Deborah E. Lans reports for the Columbia Paper that on November 9, the County Board of Supervisors appointed an Affordable Housing Task Force to help develop and implement a county-wide comprehensive plan for affordable and workforce housing. The task force includes co-chair Supervisors Brenda Adams (D-Canaan) and Ron Knott (R- Stockport), plus Dan Barufaldi, Ghent Planning Board member; Robert Gibson ; County Social Services Commissioner; Bill Hughes, community leader; Meredith Kane, Roe Jan Housing Task Force member; Kirk Kneller, Kneller Insurance; Brandon Mullins, building code inspector-Livingston/Germantown; Rob Perry, City of Hudson Public Works; Tim Stalker, County Planning Board member; Kelly Sweet, Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation; Dennis Wedlick, Barlis/Wedlick Architects LLC. The supervisors also appointed an Advisory Resource Committee with William Gerlach, Columbia County Chamber of Commerce; William Fischer; Columbia County Fair Housing officer; Al Bellenchia, Columbia County Habitat for Humanity; Lisa Gallina, Columbia Greene Cornell Coop Extension; Claire Cousin, Hudson/Catskill Housing Coalition; Christopher Nardone, Columbia-Greene Workforce NY; Michelle Tullo, City of Hudson-Housing Justice coordinator; board representative Columbia Greene Association of Realtors; Adam Bosch, Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress; and Michael Borges, of the NYS Rural Housing Coalition. The Columbia County Economic Development Corporation, meanwhile, is interviewing candidates for a housing coordinator position, as the county focuses on the affordable housing crisis locally. Experts cite low building inventory, high prices and demand, and incentives for landlords for short-term rather than long-term rentals, causing the housing crisis. Read more about this story in the Columbia Paper.