Hochul ready for 'bold' fight to fight state's housing crisis

LONG ISLAND, NY — Gov. Kathy Hochul is up for a fight as she rolls up her sleeves to address the housing crisis that has many New Yorkers packing their bags and heading to states where jobs and housing are ripe.

According to Hochul, while job opportunities are good right now in New York, the housing situation is bleak.

Speaking recently at the New York Housing Conference Awards, Hochul said throughout her tenure in local government, she has embraced the fight for affordable housing, embracing NIMBYism — or the “Not In My Backyard” mentality — and renovating the space and leads the charge for housing creation.

Since taking office last year, Hochul said she and her government have carried that burden.

“I want to make sure that people still want to come to New York, that they can have jobs and build a future,” he said. “This isn't just aspirational; it's what I've been doing since day one in my first State.”

Since taking office after former Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigned following sexual harassment allegations, Hochul said affordable housing has been “front and center,” pledging to make the “largest investment in its history of New York State” by preserving and creating 100,000 units of affordable housing, at a cost of $25 billion over five years. “It was bold,” he said. But, he added, there is a sense of urgency that cannot be ignored. “We have limited time to right the wrongs of the past.”

Hochul added that she has cut red tape to speed up the conversion of New York hotels to housing stock — and has tackled the discriminatory housing practice across the state. “It's not a new phenomenon, but it should be a non-phenomenon,” he said.

Raised in western New York, Hochul said her parents were activists, inviting “people from communities of color to sit on our front porch in an all-white neighborhood. That's the environment I grew up in. But discriminatory housing practices still exist today. We have to call it out and try to fix it.”

Long Island has long been considered one of the most racially segregated suburbs in the nation, and a new report released in 2021 by the State Senate examined evidence of discriminatory real estate practices that may be contributing factors. The committee was tasked with creating the final report on fair housing and discrimination on Long Island. The survey points out that Long Island has 291 communities, but the vast majority of its black residents live in only 11 of them. The committee suggested a multi-stage recommendation to address the issues.

During her speech, Hochul pointed to initiatives she has spearheaded, such as an eviction prevention program. $539 million for a homeowner assistance fund. and $100 million in rent supplements for people “still suffering from the pandemic.”

He added: “I'm not here to make history. I'm here to make a difference.”

Her goal is for all New Yorkers to have the same advantages they had growing up, Hochul said. Her parents started out in a trailer park and eventually bought a small house on Cape Cod as her father got an education and their lives improved. “I watched my parents' success unfold from the development of homes they could afford,” Hochul said. “And it was the fact that there were houses to move into, houses galore.”

Later, when factories closed in the 1980s and wages disappeared, people were forced to leave their homes, Hochul said.

Today, New Yorkers face a housing shortage that has forced many to leave, he said.

“We have to accept the fact that we are once again looking at the crisis,” Hochul said. “This new crisis could potentially prevent families from realizing their dreams; they might go elsewhere. And this time, it's not a lack of jobs. It's the opposite. The jobs are here, but the housing isn't.”

When families have to move away from each other, with grandparents unable to see their grandchildren, Hochul said it symbolizes the breakdown of the social order.”

He added: “We are in the middle of a housing crisis that has been decades in the making.”

In New York State, Hotchul said, jobs are created at three times the rate of housing. there are 3.25 million jobs but only 400,000 housing units. “See the disconnect? Now we have jobs, but where do we put the workers? where do they live?”

Other states such as New Jersey and Connecticut have created enough housing to accommodate the new jobs in their states, Hotchul said.

Her goal is to leave no stone unturned to find solutions, Hochul said. she and her team have looked at models nationwide.

“As a result of a deliberative, long process, we have come up with a very bold and effective initiative. The ideas are far from easy, but they are necessary,” he said.

She did not immediately discuss specifics — those will be revealed in her State of the State address. Hochul said to think of her speech as “a trailer for a movie coming out in January. But it has to be an Oscar winner. We have no choice. This has to be great.” He called “bold and bold” action necessary.

What caused the crisis, Hochul said, was not a lack of government funding. New York is also a leader in protecting renters, he said.

“Here's the real problem,” he said. “We are a national leader in residential blocking.”

According to Hochul, the Brookings Institution said the suburban counties surrounding New York “may be the worst in the country in terms of regulatory hurdles and barriers.”

Other cities, such as Denver, Seattle, Austin and others, he said, are developing new housing at a rate two to four times higher than New York.

And while the lack of affordable housing in the New York area is “amazing, it's even worse in the suburbs,” Hotchul said. “Almost no new housing has been built on large tracts of land in years. Compared to suburban areas across the country, Long Island and Westchester are at the bottom of the list.”

Along with the housing shortage, there are also escalating housing prices and rental costs, Hochul said. Even in the upstate, her young staff “can't find affordable rents. The idea of ​​buying a house is so out of reach.”

New York, Hochul said, competes with other parts of the country to attract and retain top talent. Parts of New Jersey and other states have built four to five times as many housing units per capita as suburban Long Island.

It would be one thing if the comparison was made in California, an impossible commute for New Yorkers. But for those states that are geographically close “that have done the work and created the list — they're the ones that are ready to capture the talent for jobs going to our state. As governor, I don't want to see that. I want to see them live in our state. I want their grandchildren to live here,” Hotchul said.

Unemployment is only 2.2 percent on Long Island right now, Hochul said. “The jobs are there, they're looking for workers — but they can't find housing.”

In New York there is an “unrealized capacity for more housing production, and not taking advantage of it is unconscionable and morally reprehensible,” with effects that could be economically “disastrous,” Hochsul said.

The lack of housing and the dramatic increase in rental costs have led to what could potentially become an “out-migration crisis,” Hochul said.

Hochul wants to give children the same opportunity for advancement that previous generations have enjoyed.

“This is our opportunity to seize,” he said. “This doesn't have to be our destiny. Stop letting the old ways be our way. We have to have this shared vision.”

He added: “I really love a good fight and I'm up for the task. It was NIMBYism on steroids, those who said, 'Don't come into my community, because you don't look like me.' I don't want her.” This has to end,” he said. “We have to act boldly. There's no kicking the can down the road. I'm taking that can and saying, 'We're going to fix this.' I'm not going to be discouraged.”