Give me my shelter plan!
Gov stands firm on housing push amid Dem pushback
ALBANY — Gov. Hochul stood her ground Wednesday and touted her ambitious plan to address the state’s housing crisis after the Democratic-led Legislature released budget resolutions rejecting the bulk of her blueprint a day earlier.
The governor journeyed to Westchester County on Wednesday to champion her proposals to help build 800,000 new housing units over the next decade as lawmakers made clear they’re eyeing a very different approach.
“These are real human issues. It would be so much easier to say someone should fix that someday. … But that’s not who we are,” the governor said during the event at the Business Council of Westchester in Rye Brook.
“This is going to be good. We’re going to look back and say not only did we meet the moment — we exceeded the moment.”
Hochul hosted a community roundtable with business leaders and elected officials from across the Hudson Valley to discuss her proposed New York Housing Compact after the Senate and Assembly unveiled budget resolutions countering the bulk of her plan.
The proposals from the Demled Legislature reject the governor’s plan to mandate new housing and set building targets across the state as well as Hochul’s plan to allow a state panel to override local zoning decisions.
“We believe, certainly, that building housing is important, we believe affordability is important and we believe we can get there with incentives principally and ... community involvement,” Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) told reporters in Albany.
The Senate and Assembly want to provide $500 million in incentives to encourage new development as opposed to Hochul’s plan to require downstate suburbs and the city to grow their housing stocks by 3% every three years.
Upstate towns would have to meet a target of 1% growth every three years under the governor’s proposal.
Projects with affordable housing components that are denied a permit in municipalities that fall short of their growth targets could be eligible for state-backed “fast track” approval.
Hochul has toured the state in recent weeks following the release of her $227 billion budget plan last month to plug her housing plan and gin up support from local leaders.
Stewart-Cousins said while she and others in her conference agree with the governor’s intention, they want to take a different approach.
“For us, who want what the governor wants, we believe that there can be a more collaborative and inclusive way to get there,” Stewart-Cousins said. “Now, ultimately, who knows what the resolution will be. But the involvement of local communities as we get there is extremely important. “
The Senate and Assembly budget resolutions also rejected any new property tax breaks for developers who include affordable units, a lapsed abatement previously known as 421-a, and included long-sought tenant protections absent from the governor’s initial plan.
Hochul and legislative leaders now enter an intense period of negotiations ahead of the state’s budget deadline at the end of the month.