The blame game began on Tuesday. Just moments after Gov. Kathy Hochul finished her State of the State address, state Sen. Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris slammed Hochul’s latest plan to build more housing.
“It was very one-sided; it was a developer’s dream and at least one of those proposals puts public money in the pockets of the wealthiest New Yorkers who are the big developers in big real estate," the top state Senate Democrat told reporters Wednesday on the floor of the state Assembly chamber.
What You Need To Know
- Hochul wants to create a "pro-housing" community incentive, including grant funding opportunities for localities statewide
- The plan would designate available land owned by state agencies to develop roughly 15,000 new housing units
- It would also convert illegal basement apartments into legal, safe living spaces
He was reacting to the governor’s very public shaming of the Legislature, targeting all 213 members for failing to approve her expansive housing plan last year.
“Now is the time to act. New Yorkers are tired of waiting. I’m tired of waiting. I know we can do this. It takes political will. Collaboration,” Hochul said during her speech.
The new proposal is largely driven by incentives. Hochul wants localities to declare themselves as “pro-housing” communities, which would make them eligible for state funding.
Ithaca and Greenport on Long Island have already agreed to play ball.
The governor is desperate for the return of a tax abatement program. Her supporters argue that without it, it’s very hard to convince developers to build.
“It’s too expensive to build rental units for most of New York City and certainly around the state for very low income New Yorkers without some kind of subsidy,” said Jolie Milstein, president and chief executive officer of the New York State Association for Affordable Housing.
The trade association is pushing the governor and Legislature to agree on a new tax abatement program, arguing without one, housing costs will remain high. Milstein said without one, the creation of affordable housing units — whose residents receive federal dollars to supplement their housing payments — will continue to be stagnant.
“Housing has only grown 4% since 2010. Job growth is up 22% in that same period, so we have a real mismatch in terms of jobs and places for those job seekers to live,” Milstein said.
Advocates, like Milstein, argue Hochul’s new plan is catching heat because last year’s goals soared too high.
“People wouldn’t be disappointed if the governor had not done such an extraordinary job last year of really pushing the envelope,” Milstein said.
But legislators don’t like being embarrassed in front of a crowd.
State Senate Housing Chair Brian Kavanagh listed unacknowledged accomplishments.
“We renewed and fully revamped the Jay 51 program, which is a multibillion dollar subsidy program for occupied real estate in New York. We put additional capital in for numerous needs, including public housing, so it was not a year that lacked activity,” said Kavanagh, a Democrat who represents Manhattan and Brooklyn, defending his colleagues before Hochul’s speech Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Hochul’s top policy advisor on housing, Michah Lasher, announced Wednesday that he’s running for a state Assembly seat on the Upper West Side.
Political observers argue that could leave a hole in the governor’s proposal development going forward.