Legislative Work for More Housing in New York State
Thank you for lifting up Princetonians who are on the front lines of the YIMBY movement. The fight for more homes is about affordability, access, and building great, walkable neighborhoods for young families and older Americans alike. Here in New York the legislative push for more housing is being led by my colleague Brian Kavanagh ’89 as chair of the New York State Senate Housing Committee. He has had some huge successes with programs to help renters and homeowners stay in their homes and to secure funding in the budget for more housing construction and renovation. I’m also proud to have championed a host of housing legislation tailored to upstate communities like Syracuse. My single stair bill made it into the budget omnibus two years ago (though it is still stalled in the fire code process); last year we got a revolving loan fund for housing development into the budget; and this year the governor is pushing some of my proposed reforms of our State Environmental Quality Review Act to boost infill development and reduce the pressure for more sprawl. I’m also spearheading an effort to allow cities to test a land value tax that would allow them to identify areas where differential taxation could spur owners of vacant land and surface parking to develop more housing instead. And Sen. Kavanagh and I have also been supporting the “YIGBY” (Yes in God’s Backyard) movement, to relax zoning restrictions in order to allow houses of faith that have extra land to develop that land for creating affordable and potentially supportive housing.
Editor’s note: The writer is state senator for New York’s 48th district.
Thank you for lifting up Princetonians who are on the front lines of the YIMBY movement. The fight for more homes is about affordability, access, and building great, walkable neighborhoods for young families and older Americans alike. Here in New York the legislative push for more housing is being led by my colleague Brian Kavanagh ’89 as chair of the New York State Senate Housing Committee. He has had some huge successes with programs to help renters and homeowners stay in their homes and to secure funding in the budget for more housing construction and renovation. I’m also proud to have championed a host of housing legislation tailored to upstate communities like Syracuse. My single stair bill made it into the budget omnibus two years ago (though it is still stalled in the fire code process); last year we got a revolving loan fund for housing development into the budget; and this year the governor is pushing some of my proposed reforms of our State Environmental Quality Review Act to boost infill development and reduce the pressure for more sprawl. I’m also spearheading an effort to allow cities to test a land value tax that would allow them to identify areas where differential taxation could spur owners of vacant land and surface parking to develop more housing instead. And Sen. Kavanagh and I have also been supporting the “YIGBY” (Yes in God’s Backyard) movement, to relax zoning restrictions in order to allow houses of faith that have extra land to develop that land for creating affordable and potentially supportive housing.
Editor’s note: The writer is state senator for New York’s 48th district.