27. lower rent
According to the 200 census, the Village of New Paltz has a .46% vacancy rate for rental housing. Studies have shown that a community needs at least a 5% vacancy rate to avoid inflation of housing prices. At a 5% rate, land-lords have to compete for tenants just enough that they maintain their properties better and keep prices reasonably low and affordable. Using development of high-density, mixed use neighborhoods, build enough new housing to establish a 5% vacancy rate.
100 Ideas for New Paltz 
This makes more sense than trying to legislate affordable housing. Politicians often make the mistake of believing they understand economic forces well enough to control them – I think that it’s based on the faulty assumption that just because we invented money that we also created the rules that govern how it works. Finding a solution that utilizes economic forces is much more likely to succeed than one that seeks to change those laws.