Hi friends,
Housing is a persistently difficult tangle of issues. At the beginning of this year, I silently resolved to do better on housing issues. Silent resolutions don’t work as well as public ones, so I am belatedly signaling my commitment with some action.
The problems — too little housing plus exorbitant rents and home prices — are not that hard to understand. The policies to address them are more complicated.
I am grateful to Mara Gay for her editorial on the reasons why New York legislators have rejected Governor Hochul’s proposals to build more housing.
Gay explains that wealthy communities typically forego generous housing subsidies designed to incentivize new housing construction in order to maintain exclusionary zoning. She calls out the shamelessness with which localities cling to Jim Crow policies and blames legislators for removing the penalties for communities that fail to increase their housing stock.
A state in the throes of a housing crisis can’t simply let them do as they please, all while they benefit from billions in state investment in commuter rail systems.
As with other issues, the people are often ahead of the folks that represent us. A recent statewide poll found that more than 70 percent of respondents support the construction of more housing near train stations.
Of a group surveyed in suburban Westchester and Putnam Counties, north of New York City, 56 percent said they would support giving the state authority to override local zoning laws in towns that fail to build more housing.
Mayors raised all sorts of reasons why they wouldn’t bother with the incentives: the amounts of money are too small, the homes are ‘historic’, their septic systems can’t handle more housing.
The mayor of Bellerose said of his community — where new housing has been banned for more than 45 years and the people value their great schools and high home prices:
“We don’t want to change the laws and we don’t want housing.”
If exclusive communities can opt out, development will only occur in lower income communities, effectively concentrating poverty; this is likely to perpetuate the state’s already serious housing segregation.
Call on legislative leaders to support a housing program with both carrots and sticks to enable the state to increase housing stock in New York State. I made it easy!
One of the important pieces of legislation before the state this year is the Good Cause Eviction bill, which faces stiff opposition from the powerful real estate lobby, which claims that passage will result in landlords taking apartments off the market.
The bill, first introduced in 2019, would make it illegal for landlords to evict tenants unless they violated the lease agreement, and places limits on how much a landlord can raise rents each year.
Good Cause would likely transform the housing market in favor of tenants, giving renters in market-rate units close to a legal right to remain in their homes if they don’t break the lease and can afford limited lease increases.
Another housing issue involves the federal government’s Section 8 program vouchers that subsidize the cost of housing for low-income tenants. Many people who hold the vouchers have been unable to use them.
If it is successful, the case could make thousands more apartments available to low-income New Yorkers.
In addition, legislators have advanced a bill to create a statewide housing voucher program in New York. Modeled on the federal Section 8 program, the proposed Housing Access Voucher Program would assist those at risk of eviction and those without housing.
It would cap a person's rent at 30% of their income and voucher standards would be set from 90% to 120% of a region's fair market rent.
Households would qualify under the proposal if they have earnings that are equal or less than 50% of the area median income. About half of an area's funds would be distributed to families who are homeless.
Let legislators know that you support Good Cause Eviction protections and the Housing Access Voucher Program. This quick action is from the Working Families Party.
I’m sorry this post is coming out on a Friday afternoon. Please take action!
with love,
L