Expanding Affordable Housing and Building Stronger Communities

Expand rural housing options through factory-built homes

Factory-built homes are constructed indoors in sections, transported to a prepared site, and installed on a permanent foundation. Because the home and site can be prepared at the same time, construction is faster and less vulnerable to weather delays. Through MOVE-IN NY, the State provides funding to municipalities, land banks, and nonprofit developers to purchase and install these homes. The program uses a type of factory-built home known as a CrossMod, which looks like a conventional house and can qualify for a standard mortgage. The homes are then sold below the cost of construction to low- and moderate-income buyers. New York’s pilot produced homes in less than six months at roughly half the cost of comparable site-built houses. Expanding this approach would give rural communities a practical way to create starter homes for first-time buyers and smaller homes for older residents who want to downsize.

Create pathways to resident ownership through the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act

When the owner of a rental building decides to sell, tenants may not learn about the sale until a new owner has taken control. The Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) would require advance notice and give tenants in buildings with three or more units an opportunity to organize and purchase the property. Tenants could buy it collectively or assign their purchase right to a qualified nonprofit or community land trust. Housing purchased through the program would remain permanently affordable, and residents who do not want to become owners could remain tenants. This gives a building sale the potential to create resident ownership or preserve affordable rental housing instead of displacing the people who already live there.

Protect supportive housing from federal funding cuts

Supportive housing combines a stable home with services that help residents remain housed, including case management, behavioral healthcare, benefits assistance, and help during a crisis. The New York State Supportive Housing Program pays for frontline staff, building operations, maintenance, and services in more than 20,000 permanent and transitional housing units across the state. New York recently increased funding rates for the first time in decades, allowing providers to retain staff and strengthen services. Continued State investment is needed to preserve this housing as federal support for housing and mental-health services is reduced.

Expand the Housing Access Voucher Program to prevent homelessness

The Housing Access Voucher Program helps people who are homeless or at immediate risk of losing their homes afford a permanent place to live. A participating household generally contributes 30 percent of its adjusted income toward rent, and the voucher covers the remaining amount up to a limit based on local rents. The program can also cover up to five months of unpaid rent when this would prevent an eviction. Expanding the current pilot would help more individuals and families remain in their homes or move directly from temporary shelter into permanent housing.

Let municipalities adopt rent stabilization based on local housing conditions

Outside New York City, a municipality generally needs an expensive vacancy study showing a rental vacancy rate of 5 percent or less before it can adopt rent stabilization. The REST Act would provide another way to determine whether a housing emergency exists. A city, town, or village could hold public hearings and consider evidence about rent increases, rent burdens, homelessness, housing supply, and the availability of affordable, habitable apartments. Based on this public record, the local government could decide whether to adopt rent stabilization. The Act would also allow communities to include four- and five-unit buildings and buildings more than 15 years old, rather than limiting eligibility to buildings with at least six units constructed before 1974. Eligible tenants would then receive regulated rent increases and lease-renewal protections.

Protect tenants’ right to organize

Tenants can address building-wide problems more effectively when they can speak with their neighbors, meet together, and bring in people who understand housing law or available services. The Tenants Organizing Act would clearly protect door-to-door outreach, the distribution of information, meetings held without the landlord present, and visits from housing lawyers, service providers, and elected officials. It would also prohibit landlords from interfering, retaliating, or charging tenants to meet in a building’s common room. These protections give tenants a practical way to pursue repairs and address unsafe and unhealthy conditions collectively.