January 13, 2023

Hochul’s ‘Groundbreaking Plan’ For New Homes

By Lisa Finn

Posted Friday January 13th, 2022

Read on The Patch

LONG ISLAND NY – Housing advocates are lauding Gov. Kathy Hochul, who delivered her State of the State address Tuesday from Albany with a focus on a new plan to make finding a home on Long Island more accessible to all.

However, some town officials are concerned that the state could step in if local directives for new housing are not met within the newly prescribed deadline.

The housing crisis statewide needs immediate attention, Hochul said. While over the last decade, New York has created 1.2 million jobs, only 400,000 new homes have been built. Land-use policies statewide are some of the most restrictive in the nation, she said.

“Through zoning, local communities hold enormous power to block growth of multi-family housing and make it almost impossible to build new homes,” she said. “People want to live here and have jobs here but, because of local decisions, they cannot.”

On Long Island, between 2010 and 2018 Suffolk and Nassau Counties permitted fewer housing permits per capita than suburban communities in other areas across the country; Seattle permitted four times as many, she said.

Last year, Hochul unveiled a $25 billion, five-year housing plan that would create and preserve 100,0000 affordable homes in both urban and rural communities throughout the state.

On Tuesday, she presented the New York Housing Compact, a “groundbreaking plan” that would lead to 800,000 new homes built over the next decade.

The intent is for each locality to have a target, with upstate expected to see housing stock grow 1 percent every three years and downstate, to see growth of 3 percent every three years.

Local governments will all have to reach a target and can do that by reinventing old malls and office parks, incentivizing new houses, or updating their zoning codes, Hochul said, adding that local government will also see help from the state via funding and by cutting through the red tape to allow projects to move more quickly.

After 3 years, in localities that do not meet growth targets or do not take steps to implement preferred actions, proposed housing developments that meet particular affordability criteria, but may not conform to existing zoning, may take advantage of a fast-track housing approval process if the locality denies the permit, Hochul said.

The appeal can be made to a new state housing approval board or through the courts, she added. Appealed projects will be approved unless a locality can demonstrate a valid health or safety reason for denying the application..

Localities that do not meet housing targets can achieve Safe Harbor status for one three-year cycle by implementing certain good faith actions — or “preferred actions” — that create zoning capacity to achieve the growth targets, Hochul said.

“Doing nothing is an abdication of our responsibility to act in times of crisis,” Hochul said.
With a focus on transit-oriented development, any community with an MTA train station will be required to locally rezone areas within a half mile to allow for creation of higher density residential development over the next three years, she said.

“New York faces a housing crisis that requires bold actions and an all-hands-on-deck approach,” Hochul said. “Every community in New York must do their part to encourage housing growth to move our state forward and keep our economy strong. The New York Housing Compact is a comprehensive plan to spur the changes needed to create more housing, meet rising demand, and make our state a more equitable, stable, and affordable place to live.”

According to the Population Reference Bureau, Hochul said, more than half of New York renters are rent-burdened, meaning that they pay more than 30 percent of their income on rent — the second-highest rate in the nation. In the New York City metro area, rents have risen 30 percent since 2015 and home prices have risen 50 percent over the same period. Outside of New York City, rents have risen 40 to 60 percent since 2015 while home prices have risen 50 to 80 percent.

The New York Housing Compact will make available a $250 million infrastructure fund and a $20 million planning fund to support new housing production statewide. Municipalities may submit requests for planning funding to undertake either required transit-oriented development rezonings or preferred actions to help them hit their growth targets. The plan will also create a new housing planning office within New York State Homes and Community Renewal to provide municipalities with support and guidance, she said.

Hochul will also propose legislation to expand the universe of commercial buildings eligible for conversion to residential use and provide necessary regulatory relief, making an estimated additional 120 million square feet newly eligible for conversion.

Hochul also unveiled a series of new proposals to incentivize new housing construction and the rehabilitation of existing housing. To support the development of mixed-income housing outside of New York City, Governor Hochul will direct New York State Homes and Community Renewal to make $5 million in state low-income housing tax credits available.

Hochul will also make necessary changes to ensure that localities where new housing developments utilize payment in lieu of taxes agreements are not penalized in tax cap calculations, she said.

After the address, the Long Island Housing Coalition expressed support for the plan: “We are a pro-homes, pro-Long Island coalition of community organizations, businesses, developers, housing advocates, homeowners, and home renters dedicated to addressing the severe lack of available affordable homes across Long Island. We are working to expand opportunities for both affordable homeownership and quality rental housing for all Long Islanders through legislation and community organizing.”

Mike Florio, CEO of Long Island Builders Institute, said his group applauded Hochul for her focus and determination to address the housing crisis across the state, but especially on Long Island. He said he looked forward to working with her, along with local officials and communities, on impactful solutions

Rebecca Sanin, President/CEO, Health and Welfare Council of Long Island, added: “Community well-being depends on a diverse, safe and quality housing stock that serves all of its residents including seniors, students, people with disabilities and families.”

A lack of attainable and affordable housing injures public health, safety, competitive employment and retention of rising young adults as emerging professionals on Long Island, she said.

“The lack of safe, affordable housing on Long Island continually emerges as a top issue impacting our region and innovative, thoughtful solutions are desperately needed to secure Long Island’s healthy future,” Sanin added.

Ian Wilder, executive director of Long Island Housing Services, Inc., also weighed in.

“It is clear to every Long Islander that our lack of housing — especially affordable housing — is beyond a crisis. The methods that we have historically used on Long Island to allocate the production of housing have been failing us all for quite some time.”

Gwen O’Shea, Community Development Corporation of Long island President & CEO, added” “There is no question about Long Island’s dire need of diverse housing options. The governor’s recognition of our housing crisis is a welcomed opportunity to ensure our residences and communities have safe and affordable housing.”

And, said Michael Daly, founder ofEast End YIMBY: “The existence of restrictive, primarily single-family, zoning on the East End of Long Island, along with a lack of as-of-right zoning for multi-family and accessory dwelling units, has created a human infrastructure crisis for our towns, villages and businesses. This crisis is resulting in families being broken apart, healthcare jobs being left unfilled, volunteer fire departments and EMTs struggling to find members, schools understaffed, leaving some subjects without teachers, municipal offices unable to process public permit applications on a timely basis, and businesses reducing hours or closing due to the lack of staffing.”

He added: “It also creates harm to our environment due to excessive ‘trade parade’ traffic by workers, needing to travel hours each day to their jobs. It’s past time to tackle this cultural addiction to single-family zoning and establish requirements for every city, town and village to provide adequate housing for the people and businesses that make up their communities.”

Not every municipality embraced the plan as warmly, with some concerned about the state intervening if the housing goals were not met as quickly as Hochul has suggested.

In a briefing this week, Huntington was “singled out” for permitting construction of just 934 homes and apartments over the past decade, according to the New York Post.

Huntington Supervisor Ed Smyth said he believed the town “will exceed the governor’s goals, but it will be done without the governor’s heavy-handed involvement,” Newsday reported.

And, Newsday added: Oyster Bay Supervisor Joseph Saladino said he was concerned Hochul’s plan could restrict “the will of the people.”

Other town officials said Hochul’s goals echoed their own mission.

“I am still reviewing the governor’s plan. We have a working group which was organized to work with a consultant to develop an affordable housing plan,” said Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell. “Obviously, the governor’s proposals will be evaluated by the group in the context of developing that plan. Most of what I’ve read so far is fairly consistent with our current affordable housing goals.”

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