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Mar 23 2023

News Release

A Letter from the New York Neighbors Coalition in Response to One-House Proposals

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Dear Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie,

Thank you for making affordable housing a priority in the one-house budget proposals. We believe this critical policy area requires an all-hands-on-deck approach, and commend your efforts to address the housing crisis. We are especially appreciative of the additional incentives for rural and affordable housing, homeownership, and housing growth overall.

However, a one-sided approach to housing will not work. Incentives alone do not offer a meaningful solution to the long-standing problem of inaction around creating the homes we need in all communities to strengthen our economy, build in places that allow lower carbon lifestyles, and address housing affordability in New York.

Our coalition supports the growth targets and mandates outlined in the Housing Compact, and we urge you to enact a proposal that requires all municipalities throughout the state to do their part to address our housing crisis. Our coalition opposes an incentives-only program, which will allow municipalities to do nothing and uphold the status quo.

Decades of data and research have shown that incentives-based housing programs, though often well-intentioned, do not produce enough housing, nor do they reduce exclusionary practices that many wealthy, high-opportunity municipalities have in place. In Massachusetts for example, the smart-growth incentive-only program (40R) created 3,500 units from 2007 - 2017. Meanwhile, their 40B program, which allows for zoning overrides for certain affordable housing development projects, resulted in 20,000 units during the same time period and over 60,000 units since its inception in the 1970s.

Incentives are an important piece of the puzzle and can help support planning capacity, infrastructure investments, and other needs to help foster development, especially as we work to tackle our need for housing growth and address our climate goals. We encourage you to work with the Governor to identify how best to meet these needs.

But incentives alone only work in communities that have already committed to local growth or need state financial support. This results in wealthy, exclusionary communities doing nothing to create the homes we need in our state, a scenario we cannot accept. Local leaders opposed to development have already begun to make it clear that they are not interested in incentives to create more housing or help ease the burden that is felt statewide. Incentives will not drive change in exclusionary communities. As the original Housing Compact made clear, without an enforcement mechanism we will not be able to ensure that municipalities take action to zone for the homes New York needs to be a fair, equitable, and economically sustainable state.

The Housing Compact is a comprehensive policy framework to encourage growth that is statewide and environmentally-conscious. It capitalizes on the investments we’ve already made in the MTA, and offers localities an opportunity to invest in their future. Our coalition remains committed to the incentives-and-enforcement approach to get the housing we need, and looks forward to working with you to enact this critical proposal.

Sincerely, members of the New York Neighbors coalition, including:

Regional Plan Association

Open New York

New York Housing Conference

New York State Association for Affordable Housing

Enterprise Community Partners

Up for Growth

Tri-State Transportation Campaign

Community Development Corporation of Long Island

Long Island Housing Services

Long Island Community Foundation

NeighborWorks Community Partners

RUPCO

Supportive Housing Network of New York

Building & Realty Institute of Westchester and Mid-Hudson Region

Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services, Inc.

Better Housing for Tompkins County

Hudson River Housing

Westchester County Association

Housing Assistance Program of Essex County

Home HeadQuarters

New York League of Conservation Voters

American Institute of Architects New York (AIA)

New York State Builders Association

Forsyth Street

Transportation Alternatives

Long Island Housing Coalition

Welcome Home Westchester Campaign

The Community Preservation Corporation

Citizens Budget Commission

Pointe of Praise Family Life Center

Riders Alliance

Local Initiatives Support Coalition NY (LISC)

Habitat NYC and Westchester

Fair Housing Justice Center, Inc.

East End YIMBY

Minority Millennials

Citizens Housing & Planning Council

Galvan Foundation

Lantern Organization

Partnership for NYC

New York Building Congress

Anti-Discrimination Center

ERASE Racism

CNY Fair Housing

City of Kingston

New York State Council of Churches

Builders Patch

Niskanen Center

Catskill Center

RiseBoro

Nonprofit Westchester

Rural Housing Coalition

Housing Help Inc.

Written by

  • Slevin Kate

    Kate Slevin

    Executive Vice President

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