News

Can Kathy Hochul Get Her Ambitious Housing Policies Passed?

January 24, 2023 – Media Mention
Commercial Observer

Chair of Herrick's Land Use and Zoning Group, Mitch Korbey, was quoted in Commercial Observer discussing Gov. Kathy Hochul's ambitious list of housing proposals at her State of the State speech in January 2023. The article states, "Hochul called for the construction of 800,000 homes in the next decade, along with setting housing production goals for towns and cities. While that policy would mostly target the suburbs, her office has pitched many New York City-specific proposals, including changing state housing laws to allow for more office-to-residential conversions, lifting the floor area ratio cap that prevents larger residential buildings, and allowing new basement and accessory dwelling units."

Reactions to the regional housing targets were mixed, with Mitch offering, "I would defer to local planning departments and local authorities. I would do an analysis to see if their opposition to housing is because of real infrastructure issues, like sewers or schools. The same sort of thing can be happening on the outer edges of the city. If they do support infrastructure, there’s no reason to say no to more development."

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