In September 2017, then-New York governor Andrew Cuomo came to Kingston to present a ten-million-dollar check as big as a highway distance sign to mayor Steve Noble. Kingston had been selected the annual regional winner of the Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI), a program started the year before “to improve the vitality of urban centers across New York State.”
Identifying state funding opportunities and pursuing them successfully has become a hallmark of Noble’s administration. Currently, the city’s grant department manages more than $80 million in awards from state and federal agencies as well as private foundations.
Last week’s announcement by governor Kathy Hochul designating Kingston as a Pro-Housing Community was the latest good news for Kingston. Beyond bragging rights, the designation bestows more lucrative advantages.
Hochul created the designation of a Pro-Housing Community through an executive order signed last July declaring that applications submitted from designated communities would receive special consideration in competing for the discretionary funding annually dispersed from eight programs operating in New York State.
Programs include the Mid Hudson Momentum Fund, NY Forward, DRI, the Public Transportation Modernization Enhancement Program, New York Main Street program, Market New York and the Regional Capital Fund. These awards, the fruit trees ripe for the picking in the state orchard, are made available as a priority to any village, town or city savvy enough to chart a course reflective of what the governor wants.
What the governor wants is to increase the housing stock.
Hochul first announced her goal to see 800,000 additional housing units over the next decade during her 2023 state-of-the-state speech in which she declared housing a human right. Characterizing local land-use policies in the state as the most restrictive in the nation, she accused the local communities of utilizing unreasonable zoning codes to block growth.
She wanted uncooperative downstate municipalities to increase housing stock by three percent every three years. If these benchmark numbers weren’t met, she threatened, the state could be forced to preempt local regulations. The governor said she intended to grant new housing projects fast-track relief from environmental review if necessary.
“When communities have not made good faith efforts to grow,” Hochul said in her speech, “when proposed housing projects are languishing for no legitimate reason, the state will implement a fast track approval process because doing nothing is an abdication of our responsibility to act in times of crisis.”
Concerned about the threat to home rule, the state legislature torpedoed Hochul’s ambitious plan. Tying funding opportunities to the actions she would like to see constituted a sort of policy-making by executive fiat. The legislature didn’t like that approach.
The success of applications requesting the pro-housing community certification depend on various weighted assessments specified by the governor, the most important of which is a municipality’s commitment to identifying impediments to housing growth. Efforts undertaken to promote the creation of new housing, regardless of affordability, will be smiled upon.
When communities have not made good faith efforts to grow,” Hochul said in her speech, “when proposed housing projects are languishing for no legitimate reason, the state will implement a fast track approval process because doing nothing is an abdication of our responsibility to act in times of crisis.”
Regional winner of the DRI this year was the pro-housing community White Plains, the third Westchester County municipality chosen to receive the award. No municipality from the counties of Putnam, Dutchess or Sullivan has ever been selected.
While Hochul’s executive order says priority will be given to pro-housing communities, it also specifically states that lacking the designation need not deprioritize those applicants seeking funding for housing development or for non-housing investments made in relation to a particular housing development.
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