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Contact: Helen Stevenson, (201)787-1065, helen@marathonstrategies.com
NEW YORK HOUSING CONFERENCE: LEGISLATURE FAILING TO ADDRESS SEGREGATION, HOUSING SHORTAGE WITH HOUSING COMPACT REJECTION
Leading Housing Advocacy Group Condemns Legislature for Continued Opposition to Hochul’s “Comprehensive, Data-Driven Policy Plan”
NEW YORK – The New York State Legislature today failed to pass Gov. Hochul’s Housing Compact. In response, the New York Housing Conference released the following statement from its Executive Director, Rachel Fee:
“We are extremely disappointed that the Legislature failed to address segregation and the housing shortage by rejecting the visionary Housing Compact. It is especially shocking that the Legislature, made up of members who run for office on solving the housing crisis, rejected such a comprehensive, data-driven policy plan and instead capitulated to powerful NIMBYs who prefer the status quo. By doing so, New York’s elected officials have once again let their constituents down and signaled that the ongoing housing emergency is acceptable.
The Hochul administration was right to reject the Legislature’s incentive-only approach to housing production because that approach failed elsewhere and was doomed to fail in New York. Because their plan also removed the enforcement and accountability systems in the original Housing Compact, it was not a thoughtful response to a serious crisis.
Gov. Hochul was the first New York governor in generations to propose a real solution to the housing crisis, and our failure to accept that solution is a major missed opportunity. While there are still several important housing policies on the table, such as ERAP, FAR cap, commercial conversions and the Housing Access Voucher Program, this outcome all but guarantees that New York’s housing emergency will live to see another day.”