Governor Hochul: “I truly believe we can solve this if we have the commitment to working through some of the barriers that have been there for generations, the ones that people wouldn't talk about ... I want to continue partnering with communities and we're going to keep our five-year $25 billion housing plan to build 100,000 units of affordable housing. We made that commitment two years ago. We're still on path to build that housing.”
Hochul: “Everybody wants to be part of this, and I believe that this is going to be a turning point for our State. We want to work with you. We want to help identify sites, we want to help you with the infrastructure. We want to help you figure out a way that we can continue to grow and meet the demands of our residents, and also tackle that affordability crisis that we have. A housing crisis is driven – the affordability crisis is driven by the housing crisis.”
Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul celebrated the certification of New York’s first Pro-Housing Communities as part of her long-term strategy to support local efforts to build more housing statewide. The state’s first 20 Pro-Housing Communities include localities in the Long Island, Mid-Hudson, Central New York, Western New York, Mohawk Valley, Southern Tier, North Country, and Capital Regions. The certification, first announced by Governor Hochul last year as part of a package of Executive Actions to increase the housing supply, recognizes localities committed to housing growth and gives them priority consideration over other localities for up to $650 million in state discretionary funding. As part of her 2024 State of the State, Governor Hochul proposed strengthening the Pro-Housing Communities program by making the certification a requirement for communities to access state discretionary funds.
VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format.
AUDIO of the Governor's remarks is available here.
PHOTOS of the event are available on the Governor's Flickr page.
PRESENTATION SLIDES from the roundtable are available here.
A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:
Good morning. I love mayors. I come out of local government. People know that I used to represent a town that had two villages and I worked very close with our mayors. And so, I understand that the levels of government closest to the people truly are the most important. And I want to thank all of you for answering the call to serve.
I'm joined here by other public servants as well. Not elected, but very important and administration of state government. Our Chief of Staff, Stacy Lynch. I want to thank her for her service to our state. Also, Colleen Deacon, who's the Upstate Deputy Director for Intergovernmental Affairs. And so, congratulations on that position.
Also, someone I've known many, many years is the Mayor of Albany, but also has the title of the President of NYCOM this year. So, I want to thank her for her leadership. We just had a great meeting a couple days ago.
You know, just about a month ago, I delivered a State of the State that once again laid out my priorities – protecting public safety, ensuring that we have more affordability, and within that context of affordability for New Yorkers, an important key part of that is affordable housing for everyone. Housing you can afford. And I raised this issue last year, as many know, and was the first person since Rockefeller to raise the issue of housing is what I'm told. The first Governor who dared step into that abyss and talk about something that people have very strong opinions on.
All I know as the Governor of the great State of New York, we are no longer on a path to achieve our full potential if we don't have enough housing to keep the people, the families, the teachers, the firefighters, everyone who wants to stay in their communities where they were raised, where they want to raise kids because we have stopped building. And the percentages are rather shocking. If you compare growth in New York State in terms of housing starts, new housing units, whether it's multi-family or luxury, market rate, whatever it is – we just stopped. We had too many restrictions, too many barriers. We didn't have the political will to say that this is a great community, we can even be greater if we welcome more people in.
So, I wanted to change that trajectory. This is one of my top, top priorities, and many people predicted that after last year, we talked about it, but didn't have the big win we hoped for. I realized that this is a game of getting to first base, second base, third base and then you score. So, we're on first base. This is the year I said I'm going to continue talking about this.
And I'm really proud to have the engagement of our local officials here today, but also all across the state. I've been convening mayors and supervisors from Long Island up to Buffalo to the North Country on this very topic and explaining what is truly behind my passion for building more housing, because it's a simple matter of supply and demand. The more housing we build, the more we can meet that demand, the prices will go down and make our communities affordable once again. So, I'm real excited about continuing on this.
This is one of the top expenses for our struggling families. It's either their rental payment or it's the mortgage, and it's getting harder and harder and harder to achieve what has always been known as the American Dream, the dream of possibility of owning your own home. And so, as long as that's out of reach for New Yorkers, then we're not achieving our objectives, which is to make this the best place for people to live.
And to know that people sometimes leave our state and they're not going to places like far away, like Florida. Some are, but many are staying right in the Northeastern corridor – they're going to Connecticut, they're going to New Jersey. I won't judge on whether they're better states or not. People can make their own decision. All I know is that they've built more housing. The housing is more affordable, even just across the border or just across the river.
That's something we can solve for. I truly believe we can solve this if we have the commitment to working through some of the barriers that have been there for generations, the ones that people wouldn't talk about, and that's why I'm so excited. We're losing, not just losing population and losing families, we're also losing political clout.
We look at what's unfolding in Washington these last couple days, we'll comment on that at another time. But we used to have 43 members of Congress from New York State when I was a little girl growing up in Western New York, we have 26 now, and that number could continue to decline. So, the loss of clout in Washington has also hurt our ability to bring home the bacon, the resources we need for our State as well. So, there's also a larger dynamic at play here.
So, we must remain competitive. And so, this year we put forth a sweeping plan, once again, and I will say this, I want to continue partnering with communities and we're going to keep our five-year $25 billion housing plan to build 100,000 units of affordable housing. We made that commitment two years ago. We're still on path to build that housing.
We also said, I said, let's look around and see what our State assets are. We have a lot of properties in the State of New York. We have prisons, we have colleges, we have parking lots run by transit entities like MTA next to transit stations that would be much more full of life if we simply put a building there instead of having parking spaces that are empty by late at night. So we could put multi-family housing there, make it affordable apartments for young people to get to their jobs in the City if that's their choice. You can have retail, you can have a hotel, you can have anything there.
But vacant properties next to State assets or on State assets are all going to be looked at. So, I put $500 million in this year's Budget to see if we can create over 15,000 more units. I also listened to Mayor Adams and have gone forth and put forth everything we need for the City of New York to unleash the potential to build the 500,000 units that he's interested in.
But what we're talking about here doesn't add up to everything we need. We need 800,000 units to meet the demand today, and that's where all of you come in. And I was told last year that people didn't want to be told what to do, not even gently suggested what to do. I spent 14 years in government, will tell you right now, the relationship between Albany and local government is radically different than it was all those years because it very much was top-down, ‘you will do what we say,’ unfunded mandates were the order of the day. It's something I say, we're not doing that to our localities, they are our partners. We all represent the same people and I feel very strongly about that.
So, I was told last year that there's something else that could get all the communities on board. They said, we don't want any sticks, but we do want [carrots], all right? I'm told this is what you are willing to eat to help build more housing. And I've got 600 million carrots out there on the table. So, I started a plan where I said, okay, all the programs that localities can apply for, the DRI, New York Forward – we're making more announcements even this week. The Main Street programs, there's a whole series of programs – I bundled them all together to create $650 million in a pot of money, that communities that say, “We are willing to lead, we're willing to step out, we're willing to say, we'll be a pro-housing community.” They'll be the ones that are eligible to apply for this funding, because building housing is such an important part of rebuilding our downtowns and our main streets.
And so, it makes sense that these go together, but I need to have a commitment. Either, number one, proof that you've been doing this all along. We're going to continue rewarding those who've been doing this because that's important. You were ahead of your time, you understood the needs of your communities, and I thank you for that. But also, those who will commit to follow what we call our pro-housing commitment. Now it is so easy. You go online, you download the application, send us a letter of intent, and I'm really, really proud to say that we have 20 communities.
Let me see my community list here. We have 20 communities that have been approved already. They're from Long Island, Mid-Hudson, Central New York, Western New York, Mohawk Valley, Southern Tier, North Country and Capital Regions. I think we've every area of our State represented. So, all of you – my Mayors and Representatives of your localities, I'm here to say thank you. You have all been designated the first 20. You are the visionaries, you're the leaders. I want to give you all a round of applause. And not just you 20, but I have – the numbers keep rolling in literally by the hour we have another 60 plus communities that have already said, they sent us a letter of intent and we're going to process them very quickly. So, in a fairly short time – where's my map? Right there. Right there. Take a look at all those communities that have stepped up and that does not include the extra 20 from last night.
See the little, tiny pins. It's happening so quickly. We made this at the end of the day yesterday, and 20 more came in. So, everybody wants to be part of this, and I believe that this is going to be a turning point for our State. We want to work with you. We want to help identify sites, we want to help you with the infrastructure. We want to help you figure out a way that we can continue to grow and meet the demands of our residents, and also tackle that affordability crisis that we have. A housing crisis is driven – the affordability crisis is driven by the housing crisis. And so all of you are so, such an important part of this.
So, you are helping lead the way, helping create more prosperous communities. And the State is only as good as the sum of its parts. And all of you represent those parts that are so important. So, thank you. And I'd like to just start a conversation. My team will lead it just to find out, what's on your minds and you know how we can inspire all your neighbors.
Now, I know you want to not have more people in because you want to have the 650 million just for yourselves. I understand that. But I think it'd be a real, real statement about who we are as a people, where our priorities are. And yes, they're with the seniors who want to be able to downsize and have a new option about the young people who want to move out of their parents' basements into their first apartment. And for our dedicated workforce that just really wants to stay where they're raised and want to come here and just don't have options.
So, Colleen and Stacy, I'll let you take it away.