A high percentage of those who move to the suburbs do so because they are trying to get away from the noise, congestion and crime in the New York boroughs. They want a safer life and better schools for their children and they’re willing to pay exorbitant property and school taxes in order to achieve the life they’re looking for.
Now it looks like New York City is following them to the suburbs, threatening the kind of life they sought when they left the urban problems behind. Or so they think—and they’re furious as they watch new developments of dense housing go up. Sometimes, as is the case of the 146-unit affordable housing development Matinecock Court in East Northport, these developments constitute a small village on their own. Residents point to already congested traffic and overcrowded schools in the area.
Facing housing shortages, several states and the U.S. government have tried to break through the suburban zoning barriers that have prevented the construction of dense housing like apartment buildings.
In New York, one such proposal from Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul has run into howls of opposition in one of the birthplaces of the American suburb. Critics on Long Island, a sprawling expanse of communities home to 2.9 million people, are denouncing provisions that would set growth targets, drive denser development near train stations and sometimes let state officials override local zoning decisions.
“Her plan would flood YOUR neighborhood with THOUSANDS of new apartments” reads one opposition mailing. Others warn Long Island would become New York City’s “sixth borough.” Critics, many of them Republican officials, claim it would strip away local control.
“We’re already a densely populated area. Where are you going to build?” asked Republican state Sen. Jack Martins, who noted his past support for affordable housing as a local mayor. “Are we going to start tearing down single-family homes to put up apartment buildings?”
Hochul has said her wide-ranging plan to spur the creation of 800,000 new homes statewide has been mischaracterized. It was a sticking point in New York state budget talks this week, with Hochul’s fellow Democrats in control of the Legislature seeking a plan with fewer mandates and more incentives.
The governor has cast her plan for New York as an effort to help the state thrive, rather than as a tool of desegregation.
It would give towns multiple paths to meet housing targets. It would have a larger impact in New York City’s suburbs, where three-year home creation targets would be 3%, compared to 1% for upstate areas. The higher goals would apply to Long Island.
If municipalities don’t meet targets, developers could pursue a process in which the state could allow projects to go forward. Critics claim that this is a modified application of eminent domain. Another provision would require localities to rezone areas within a half-mile of commuter rail stations unless the area already meets density requirements.
Hochul said too many restrictions on new construction have contributed to sky-high home prices that are shutting out both low-income and middle-class workers.
In Nassau County, the part of the island closest to New York City, home prices rose 31% between 2018 and last year, according to the New York State Association of Realtors. The average home price there is now $679,000. One-bedroom apartments can go for $3,000-a-month.
Looming in the background on Long Island are gains made by the Republican Party in recent elections. GOP candidates won all four of the island’s congressional contests last year, in a large part by painting Democrats as soft on crime.
“There are many Democrats who think that the current housing proposal, along with an MTA payroll tax, are potential extinction events for their party in local races,” said Lawrence Levy, executive dean of the National Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University. These housing proposals may indeed become the last nail in the coffin of the Democratic party on Long Island.
A counter proposal from the Senate’s Democratic conference included a more incentive-heavy housing plan that excludes mandatory requirements and overrides of local zoning.
Hochul and legislative Democrats were trying to resolve their differences in negotiations over the budget, which was due April 1. That deadline has been extended into at least next week. The governor has described housing costs as a “core issue” that needs to be addressed.
“I knew it would not be easy,” she told reporters Wednesday.
