Designed to Deliver Affordable Homeownership in NY
During a press conference in Albany on February 25, Senate Republican Leader Robert Ortt, along with members of the Senate Housing Committee and the Senate Republican Conference, unveiled a comprehensive package of housing legislation designed to help New Yorkers build homes that are affordable in an effort to keep homeowners here in the Empire State.
The package includes affordability incentives for first-time homeowners and lowers the construction costs by removing regulatory burdens, such as streamlining the environmental review process to build homes. The package aims to increase housing supply by establishing a task force composed of local government officials, state agencies, and other stakeholders to develop best practices for local governments to incentivize housing development. In addition, the package includes legislation that ensures rent-controlled and stabilized housing goes to those who need it most.
“To keep New Yorkers living here, we need to ensure that housing is attainable and reasonably priced. The lack of housing affordability remains one of the most difficult economic hurdles facing our state, and a major driver of the affordability crisis that has so many New Yorkers leaving year after year. This is a direct result of policies by our Democratic colleagues. In contrast, our legislative package is about cutting costs, building more, and keeping New Yorkers here,” said Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt.
“New York families are working hard and trying to put down roots, yet rising construction costs and skyrocketing utility bills are pushing the dream of owning a home further out of reach. These policies are also making it more difficult for retirees to stay in their homes,” said Senator Pam Helming, Member of the Senate Housing, Construction & Community Development Committee. “My housing and energy affordability package offers real, practical solutions. It reduces costly energy mandates that drive up utility bills, lowers construction costs, increases housing supply, and delivers meaningful property tax relief. If the Governor and the Legislature are serious about affordability, they should set aside their politics and pass these bills. Let’s work together to lower costs, expand opportunity, and make it possible for families, seniors, and workers to build a future and stay in New York.”
Included in the package are proposals that would:
Increase Housing Supply
- S.538 (Martins) – Means test rent-controlled apartments to ensure that people who need affordable housing are occupying them.
- S.3545 (Borrello) – Streamlines the environmental review process to make it easier to build more homes.
- S.529 (Martins) – Establishes the local initiatives task force on housing, in order to collaborate with local government officials, state agencies, and stakeholders to develop best practices for local governments to incentivize housing development.
- S.576 (Helming) – Create tax incentives for manufactured housing developers to build affordable homes in rural areas.
Homeownership Affordability
- S.850 (Helming) – Provides a first-time homebuyer tax credit for local property taxes.
- S.8489 (Weber) – Freezes real property taxes for three years to provide relief to New York homeowners. New York has some of the highest property taxes in the nation.
- S.852 (Helming)- Give homebuyers who rehabilitate dilapidated properties an exemption from property tax reassessment.
- S.9270 (Chan)– Establishes a new part of the housing court dedicated exclusively to buildings with 35 units or less. The owners and tenants of these smaller buildings would benefit from faster resolution of issues.
Lower Construction Costs
- S.1167 (Mattera) – Repeal the All-Electric Building Act. The all-electric mandate will increase the cost of the average single-family home by about $20,000.
- S.8621 (Mattera) – Allow building developers to comply with the less costly and less burdensome 2020 Energy Codes in lieu of the 2025 Energy Code. This would result in lowering the cost of an average single-family home by approximately $7,400.
“Too many New Yorkers, especially young families and first-time homebuyers, are watching the American Dream of homeownership slip further out of reach. Between crushing property taxes, excessive regulations, and programs that too often miss the people they were meant to serve, the deck is stacked against those trying to put down roots in the communities they call home. This package advances common-sense reforms to increase the housing supply, cut unnecessary regulatory burdens, and provide property tax relief. These are practical steps toward restoring opportunity, bringing down costs, and making it possible for more families to build their future right here in New York,” said Senator George Borrello, SD 57th.
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