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.
