When Governor Kathy Hochul unveiled her budget proposal for the coming year on January 16, the inclusion of a new tax incentive for housing didn’t come as a surprise. Yet for some longtime observers of the state’s annual budget, the lack of specifics in her proposal, called 485-x or the Affordable Neighborhoods for New Yorkers tax incentive (ANNY), jumped out. Those details are largely being left to state lawmakers, construction unions and developers to hash out.

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“I don’t think that anyone has any illusions that those important details are going to be punted by the Legislature to an administrative agency,” said Howard Slatkin, executive director at the Citizens Housing & Planning Council who formerly spent over two decades in the NYC Department of City Planning.

“That implies a world of freewheeling legislative delegation that I don’t think we live in,” Slatkin added. “In some world, would that make sense? Maybe, but I don’t think that that’s really plausible.”

In Slatkin’s view, a new tax incentive is crucial, and without it New York City won’t be able to use its existing Mandatory Inclusionary Housing(MIH) program effectively.

“Without that, there’s no way to use rezonings to boost housing production,” he said. “The city’s ability to rezone to encourage growth depends on having this program, so it’s really important.”

Read more at City Limits.

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