Mayor Eddie Sundquist presented the City Council with an overview of his recent trip to Albany for the New York Conference of Mayors. He explained that NYCOM does not support part of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s housing plan included in the state budget. Pictured, from left, are Mayor Eddie Sundquist, Deputy Fire Chief Matthew Coon and City Council President Anthony Dolce, R-Ward II. P-J photo by Timothy Frudd

The New York Conference of Mayors does not support Gov. Kathy Hochul’s housing proposal included as part of her state budget, Mayor Eddie Sundquist said.

Following his recent trip to Albany for NYCOM, Sundquist said he was able to have conversations with mayors from across the state regarding many different issues facing municipalities.

While he presented positive updates from the conference such as the state’s $5 billion migration aid package, Sundquist said NYCOM did not agree with every aspect of the governor’s state budget.

“The governor’s executive budget includes something called the Housing Compact,” he said. “As the governor explained to the mayors during a session in Albany, with the increase of companies like Micron and others coming into Western New York and Central New York, there’s going to be a huge need for housing across the state.”

Recently, Hochul unveiled her plan to build 800,000 new homes throughout the state over the next 10 years, citing a “historic shortage” of housing options for state residents. Under the governor’s New York Housing Compact, all municipalities will be required to meet certain housing creation guidelines every three years.

“New York faces a housing crisis that requires bold actions and an all-hands-on-deck approach,” Hochul said. “Every community in New York must do their part to encourage housing growth to move our State forward and keep our economy strong. The New York Housing Compact is a comprehensive plan to spur the changes needed to create more housing, meet rising demand, and make our state a more equitable, stable, and affordable place to live.”

Sundquist explained that Hochul’s “rationale” for the New York Housing Compact is to push municipalities across the state to build new housing, engage in the rehabbing of houses and pursue other housing developments.

“I will tell you at this point, NYCOM is not supportive of this,” he said. “Although we do support the new builds, part of her proposal requires that municipalities change their zoning laws to accommodate for new housing.”

Sundquist said the New York Housing Compact is something that NYCOM does not support “at this time,” adding that the organization made it clear to the governor that municipalities would not be willing to change zoning laws as part of the housing proposal simply because the state “says so.”

While NYCOM does not currently support the governor’s proposal, Sundquist said the organization does support the concept of building new housing and providing funds for the construction of additional housing opportunities.

Sundquist explained that more information would be coming in the future concerning NYCOM’s disagreement with Hochul’s housing plan.

“There is funding in there for upgrades to infrastructure, as well as funding to actually change the zoning laws but we as an organization do not believe that’s going to be enough, given the amount of additional housing the state is looking into,” he said.

Sundquist also told the City Council that the state’s funding for municipalities remains the same under the governor’s state budget.

“That’s something that we’ve also said we would like as a state to increase,” he said. “There’s obviously a lot more cost to run cities, towns, villages. The fact that has not changed in several decades has become a huge issue.”