“As lawmakers have negotiated this final budget agreement, they have done so with a clear mandate of not letting another year go by without progress on addressing New York’s affordable housing crisis. In doing so, they took a number of meaningful steps that represent real progress in tackling the biggest public policy issue facing our State. However, gaps remain, particularly in addressing the needs of homeless and housing-insecure New Yorkers, which will require all of our collective efforts as we move forward.

First, we applaud the Governor and Legislature for banning affordable housing discrimination in the property and liability insurance marketplace. By enacting language preventing insurance companies from making coverage decisions based solely on a project’s or residents’ source of income, leaders have taken an important step in addressing a complicated and multifaceted problem. We encourage continued focus on the crisis of insurance costs for affordable housing in the remainder of this legislative session. We also thank leaders for increasing funding for HCR’s Fair Housing Testing, Education and Networking Program, which will allow more effective combatting of pervasive source of income discrimination.

Increasing the amount of affordable housing available in New York must be a key component of addressing housing need. To that end, we are encouraged by the actions taken to produce more housing supply, including support for office-to-residential conversions which will include affordable units, a basement apartment legalization pilot, and a tax abatement program for areas outside New York City.

While these above measures will help, the announced framework lacks solutions that will have an immediate impact on those New Yorkers most acutely struggling with housing insecurity. We are profoundly disappointed that despite broad consensus from organizations representing the housing spectrum statewide, the Housing Access Voucher Program (HAVP) was not authorized. This would have been an impactful solution for addressing New York’s homeless crisis.

As we review the details of what has been announced and the State turns toward implementation of these important measures, we encourage leaders to remain focused in the legislative session and beyond on what more must be done to address the affordable housing and homelessness crisis and to commit to keep advancing solutions.”

- Baaba Halm, vice president and New York market leader, Enterprise Community Partners