, RUPCO has taken on the restoration of the once decrepit Kirkland Hotel in Uptown Kingston and development of the 53-unit Woodstock Commons. Now, the agency is turning its attention to the old Lace Curtain Factory. The project calls for a top-to-bottom $15 million renovation of a hulking brick industrial building at the corner of Foxhall Avenue and Cornell Street. The building, which has been largely vacant for decades, would be transformed into 55 units of below-market rate housing for artists and would also feature exhibition and performance space. Backers hope the project will build on and expand Kingston’s reputation as an arts-friendly community and destination for working artists priced out of New York City’s housing market.
Childs sees projects like this as providing a boost for the regional economy as much as a hand up for those in need. “If you look back to the 19th, early 20th-century you had the development of the railroad on the east side of the Hudson, the building of the Vanderbilt and Roosevelt mansions, those things had a huge economic impact,” said Childs. “I think, as an organization, RUPCO can have the same kind of impact on this side of the river.”
Childs also acknowledged that any housing development with “affordable” in its title has to overcome a kind of reflexive resistance from neighbors concerned about the impact of less-well-off newcomers on their property values and quality of life. Woodstock Commons faced fierce opposition from some neighbors — ostensibly over the developments impact on quality the environment and quality of life in a quiet neighborhood. In Kingston, elected officials frequently complain that the city has done its share to house the poor and call for new affordable housing elsewhere in the county. Childs believes the “Not in My Backyard” attitude springs from a concept familiar to him from his work on diversity and inclusion: fear of the unknown “other.” Education, Childs said, is the key to dispelling that fear. At Pointe of Praise’s food distribution program, Childs said, he sees the “other” on a regular basis. They are, he said struggling, often working people forced by the economy to choose between buying food or paying the rent.
“‘Them’ has no face, ‘them’ has no name so it’s easy to stigmatize ‘them,’” said Childs. “But who are we kidding, we are them or maybe we’re two paychecks away from being them.”
