Checking in on Hochul’s five-year housing plan

Gov. Kathy Hochul has proudly touted her Housing Compact that she negotiated in 2024 with the goal of building 800,000 new units of housing over the next decade. But two years earlier, in her first budget as governor, she announced a different plan with half the timeframe: she wanted to build or preserve 100,000 units of affordable housing within five years through $25 billion in state investments.

In 2022, the freshly minted governor seemed keen to replicate the success of the previous five-year plan from former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, which had been included in the state budget passed in 2017. Homes and Community Renewal, New York’s affordable housing agency, has said it hit the goal of building or preserving 100,000 affordable units between 2017 and 2022, and that it is well on its way to achieve that goal again. 

The state is now more than halfway through the current five-year plan, which will end in 2027, and HCR and the governor say that over 65,000 affordable homes have been built or preserved since 2022. In press releases about project groundbreakings or the opening of new housing, Hochul has provided ballpark estimates about how the plan was proceeding, periodically increasing over the months. But until recently, little data was made public about the projects that the state has counted towards its ultimate goal.

In response to a Freedom of Information request from the start of the year requesting specifics about the status of the five-year housing plan, HCR in June sent a copy of the 2024 legislative report on progress and appropriations sent to lawmakers, as well as a link to a beta version of the new Housing Plan Dashboard – which HCR began featuring on its homepage about two weeks before the agency responded to City & State’s FOIL request.

The dashboard features multi-family developments from around the state that HCR is counting towards the ultimate 100,000 unit goal. Each was “created, preserved, or otherwise enhanced” through Hochul’s $25 billion plan. The map also included information about “homeownership opportunities” facilitated through state funds and programs, such as first-time homebuyer mortgage assistance, that also count towards the goal.

According to an analysis by City & State of data current up to June 30, the dashboard includes over 350 projects that are either completed or currently under construction, encompassing  a little over 38,000 units. Nearly 180 projects are listed as “under construction,” with the rest presumably open to tenants. Most of those units are rentals, with some homes for purchase included as well. Once you add in the homeownership opportunities also included as part of the map, the total number of units rises to about 47,000. That is well below the 65.1k number featured at the bottom of the dashboard.

HCR attributed the discrepancy to delays in reporting on the final locations of projects funded through state dollars awarded to local administrators. In an annual report on its progress and allocation of funds that was sent to legislative leaders on June 30, HCR said the state is “on track to meet its goal once again.” The report said the third year of the five-year plan ended with about 60,000 units.

Unsurprisingly, the bulk of the affordable housing being built or preserved is in New York City, with nearly 19,000 units built, preserved or under construction since 2022. Within the city, Staten Island had the least number of units, with just one project with 75 homes. Queens had just six projects listed on the dashboard, for a total of about 1,200 units either currently under construction or preserved.

Brooklyn had the most number of projects and by far the highest number of units in New York City, beating out every other region in housing. The borough boasts nearly 8,000 affordable units to count towards the state’s goal, spread across 51 projects.

The Mid-Hudson Valley took the title for the most number of developments, though that did not translate to the most number of units built, since several of the projects were quite small. In total, the region has recorded 54 projects accounting for about 4,100 homes towards the five-year plan. Outside New York City, the region that has actually produced or preserved the most housing is the Finger Lakes, with 4,287 units of affordable housing reported so far.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, Long Island had a fairly small number of affordable homes to report, with just 14 projects that include about 1,300 units. The Southern Tier, Mohawk Valley and North Country each had fewer homes reported, but Long Island is both more densely populated and a more desirable place to settle given its proximity to New York City. Despite soaring housing costs on the island and local officials lamenting that they can’t attract young people to move there, Long Island residents have historically been incredibly resistant to new developments and increased density.