On March 1, 2023, CHPC submitted testimony to the New York State Senate Finance Assembly and Ways and Means Committees on the FY2023-24 Executive Budget on the subject of housing.

Read the full testimony published below.

The Urgency of State Action

The need for State action to address our housing crisis is beyond dispute. While the most acute challenges arise in the superheated conditions of NYC and the downstate region, no corner of the state is untouched by this crisis. When theres not enough housing to go around, all New Yorkers pay more, leaving less to spend on all else in our lives. This hurts the middle class, this hurts businesses, this hurts young people starting out this hurts everyone. But it hurts most those who can afford it least, and is a root cause of our unconscionably high rates of homelessness.

To treat these issues as intractable or inevitable is to admit a lack of imagination and courage. Systems and processes that delay and deter individual projects must be reimagined to align with our priorities and scale to our needs. Even the well housed among us owe the next generation of New Yorkers a functioning system that provides the housing needed to sustain their livelihoods.

The Governors Housing Compact represents the first effort in modern memory to take action at the scale necessary to reverse the long, slow strangulation of our housing supply. Evidence from other coastal states suggests that implementing these kinds of reforms will require sustained effort, with adjustments as experience is accumulated in administering them. But this must not be misunderstood as a reason to hem, haw, and delay further. The longer it takes to start implementing reforms, the longer it will take to make them work. Now is the time to act.

CHPC's testimony, Howard Slatkin, March 1, 2023
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