February 6, 2023-Governor Hochul's Affordable Housing Plan

Dear Residents,

Governor Hochul has proposed an affordable housing plan targeting Long Island. Two of the major components of the plan are:                      

1.  A  3% new housing annual growth Long Island target for all villages, and                                       

2.  A half-mile radius high density housing rezone for all MTA transit locations.   

The half-mile radius standard essentially means that every village on the LIRR mainline, Port Washington line and Babylon line would come under State zoning control.   

These proposals would essentially centralize municipal zoning and planning functions in Albany and eliminate the home rule concept that local communities best understand their own local needs and resources.                   

We have joined in the efforts with: 

A). All Nassau County Village officials, and

B). A second group of 50 Mayors for all the villages in our State Senate jurisdiction that vehemently oppose these proposals.  

Those of us who oppose the legislation do support affordable housing.  However, we know that affordable housing can be accomplished by the free market and by target programs approved by host municipalities. 

In fact, numerous downtown revitalization and improvement programs have or are taking place in numerous Long Island municipalities.  Throughout the New York City metropolitan area, numerous vacant buildings are in the process of being converted to residential housing ranging from affordable to luxury.  Moreover, Nassau County is essentially fully built and is already resource-constrained when it comes to infrastructure including sewers, water and traffic congestion.  

The Governor is 100 percent committed to her housing initiative and we need to all join in to defeat it.   It's surprising how disconnected Albany is from the local real estate market. To that end, we have included a list of those government officials you can contact if you oppose these proposals.

NY State Senator Jack Martins: martins@nysenate.gov

NY State Assemblyman Jake  Blumencranz: blumencranzj@nyassembly.gov

Regards,

Charles R. Goulding