New York lawmakers close legislative session but come up empty on housing creation — again

A last-minute push by Albany lawmakers to address the state’s crippling housing crisis came up short this week, leaving Democratic leaders grumbling at each other anew after housing went largely unaddressed in the April budget negotiations.

At the close of the state’s legislative session, leaders of the state Assembly and Senate insisted that they had cobbled together the contours of a housing plan, but said Gov. Hochul was not behind it. Earlier in the spring, Hochul failed to sell the suburbs on an ambitious program to build housing.

It was not a surprise that the late-session negotiations fell through; any major moves on housing have seemed unlikely after the budget passed the Legislature at the start of May. But that did not mean anyone was happy about it.

Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the Senate majority leader, and Carl Heastie, the Assembly speaker, issued a detail-light Thursday statement declaring they had managed to “work toward an agreement on historic rent protections as well as a massive and transformational housing program.”

“Unfortunately, it was clear that we could not come to an agreement with the governor on this plan,” the two Democrats said in their statement. “It takes all three parties — the Senate, the Assembly and the governor — in order to enact legislation into law.”

They said their plan included so-called good cause eviction legislation, which is popular among progressives but not supported by Hochul, and extension of the 421a tax exemption, a generous tax break for housing developers that is controversial in the Legislature but supported by Hochul.

Hochul’s office suggested the governor was not to blame for the lawmakers’ blueprint getting held up. Julie Wood, a spokeswoman for Hochul, said in a statement that “no housing package was ever even introduced, let alone passed, for the Governor’s review.”

“Gov. Hochul put forward nation-leading housing legislation in her Executive Budget that the legislature flatly rejected,” Wood said in the statement. “Now, in the final hours of the legislative session, the Assembly and the Senate are blaming the Governor for their own failure to act.”

“Absolutely nothing stood in the legislature’s way,” the statement added.

It was not immediately clear what specific sticking points held up the lawmakers.

But the left-leaning Legislature’s focus on good cause eviction — anti-eviction legislation banning the non-renewal of residential leases without good cause — diverged from Hochul’s priorities.

In a statement late Thursday, the Legal Aid Society excoriated both Hochul and the Legislature over their inability to “advance any significant policy in the budget or subsequent session.”

“This is a colossal failure of leadership, and once session concludes, lawmakers deserve the shaming that they’ll inevitably receive from their constituents for failing to do their jobs,” the nonprofit declared.

Mayor Adams, a Democrat, also criticized the inaction, if more gently.

“I am grateful to everyone who fought for New York City’s priorities this year — but the state Legislature should not end its session without delivering the housing New Yorkers so desperately need,” Adams said in a statement that did not mention Hochul.

The moderate mayor, who has presided over a shelter system stretched perilously thin by waves of asylum-seeking arrivals, said he was counting on action from lawmakers to work toward a city goal of building 500,000 new homes.

Hochul, a moderate Democrat, had hoped to create 800,000 new homes in New York State within a decade through a mandatory program baked into the budget negotiations. She could not get the Legislature on board.

Stewart-Cousins, who represents Westchester County, said the state should deploy carrots rather than sticks to produce new homes. “We believe we can get there with incentives,” she said in March.

In the end, Hochul decoupled housing from the $229 billion budget, a humbling concession on a pressing issue. The budget passed a month late, with the governor reaching another goal by securing tweaks to bail reforms.

Hochul has signaled she will move forward on parts of her housing agenda by executive decree, but it is not clear what shape any housing executive orders might take.

Wood, the Hochul spokeswoman, said by phone Friday that the governor would be announcing the moves within a couple of weeks.

“Stay tuned,” she said.