Town leaders counter Hochul housing plan

According to the letter, which came from WMOA’s subcommittee on housing, “The TOD zoning mandate included in the Housing Compact must be removed. Using conservative estimates, the mandated level of density would require us to permit development that would, in many cases, double, triple and even quadruple the total number of housing units in some of our municipalities.”

That increase in population, the municipal officials state, would force a fundamental overhaul of services provided by local governments such as schools, traffic and sewers.

In their letter, the municipal officials suggested that TOD be shifted from a mandate to a “preferred action,” which would allow the municipalities to select placement of TOD-compliant housing within their borders. The initial TOD proposal would establish a half-mile radius around Metro-North railroad stations, which would be designated TOD zones.

Also in the letter is a request that the 3% housing increase goal be amended to account for factors like current housing density, current affordable housing yield, amount of available land for new construction and lack of available infrastructure. This modification would allow for growth goals to be set on what WMOA called a “project-by-projcet” basis. 

The municipal officials also called for the preservation and streamlining of the State Environmental Quality Review (SEQRA) process, which would not apply to TOD-compliant developments under Hochul’s proposal.

WMOA also said that expanded state support would be necessary to create the infrastructure to support the increase in density that the Housing Compact would mandate. The current estimates for how much the increased infrastructure would cost municipalities, WMOA said, is “a fraction of the amount required.”

Twenty-five mayors and supervisors across Westchester, including Greenburgh Supervisor Paul Feiner, town of Mamaroneck Supervisor Jaine Elkind Eney and village of Mamaroneck Mayor Tom Murphy, signed on to the letter, which was sent to the governor, as well as all legislators in the Westchester delegation, including state Sens. Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Shelley Mayer, and Assembly Members Amy Paulin and MaryJane Shimsky.

When asked what proponents of the Housing Compact tell her about the proposal, Shimsky responded, “They are saying that we need more housing — and we do need more housing — and some people do have this impression that we are all racist, that we are all just desiring to keep our trees and our grass and we don’t care about anything else. But the fact of the matter is, No. 1, there are a number of communities that have tried to put in affordable housing and have put in affordable housing, but the degree to which some of these proposals want housing in our communities is really problematic. Also, affordability is a huge issue. Real estate is very expensive in Westchester County. So these developers are not going to be building housing that’s affordable for the vast amount of people in colored communities.”

When asked where that perception of racism might come from, Shimsky attributed it to “the fact that our communities do not have the same percentage of people of color that, say, New York City does.” Census Bureau estimates for 2021 indicate that Westchester County is 72.9 percent white.

“Basically, a lot of it has to do with how expensive housing is,” Shimsky added. “We have been working on that, we are willing to work to get more affordable housing. But the way to do it is not to essentially tell our communities that they have to let any and all developers in.”

Questions of race in housing are not new to Westchester County, which was sued by the Anti-Discrimination Center on behalf of the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in 2006. That lawsuit alleged that the county had accepted $52 million in HUD funds while falsely certifying claims that the county was complying with the federal Fair Housing Act of 1968. Specifically, the suit alleged that Westchester County had failed to identify impediments to fair housing based on race or ethnicity or resulting from racial or ethnic segregation when analyzing fair housing impediments in the county, a necessary step to remain in compliance with the 1968 act.

In 2009 that suit was settled, with the county agreeing to repay $21.6 million to its account with HUD and setting aside an additional $30 million in county funds for the construction of 750 affordable housing units in Westchester. The settlement agreement was terminated in August 2021 after County Executive George Latimer received notice that the county was in “substantial compliance” with a consent decree signed during the settlement.

The New York State Constitution mandates the approval of a state budget by April 1. TOD was proposed as part of the 2022-23 state budget, but was removed before that spending plan was finalized.

Bipartisan response to the Housing Compact

Greenburgh Supervisor Paul Feiner (Democrat)

“I am hopeful that the State Legislature will be responsive to local concerns. Zoning needs to stay local. People move to towns and villages because of quality of life concerns. I’m optimistic that the legislature will approve a housing plan — and will work with local officials in a cooperative manner.” [See also: Feiner’s letter to the editor on page 6.]

New York State Sen. Shelley B. Mayer (Democrat)

“While I commend Governor Kathy Hochul’s commitment to addressing the housing crisis in New York in her proposed budget, I believe the Governor’s proposals are deeply flawed and unacceptable in their current form. More importantly, they do not focus on ‘affordability’ and are far too blunt to be effective.

“Although the Governor’s proposals seek to walk a fine line between state enforcement and local control over housing policy, they represent a ‘top-down’ approach which has left out the voices of local municipal officials and our communities. In addition, each of our communities is very different, and each must develop a unique approach to increasing the supply of affordable housing. We also need a more substantial state investment in infrastructure and land costs in order to make additional affordable housing practical.

“… I am committed to working with each local community to find solutions that work for them and their residents, including those in need of affordable housing, but believe the Governor’s proposal in its current form does not work for the communities I represent.”

New York Assembly Member MaryJane Shimsky (Democrat)

“[This letter] says that there are serious concerns about the way the State is approaching this particular problem. And it’s something that we, in the Westchester delegation as their elected representatives, have to take seriously.”

Shimsky, like her colleagues at the village and town level, believes that the way to increase housing density in Westchester isn’t “by fiat,” but by incentivizing further housing development. “We’re going to have to really step it up to make sure that the money is available to subsidize land and substitute infrastructure so that any housing that is built is affordable.”

Linda R. Killian, chairman of Scarsdale Republican Town Committee

“Claiming a housing emergency, politicians in New York have renewed their assault against affluent suburban communities. Their ideologically driven plans are based on false premises and designed to grant developers free reign over local zoning and state environmental laws.

“[The governor’s Housing Compact] is the second attempt in two years to force a heavy-handed, state-controlled approach on municipalities to increase housing stock, without any consideration of widely varying land use issues and in violation of our state’s constitutional protection of local home rule on zoning.

“Hochul claims there is a housing emergency created by restrictive suburban zoning laws. This is risible, given regional population and construction data. Between July 1, 2020 and July 1 2022, New York had a net migration loss of 651,742 individuals, or 3.2% of the population. At a rate of negative migration of 300,000 people a year, in ten years, New York will have 3 million fewer people, obviating Hochul’s premise for an urgent need for 800,000 new units.

“Hochul also claims that businesses want to move to New York. Employers are leaving New York. State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli calculated that New York City’s share of financial services jobs is at a 33-year low of 18%, down from a 33% share two decades ago. More companies plan to depart the Empire State. A recent survey of major employers by the Partnership of NYC found that 22% of financial services firms plan to reduce headcount; 13% of all respondents plan to do so.

“Albany’s Democrats are now pressing their toxic interventions on the successful, self-governing suburbs. Albany should be focusing on reducing crime, taxes and regulations.”

— Staff report