Diane Valden reports in The Upstater that Ancram's Strategic Investment Committee recommended to the Town Board on May 18 that the town invest $35,000 to help the local affordable housing problem. Strategic Investment Committee Chair Will Weiss said the money could be used by the town’s Housing Committee to form a non-profit housing trust, a legal entity. Weiss said there some have been researching the possibility of creating housing for volunteer firefighters that is strictly under the jurisdiction of fire districts. All board members voted in favor of the SIC recommendation for $35,000 to investigate the establishment of a housing trust. There were also discussions at the May 18 meeting about private donations to help the housing issue, and the work of the Roe Jan Housing Task Force and Habitat for Humanity. Read more about this story in The Upstater.