800,000 homes in the next decade
Hochul introduced a plan dubbed the New York Housing Compact to add 800,000 new homes across the state in the next decade. The program would target every locality in New York and require upstate counties to boost housing stock by 1% every three years, while downstate counties would be required to increase the number of units by 3% every three years.
In addition, municipalities with one or more Metro-North stops would need to rezone the area within a half-mile of a station to allow for new housing within three years, and the state would offer $250 million in new funds to help build the necessary infrastructure, such as schools and roads, to support the additional housing.
“When communities have not made good-faith efforts to grow, when proposed housing projects are languishing for no legitimate reason, the state will implement a fast-track approval process,” Hochul said. “Because doing nothing is an abdication of our responsibility to act in times of crisis.”
The fast track would let developers appeal a rejected project to a new state Housing Approval Board or through the courts. These projects would be approved unless the locality demonstrates a valid safety or health reason for denying them.