LI officials at odds with advocates on Hochul’s housing legislation

Legislation proposed by Gov. Kathy Hochul to greatly expand housing development has drawn the ire of municipal officials on Long Island, who oppose the wide-ranging plan that housing advocates have applauded. 

Members of Long Island’s State Senate delegation were joined by several mayors and other elected officials at a press event Friday in Mineola to express their opposition to Hochul’s housing initiative, calling it an unrealistic overreach that usurps local control. 

Included in the governor’s just released 2024 state budget, the proposed legislation, which is aimed at facilitating the addition of 800,000 new homes statewide over the next 10 years, would compel towns and villages to change local zoning to accommodate increased housing density. 

Specifically, the legislation calls for municipalities in Nassau and Suffolk counties to increase their housing stock by 3 percent within each three-year cycle beginning on Jan. 1, 2024, which could create tens of thousands of additional housing units per cycle here.  

The proposed bill also mandates that localities rezone areas within a half-mile of their Long Island Rail Road stations to permit more dense development of multifamily housing. According to the memo of support for the legislation, municipalities located within 15 miles of New York City would have to allow for an average of 50 housing units per acre within a 1-mile circle around train stations; municipalities 15 to 30 miles from the city would need to allow for an average of 30 units per acre; while areas 30 to 50 miles from the city would need to allow for an average of 20 units per acre for new transit-oriented developments. 

In addition, the proposal dubbed the New Homes Targets And Fast Track Approval Act, limits the time a local government can take before it approves or denies a new housing development and allows the state to create a housing review board that could approve housing projects, even if they are denied by local governments. 

State Sen. Jack Martins called the governor’s proposal “nothing less than an existential threat” to Long Island’s way of life that can’t be overstated or ignored. 

“Although we acknowledge that there is a housing crisis in New York, the governor needs to understand that she cannot mandate, legislate or regulate her way through this,” Martins said. “Nor can she expect our communities to sit idly by while bureaucrats in Albany demolish the pillars of our suburban quality of life.” 

The Senate delegation argues that Hochul’s proposals don’t consider the impact that so much additional housing will have on schools, water and sewer systems, the energy grid, mass transit and traffic. 

“Governor Hochul’s intentions for our suburban communities on Long Island are clear – she seeks to solve New York City’s housing crisis by turning Long Island into the sixth borough of New York City,” said State Sen. Steven Rhoads. “The proposals in the governor’s Executive Budget are a reckless and irresponsible attempt to defy both local government’s right to control local zoning and the right of each and every Long Islander to preserve their safety and suburban quality of life, as well as, to protect the substantial investments they have made in their homes and communities.”  

However, the governor’s office points out that under the proposal, localities would be only subject to the fast-track approvals process if after three years they failed to meet their housing targets and failed to pursue certain state preferred actions to build housing capacity. The proposal also includes a $250 million Infrastructure Fund and a $20 million Planning Fund to help communities undertake planning and infrastructure projects to facilitate the new housing that will be created as a result of the plan. 

In addition, the proposed legislation defines a “qualifying” housing project for most of Long Island as having at least 20 units with at least 20 percent of the units to be affordable for households at or below 50 percent of the area median income or at least 25 percent of the units to be affordable for households at or below 80 percent of the area median income or supportive dwelling units. 

“To address the severe housing crisis plaguing New York State, Governor Hochul proposed a bold plan to create 800,000 new homes and fund $250 million in infrastructure upgrades over the next decade by working collaboratively and flexibly with cities and towns that need more housing,” Justin Henry, a spokesman for the governor’s office, said via email. “Governor Hochul is eager to work on solving the housing crisis and making New York more affordable with any elected leader who wants to be part of the solution.” 

While most local elected officials oppose it, Hochul’s housing expansion proposal has garnered support from housing advocates and other groups. 

Sidney Joyner, board chair at Urban League of Long Island, said families are being priced out of their communities because of a lack of affordable housing options, adding that more than 220,000 New Yorkers left the region last year for reasons “directly correlated” to housing affordability. 

“Governor Kathy Hochul’s housing plan is an answer to a complex housing problem that cannot be addressed by inaction and misinformation of the real facts,” Joyner said in a statement. “Transit-oriented development, adaptive reuse of obsolete and under-used properties, increased state funding are important components that are thoughtfully being addressed in this plan.” 

In a joint statement, Pilar Moya-Mancera, executive director at Housing Help Inc. and Ian Wilder, executive director of Long Island Housing Services, said they are disappointed with the opposition of Nassau County elected officials to Gov. Hochul’s housing proposal. 

“Long Islanders elect our local officials to address and solve problems, not be a part of them. They know the housing crisis exists and their constituents repeatedly ask them to act and deliver results,” they said in the statement. “This housing crisis does not discriminate against race, nationality, gender, familial status, or income. Long Islanders deserve access to safe, decent, affordable housing. The time to act was yesterday. If our local elected officials denounce the Housing Compact, they need to propose alternative steps to address this urgent issue.” 

And while almost everyone on both sides of the issue believes Long Island needs more housing, the escalating tug-of-war between supporters and opponents of Hochul’s proposals highlights a huge gap in how to accomplish that shared goal. 

Peter Baynes, executive director of New York State Conference of Mayors and Municipal Officials, said the governor mistakenly lays New York’s housing shortage problem at the feet of local officials while proposing to allow the state to override local zoning and land use decisions.  

“Holding municipalities solely responsible for housing growth ignores the fact that not every community has the developable land or buildings, necessary infrastructure, sufficient demand or builder appetite to meet an arbitrary housing growth threshold set by a state government that cannot possibly know the needs and conditions of individual communities,” Baynes said in a written statement. 

Martins said government should help in providing resources and funding for infrastructure to make it more palatable for a community to take on additional housing density, mostly in their downtown and around their train station.  

“But there is no way that this top-down approach isn’t and can’t be considered an attack on our suburban communities on the prerogative of individuals living in those communities to want and live where they purchased homes in the way that we’ve done it for over 100 years,” he said.