Democratic New York Governor Kathy Hochul wants more affordable housing across New York state–her expressed goal is 800,000 units in the next decade–and she wants to see houses and apartments within walking distance of train stations. Hochul’s plan gives three years to local governments to rezone the area within one-half mile of MTA rail stations to allow 25 housing units per acre.
“We all agree that we have an affordable housing problem,” said Republican State Sen. Dean Murray, whose district office is located in Patchogue. “What we don’t agree on is how to fix it. We believe … keeping it local for very real reasons is the way to go.”
But Bruce Blakeman–the Republican county executive in Nassau County–said in a recent interview, “You would see a suburban uprising, the likes of which you’ve never seen before, if the state tried to impose land-use regulations on communities that have had local control for over a 100 years.”
Already, local officials in Westchester County, the Hudson Valley and on Long Island are organizing fierce opposition to the plan that suburbanites believe would change the very nature of their communities.
The Democrat’s newly unveiled plan would set housing production targets for every city, town or village in the state. If a municipality misses the mark, the state could step in and approve new housing development, Hochul said. To many, this reeks of the arbitrariness of eminent domain and renders the community powerless in the face of government interference in local matters.
Suburban leaders are already proving themselves formidable foes; last year they led an organized, sustained public pressure campaign to force Hochul to retreat on a prior proposal that would have allowed single-family homeowners to legally rent out apartments in their attic, basement or garage, regardless of local zoning.
Now, the same political forces say Hochul is again overstepping, even though hardly anyone is willing to criticize the plan’s intent of providing housing in areas of the state that desperately need it. Some suburbanites have begun attacking the proposal in the media and community forums, hoping to use the same playbook as last year to publicly pressure the governor into reconsidering her methods.
“Just the idea to paint the entire state with the same broad stroke? It makes absolutely no sense to me,” said state Sen. Anthony Palumbo, a Long Island Republican. “Look, do we need additional housing? Of course we do, but local control is critical.”
The potential effects of the proposed new housing have left residents split. Most residents–more than two thirds–do agree that increased affordable housing is needed. However, when it comes to affordable housing being near hubs of transit 43.7% said they would like to see more, 38.6% said the current amount is sufficient, and 17.6% said they would prefer less. This is according to data collected by nextLI/Newsday in collaboration with Hofstra University and Productions Plus Research.
In an interview with Newsday, homeowner Allan Gibson in Manhasset said he opposed the plan. He recently moved to the area last summer.
“We specifically made a large financial investment in a home with the intention of renovating the home to get it to align and build the community up,” he stated. “The desire to put apartments by here — I don’t know where you would put them.”
