NY Governor To Prioritize $650M In Funds Toward Housing Crisis

NEW YORK — New York's Governor Kathy Hochul announced multiple executive actions Tuesday to promote housing growth as part of her ongoing commitment to addressing New York's housing crisis, the state announced in a news release.

Hochul's executive order will prioritize over $650 million in state discretionary funds in an effort to increase supply, create affordable housing, and promote housing growth, officials said.

"I will not wait, this neighborhood will not wait, and the State of New York will not wait," Hochul said during a Tuesday news conference. "So, I'm going to do everything I can within my powers, using every tool I can find, the ones I'm announcing today and the ones we haven't even thought of yet. We're going to jumpstart housing now. And any legislator who wants to be a part of the solution, who shares this vision and this sense of urgency, I believe you'll be rewarded by your constituents because they want you to step up on their behalf."

The executive order will give preference in certain discretionary funding programs for places across the state that comply with a new "Pro-Housing Community" certification process, and establish a requirement that all state entities identify the potential for their state-owned lands to support housing, among other actions, according to officials.

Hochul's efforts will also include the creation of a program to advance residential projects halted by the expiration of 421-A—a partial tax exemption for new multiple dwellings—including affordable housing in the Gowanus neighborhood in Brooklyn, officials said.

"In my vision over the next decade, we'll witness a transformation that has always been talked about, dreamed of, always achievable, and it was put in motion years ago by then Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and Councilmember Brad Lander who believed in this so much - and how disappointed they were to see this sidetracked after they put all this energy into it. And all that was stymied until now," Hochul said in the news conference. "And now we're going to finally unlock the full potential of this incredible neighborhood."