We have long been hearing about the lack of affordable housing in the New York Metro vicinity; this is not a new story that just started with Governor Hochul. Governor Hochul, unfortunately, decided to solve it in a cavalier manner by declaring that every municipality, no matter how small or how big, will be responsible for mandatory building—even if this building means going against local ordinances in place. She wants to create 800,000 more affordable-housing units over the next 10 years or so.
If she had said that she wanted to mandate new building in existing urban areas, I would have rolled my eyes but figured, “OK, at least it is in a city, so building some more housing won’t hurt anyone.” But without any thought as to how this would affect villages or towns that do not have the same abilities as an urban area, nor the available land to build on, she plowed forward, totally closed off to the cries of those living in suburban areas who would be unbearably affected by this new mandate. She decided to brush everyone aside in her singular focus to create more housing for the poor, even if it destroys the housing and lifestyles of the dozens of towns that would be unfairly hit with her mandates.
Take the Five Towns, for example. We already are stuck with heavy traffic going in and out of our area; where would we build this proposed extra housing that would create more traffic and put more pressure on our already overburdened infrastructure and schools, not to mention turn our small-town areas into urban areas? This arbitrary mandate makes no sense and would destroy more lives than it would save!
I wonder how much of her decision to go this route comes from living upstate (she’s from Buffalo) where there are many open land options, and adding housing and infrastructure can be done differently since people live farther apart and in less crowded areas than what we are used to in the metro area.
If this is the case, my suggestion to her is to take her mandate upstate and build all her affordable housing up there where the land is available and it would not affect the people in those smaller towns and cities the same way it would impact those who live in the more condensed areas of NYC.
I am certainly not against building more affordable housing but I also think it needs to be balanced with the idea that the rest of us should not have to change our own lifestyles and housing situations in order to accommodate subsidized housing needs. If subsidized housing is needed, let the state build more subsidized housing projects farther upstate to accommodate this need; the land for building these housing projects upstate is certainly cheaper and more plentiful than the available land or change of use of buildings here.
Years ago, it was a popular discussion that given the vast difference in lifestyle and needs between those living in the Metro NYC area and those living upstate—not to mention how the Metro NYC area has basically bankrolled the rest of the state—we should consider seceding from New York State and creating a new state, which would include only NYC and its suburbs.
This crazy mandate that Governor Hochul came up with, which would cause misery to all the villages and towns in Nassau as well as Westchester Counties, has been a direct smack in the face to all of its residents.
It’s time for her to pull back and reexamine her idea of new affordable-housing options in the upstate areas of the state. Not everyone must live in NYC; “because they want to” is not a good reason, particularly if they cannot afford to.
It is time to be realistic about what type of affordable housing should be created to assist poor people, but it does not mean that we turn ourselves upside-down and destroy our own quality of life.
Anessa Cohen lives in Cedarhurst and is a licensed real-estate broker (Anessa V Cohen Realty) and licensed N.Y.S. mortgage originator with over 20 years of experience offering full-service residential, commercial, and management real-estate services as well as mortgage services. She can be reached at 516-569-5007 or via her website, www.AVCrealty.com. Readers are encouraged to send questions or comments to anessa@AVCrealty.com. Read more of Anessa Cohen’s articles at 5TJT.com.
