ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -Coming out of the state budget that was just over a month late, state officials are counting down the days left of the legislative session. The 2023 legislative session will be running later than scheduled as well. Currently, they are set to adjurn on June 9th due to topics such as housing and migrants.
Housing in New York has been a topic of concern for lawmakers. From high prices to tenant safety, democratic Assemblyman McDonald says there is a lot to look into before session ends.
“We know that the solution is not that easy because if it was easy it would have been done by now. We need to be thoughtful. We need an all hands on deck solution looking to build more supply,” stated McDonald.
Governor Hochul’s housing proposal was not a part of the passed 2023 budget. Her plans are being put into a standalone bill to rework during this session. The original proposal was to build 800,000 new homes over the next ten years. In April, republican Senator George Borrello, did not see the governor’s idea as reasonable.
“It’s going to try to shoehorn hundreds of thousands of new units into very small areas. Essentially it going to take areas like Long Island that don’t have the basic infrastructure, the law enforcement, and other public services and in some places quadruple the number of housing units,” explained Borrello.
Separate from Hochul’s housing bill is a plan to rehome migrants coming from the southern border. State of emergencies in counties such as Schoharie and Fulton have been declared, as the areas share concern over avaliable resources. “The governor has the SUNY system reviewing options right now, which would only be temporary,” said McDonald.
NEWS10 has received calls from concerned residents on the proposed solution to house the migrants. McDonald says a plan will have to be worked out quickly to find a more permanent solution. “We only have ten legislative session days left so hang on. A lot can happen. I know one thing, there’s going to be a lot of activity at the Capitol,” described McDonald.
