More Than 100 Organizations Endorse the New York Housing Compact - Governor Hochul's Plan to Address New York's Housing Crisis

More than 100 business and nonprofit leaders from across the state voiced their support for the New York Housing Compact - Governor Hochul's comprehensive strategy announced in the Fiscal Year 2024 Executive Budget to address New York's housing crisis and build 800,000 new homes in the next decade. The plan builds on the Governor's vision to make New York more livable, more accessible, and more affordable.

Annemarie Gray, Executive Director at Open New York said, "Policy failures got us into our unprecedented housing affordability crisis, and bold action from all levels of government can get us out of it. A mandate-based, statewide framework that ends exclusionary zoning practices, encourages dense housing in transit-rich areas, and ensures all neighborhoods do their part to increase housing opportunities is essential for addressing the depth of the crisis and increasing leverage for renters. It is long past time for our state to enact a framework like the New York Housing Compact."

Alex Armlovich, Senior Housing Policy Analyst, Social Policy, Niskanen Center said, "Governor Hochul is the first in modern history to realize post-WWII growth control caps on new housing in cities created sprawl upstate and a housing shortage downstate. Ending postwar bans on apartments near transit downstate is the only way to simultaneously build our way out of the housing shortage, restore MTA ridership, protect the environment from transportation emissions, and stanch the decades-long outflow of New Yorkers to easy-building states like Texas, Arizona, and Florida. We cannot build back better after COVID unless we legalize building again--and the Housing Compact would do just that."

Howard Slatkin, Executive Director, Citizens Housing and Planning Council said, "When there's not enough housing to go around, All New Yorkers pay more, which hurts most those who can afford it least. The Governor's Housing Compact represents the first effort in modern memory to take action at the scale necessary to reverse the long, slow strangulation of our housing supply. To treat these issues as intractable or inevitable would be to admit a lack of imagination and courage. Even the well housed among us owe the next generation of New Yorkers a functioning system that provides the housing needed to sustain their livelihoods. Now is the time to act."

Mike Kingsella, CEO of Up for Growth said, "We applaud Governor Hochul's wide-ranging plan to address the housing gap in New York, which we found accounted for a 233,000 shortfall of homes in 2019, up from 162,000 in 2012. The Governor's plan sets ambitious goals for creating additional homes while allowing local communities to decide how best to increase housing production. Backed by critical funding commitments and a focus on transit-oriented development, it also would maximize existing housing supply, remove numerous regulatory barriers, and provide incentives that encourage the type of housing creation that is good for the economy and climate, and the advancement of housing equity statewide."

Reverend Peter Cook, Executive Director, New York State Council of Churches said, "For too long our communities in New York have erected unjust and discriminatory zoning laws which have prevented development of affordable rental and owner-occupied housing. The Compact is an essential step towards reversing years of structurally racist and classist policy which has caused great damage to our economy and forced thousands of people to leave the state in search of more affordable housing options. We want a state housing policy that creates communities where all are welcome."

Carlo A. Scissura, Esq. President and CEO, New York Building Congress said, "Governor Hochul's Housing Compact is bold, innovative, and encourages growth and sustainability. Our industry fully supports its ambitious and achievable agenda, and its policies designed to spur both housing and workforce development. The Building Congress just this week took a deeper dive into one of its proposals, with our detailed report on transit-oriented development aimed at denser, walkable neighborhoods with high job access. We look forward to working with the Governor to bring the Housing Compact to life for a better, stronger New York."

Laura Harding, President, ERASE Racism said, "ERASE Racism fully supports Governor Kathy Hochul's proposed New York Housing Compact, which is vital to tackling the state's severe housing crisis. The Governor's plan addresses the needs of a wide range of New Yorkers including, among others, seniors seeking to downsize and remain in their communities, essential workers unable to live where they work, young professionals seeking to live on their own and build a life in the state, and low-income wage-earners working to build vibrant futures. New York State needs the New York Housing Compact. The time to act is now."

Andrew Rein, President of the Citizens Budget Commission, said, "Governor Hochul's multi-pronged strategy rightly aims to boost housing production throughout New York, whose failure to create enough new housing has exacerbated supply and affordability challenges. New York's future will be brightest when we all work together to solve the housing crisis. Instead of requiring significant public investment, the plan smartly removes barriers to production, allows for local input, and provides targeted incentives. The Governor's approach would significantly boost production and increase affordability, importantly helping New York attract and retain residents and business so we can thrive together."

Pilar Moya-Mancera, Executive Director, Housing Help Inc. said, "With housing emerging as a top issue for voters and most local governments failing to lead on reform, State and local policymakers are feeling the pressure from their constituents who are getting locked out of homeownership and squeezed by rising rents. It is hard to take the sanctity of 'local control' too seriously when it has failed thousands of Long Islanders for the last 20-plus years. Incentives alone WILL NOT solve our severe housing crisis without a state mandate, as proven by the failure of the LI Workforce Housing Act of 2008. Exclusionary zoning harms the entire region. It relegates those with lesser means to places with little opportunity and unhealthy, unsafe living conditions. It is unconscionable that in 2023 the anti-family, anti-homes rhetoric of some legislators implies that children who live in rental housing are a burden on our town's schools and do not deserve equal opportunities. The suburbs are not just for those of means. It is also for the poor and the working class. The time to create more housing was yesterday!"

Dan Kent, President and CEO, Lantern Organization said, "As a permanent supportive housing nonprofit in New York City, Lantern Organization has played a part in New York's nation-leading effort to create affordable and permanent supportive housing over the last three decades. Despite this success, homelessness and housing affordability has only worsened in New York while improving elsewhere across the country. The reason is clear: New York's exclusionary zoning policies have limited home building statewide. The only way to solve our affordability and homelessness crisis is to create more homes. Governor Hochul's Housing Compact will make it possible to build new homes throughout the state."

Anne Nacinovich, President, NYS Fair Housing Network said, "The New York State Fair Housing Network applauds Governor Kathy Hochul for her commitment to remedy New York's housing crisis. The policies proposed in the 2023 State of the State address will put New York on a path to ending the housing shortage that currently hinders the State's ability to Affirmatively Further Fair Housing. The New York State Fair Housing Network is comprised of six full-service fair housing organizations. Collectively, the Network services 94 percent of New York's population. Our work gives us firsthand experience with the ways that policy can either impede or further the goal of fair housing for all. We support the Governor's approach of working with each local government in the State to ensure that every community is open and accessible to all. Unfortunately, a handful of localities have used zoning, planning, and environmental laws for exclusionary ends by blocking the construction of almost all new housing. In communities across New York, the result has been segregation and a lack of housing opportunities. The long-term solutions proposed must be combined with immediate action to relieve the pressures caused by New York's housing crisis. Families across the state need additional safeguards, including expanded fair housing protections, testing, and enforcement. We agree with Governor Hochul that 'Housing is a human right!' Her proposals will secure that right for more people. The New York State Fair Housing Network looks forward to working with the Governor, state agencies, and state legislators to advance these policies to expand housing opportunities and further fair housing for all New Yorkers."

The full list of organizations is below: