Long Island groups rally to support Hochul housing plan

Housing advocates from Long Island nonprofits and community groups rallied Tuesday night outside Garden City Village Hall in near-freezing temperatures to support Gov. Kathy Hochul's housing plan.

Hochul's plan, part of her proposed fiscal 2024 budget, calls for building 800,000 new housing units across the state in the next decade. It has faced resistance from Long Island lawmakers, who are opposed to the state gaining influence in local zoning decisions. The state budget is subject to negotiations with the legislature, and a final version must be approved by April 1.

Hunter Gross, president of the Huntington Township Housing Coalition, said he's frustrated with those local elected officials who haven't stepped in to address affordable housing.

"The status quo is not acceptable," Gross said at the rally, where he joined close to 25 others outside the village hall on a night where temperatures had dipped into the mid-30s.

"It's time for more villages and more municipalities to start doing their fair share when it comes to building more housing, " he said, "building more affordable housing and allowing working families, young people and seniors to be able to stay here on Long Island."

The event was held before a special meeting of the Garden City Board of Trustees Tuesday night, where members were expected to discuss opposition to Hochul's plan with Garden City civic groups, according to the village's website 

Hochul's plan sets targets for cities, towns and villages to add homes, with municipalities on Long Island and other communities served by the MTA being asked to achieve a 3% growth in housing units spread across three years. Localities have leeway to decide how and where to approve building, but if they miss their targets, developers could appeal to a new state housing board.

In a speech last week in Patchogue, Hochul noted how rising home prices are pricing out young families and seniors. 

 "Your kids can't afford to live in the same neighborhood," she said Thursday at the Patchogue Family YMCA. "Your own kids will never be able to grow up around you." 

The plan would also require municipalities to rezone areas within a half-mile of Long Island Rail Road stations within three years unless they already meet requirements for housing density. 

Nassau County Legis. Arnold Drucker (D-Plainview) was the lone elected official to speak at the rally in support of the governor's plan Tuesday night.

"Without these efforts, the ball doesn't get moved. You don't move the needle," toward supplying more housing to marginalized communities and working families, Drucker said. 

 Laura Harding, president of Syosset-based civil rights nonprofit ERASE Racism, called Hochul’s plan “a first step to correct the generations and years of exclusionary zoning across Long Island” that has led to segregated communities. 

Long Island Republicans have staunchly opposed the plan, citing concerns such as crowding in schools and on roads, the state's interference in local zoning decisions and insufficient funding for infrastructure to accommodate growth. 

Garden City is holding elections for mayor and its Board of Trustees on March 21. 

The two parties fielding the most candidates — the Community Agreement Party and For a Better Garden City Party — both included objections in their platforms to Hochul’s housing plan as did the lone independent candidate for trustee, Edward Finneran, in a letter last month published in The Garden City News. 

By Jonathan LaMantia

jonathan.lamantia@newsday.com@jonlamantia

Jonathan LaMantia covers residential real estate and other business news on Long Island. He previously covered the business of health care for Crain's New York Business.