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Gov. Kathy Hochul hosted a community roundtable with political officials in central New York on Tuesday to discuss plans to build 800,000 new homes in the state throughout the next decade, in response to New York state’s housing crisis.

The new homes, which will be built to meet the region’s rising housing demand, are part of the FY-24 budget’s New York Housing Compact, and intend to address the lack of affordable housing. The initiative builds on Hochul’s overall plan to make the state more livable, accessible and affordable, according to a news release.

In a February speech, Hochul addressed the need for new housing to accommodate the expected influx in the central New York region’s workforce of nearly 50,000 jobs in the next 20 years with the planned Micron chip factory in Clay.

In that speech, Hochul emphasized the importance of reducing barriers to owning and affording housing.

“We have to meet people where they are, and if we fail in that, we fail to provide what I promised Micron was, not just a workforce, but they have to live somewhere. They’re not all staying at the Syracuse hotel here — they have to have a place to live,” Hochul said in the speech.

At the roundtable, Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh explained ways the city of Syracuse is working to mitigate the housing shortage, including the 2020 proposed Resurgent Neighborhoods Initiative. The project, which would build 50 single-family homes in two years as well as 75 two-family rental homes, has experienced delays amid the COVID-19 pandemic and a lack of funding.

As of May 2022, seven of the 50 planned homes had been built, and nine were under construction, according to syracuse.com.

During Tuesday’s roundtable, Walsh also emphasized the importance of maintaining engagement among community leaders in order to gain as much support as possible for affordable housing initiatives. He said the more partners they have, the stronger they can handle the lack of affordable housing.

“We need non-profit partners and municipalities in cities, suburbs and rural areas working together to address the housing challenges we all face together,” Walsh said in the release.

Other attendees spoke on the severity of the housing crisis and how the New York Housing Compact could alleviate it. Raquan Pride-Green, the executive director for Blueprint 15, Inc. – a Syracuse organization aiming to transform the 15th Ward – said affordable housing is one of the most underrated reasons why people are leaving New York.

Pride-Green said that in New York, jobs have been added at three times the rate housing units have been established, meaning there are a disproportionate amount of jobs in Syracuse relative to places where potential employees can be housed. The Housing Compact could lower prices enough that instead of people leaving and paying over 30% of their income for housing, the state would see an increase of people moving to New York, Pride-Green said.

“Access to affordable, high-quality, healthy and safe homes are critical to all communities in New York state,” Pride-Green said.

Katelyn Wright, the executive director for the Greater Syracuse Land Bank – an organization with the goal to restore abandoned properties in Syracuse – said with the arrival of Micron, housing demand will increase within Onondaga County and make finding affordable housing increasingly difficult for families.

Wright also highlighted the significance of Hochul and the state of New York getting financially involved because of the hardships that come with finding funding. Now, she said, organizations are better prepared to begin constructing houses.

“The Greater Syracuse Land Bank has been working for a decade to get site control and assemble sites for new construction. And now with financial support from New York State, we and our affordable housing partners in Syracuse like Home HeadQuarters, Jubilee Homes and Housing Visions, are ready to build,” Wright said in the release.

She said that the timing of the Housing Compact worked out, given the years of Syracuse having a lack of affordable housing.

“For decades the Syracuse area has suffered a lack of affordable, quality housing,” Wright said. “The Governor’s Housing Compact and commitment to increasing the supply of affordable housing couldn’t come at a better time.”

Published on March 22, 2023 at 1:27 am