Albany Progressives Push ‘State of Yes’ Zoning Reforms, And What Else Happened This Week in Housing

A group of state lawmakers and advocates are rallying around a slate of 32 bills aimed at addressing New York’s housing shortage, including legislation that would require local towns and cities to contribute their “fair share” of new housing.

Over the last two years, lawmakers in New York City passed a sweeping set of zoning reforms—dubbed “City of Yes”—intended to spur new housing development, while city voters approved several ballot measures to do the same.

Now it’s Albany’s turn, a group of Democratic legislators said this week.

On Wednesday, Assemblymember Tony Simone, who represents Chelsea, Midtown Manhattan and parts of Hells Kitchen, joined other elected officials to unveil “State of Yes”—a campaign in support of 32 state proposals to tackle the housing shortage.

They include bills that would streamline approvals for certain affordable projects, require towns and cities to provide their “fair share” of new housing, limit local municipalities’ efforts to stymie development with exclusionary zoning rules, and require them to allow greater density near transit hubs.

Others would beef up protections for tenants and increase enforcement against landlords who break the rules, or fail to make repairs.

“It’s Albany’s turn to put the housing crisis as the number one priority,” Simone said at a press conference Wednesday, where he pointed to record-setting rents—the average in Manhattan is approaching $7,000 a month—and high homelessness rates.

From 2017 to 2022, New York City increased its housing supply by 3.5 percent, trailing cities like Minneapolis, which saw a 12 percent boost, according to the lawmaker. The city alone needs 700,000 new homes over the next 10 years to catch up with current demand and accommodate future growth, a report released by the Mamdani administration last week found.

“New Yorkers need a big and bold housing agenda …We need to stop nibbling around the edges,” Simone said. “Building more creates a renters’ market, where instead of renters competing for apartments, landlords will compete for tenants.”

He acknowledged, however, that some of the proposals “State of Yes” champions would make some of his colleagues “nervous.”

Indeed, a similar effort by Gov. Kathy Hochul just three years ago, which would have required towns and cities to meet new housing production targets, fizzled out after backlash from lawmakers in some suburban areas, including the outer boroughs.

“A lot of my colleagues didn’t like the way it was approached,” Simone said in response to a question from The Real Deal reporter Caroline Spivack about those earlier efforts, including Hochul’s push for more development near transit lines.

“I think now that we have a pro-housing governor with a pro-housing mayor, the conversation was shifted,” Simone said.

The “State of Yes” proposals make a point of prioritizing renters, in line with new Mayor Zohran Mamdani, whose administration is helping to organize tenant unions and promising to crack down on negligent landlords.

The bills include one that would increase penalties against rent-regulated property owners who overcharge tenants, and another that would make it easier to determine who’s behind many of the Limited Liability Companies, or LLCs, that own residential buildings.

Other proposals would address the type of housing that gets built, and who controls it. The Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act, for example, would give tenants or organizations they partner with an early chance to buy their building if it comes up for sale (a similar bill is under debate in the City Council). Another would establish a statewide “social housing authority” charged with building new housing outside the private market, what supporters say would prioritize affordability and community ownership.

“There is so much housing being built for people who can afford luxury-level rents, but there is so little housing being built for people” with middle or lower incomes, said Assemblymember Emily Gallagher, the bill’s co-sponsor.

Assemblymember Jordan Wright, who represents Harlem, said the policies will help more longtime New Yorkers afford to stay here.

“I’ve seen many of my friends take their lives somewhere else—take their lives to Long Island, take their lives to California—because they simply cannot afford to live in the community anymore,” he said.

Read the full “State of Yes” report here. The State Legislature will convene again in January.

Here’s what else happened in housing this week—

ICYMI, from City Limits:

• The Mamdani administration announced new rules for the civil court system that will speed up cases where tenants sue to win repairs or kick out a negligent landlord.
• Tenants in buildings owned by one of New York’s most notorious landlords have suffered for years. Could Zohran Mamdani’s new housing plan, which pledges to beef up the city’s capacity to go after bad owners, make a difference?
• Major crime is down at NYCHA.
• A public art installation in the Bronx features handwritten testimony and drawings created by homeless New Yorkers.

ICYMI, from other local newsrooms:

• Over half of the possible second homes on the city’s pied-à-terre list are owned by limited liability companies that obscure ownership, Gothamist reports, complicating eligibility determinations for the new tax.
• A historic Black cemetery turned parking lot is now up for sale and possible development, according to a story from The City Reporter.
• News that one of the heads of the NYC chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America owns a $1.5 million Bed-Stuy Brownstone purchased by his parents sparked discourse over the party’s relationship with the “working class,” Hell Gate reports.
• Developers continue applying for smaller apartment building permits thanks to new wage requirements included in state tax incentives for building rental housing, according to the Real Deal.

To reach the editor, contact Jeanmarie@citylimits.org

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