To Fix a Housing Crisis, New York Leaders Seek to Revive a 1950s Idea

To address a growing housing crisis, leaders in New York’s State Senate are set to propose sweeping legislation on Monday that would encourage new construction, establish new tenant protections and also revive some older ideas for building affordable housing.

Among them: the creation of a new public benefit corporation that would finance housing construction on state-owned land. Leaders are framing it as a successor to the popular midcentury program known as Mitchell-Lama.

New York has faced rising rents and a homelessness crisis exacerbated by an influx of migrants. There is broad consensus that the state needs to act. But leaders have struggled to find a compromise that could unite a fractious group of stakeholders behind a housing program that meets the state’s needs.

Lawmakers in the Senate are hoping that by incorporating ideas prized by tenant groups, unions and big developers, this year’s proposal might finally help to break the logjam.

Last year, Gov. Kathy Hochul laid out an ambitious plan that would have forced suburbs and other communities to allow for more development, among other pro-growth measures. Lawmakers representing various constituencies balked, and little progress was made.

The Senate’s proposal, which will be released in its One House budget bill on Monday, can be understood as an opening bid in the coming budget negotiations: Each year, the governor and both houses of the Legislature propose their own visions for the state. Leaders in Albany have until the April 1 budget deadline to come to an agreement.