Uproar in suburbia as New York looks to spur development
For decades, the middle-class communities of single-family homes that ring many U.S. cities have used zoning laws to ensure that they stay much like they looked in the suburban boom after World War II.
Apartment buildings are simply not allowed in many places, an exclusion that — intentionally or not — has historically kept out people of color.
Facing housing shortages, several states and the U.S. government have tried to break through those barriers with a mix of methods, including giving municipalities home building goals or overriding certain local zoning restrictions.
In New York, one such proposal from Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul has run into opposition in one of the birthplaces of the American suburb. Critics on Long Island, an expanse of communities that is home to 2.9 million people, are denouncing provisions that would set growth targets, drive denser development near train stations and sometimes let state officials override local zoning decisions.
“Her plan would flood YOUR neighborhood with THOUSANDS of new apartments,” reads one opposition mailing. Others warn that Long Island would become New York City’s “sixth borough.” Critics, many of them Republican officials, claim the proposal would strip away local control.
“We’re already a densely populated area. Where are you going to build?” asked Republican state Sen. Jack Martins, who noted his past support for affordable housing as a local mayor. “Are we going to start tearing down single-family homes to put up apartment buildings?”
Hochul said her plan to spur the creation of 800,000 homes statewide has been mischaracterized. It was a sticking point in state budget talks this week, with her fellow Democrats in control of the Legislature seeking a plan with fewer mandates and more incentives.
For those who care for aging adults, ‘It’s a legacy of slavery and a history in this country of not valuing the work done by … people of color.’
New York is following the lead of other states trying to alleviate housing crunches by chipping away at local restrictions on building.
Connecticut began requiring cities and towns to allow in-law apartments unless they follow an opt-out process, amid a debate over whether “exclusionary zoning” rules worsen racial segregation. California and Oregon have passed laws to curtail single-family zoning, and both states have targets for new housing.
The accusations of government overreach in New York echo claims in some of those states.
California last month filed a lawsuit against Huntington Beach, accusing the coastal community of disregarding state laws requiring it to approve more affordable housing and build more than 13,000 homes over eight years. Huntington Beach filed its own suit, claiming the state would override local control “in order to eliminate the suburban character of the city and replace it with a high-density mecca.”
The Trump administration suspended a rule adopted during the Obama administration that required places receiving certain types of federal funding to analyze housing stock and come up with plans to combat patterns of segregation and discrimination. President Trump characterized it as an attempt to abolish suburbs.
President Biden’s White House has criticized “exclusionary zoning” rules — those requiring houses to have lots of a certain size, have ceilings at a certain height and be for a single family — as tools to discriminate against people who aren’t white.
Hochul has cast her plan as an effort to help New York thrive, rather than a tool of desegregation. It would give towns multiple paths to meet housing targets. It would have a larger effect in New York City’s suburbs, where three-year home creation targets would be 3%, compared with 1% for upstate areas. The higher goals would apply to Long Island.
If municipalities don’t meet targets, developers could pursue a process in which the state could allow projects to go forward. Another provision would require localities to rezone areas within half a mile of commuter rail stations unless the area already meets density requirements.
Hochul said too many restrictions on new construction have contributed to sky-high home prices that are shutting out both low-income and middle-class workers. In Nassau County, the part of the island closest to New York City, home prices rose 31% between 2018 and 2022, according to the New York State Assn. of Realtors. The average home price there is $679,000. One-bedroom apartments can go for $3,000 a month.
“I just settled on the fact that I’m going to be living at home with my parents until I move off Long Island, because there’s nobody I know who lives outside of their parents’ home on Long Island,” said Erin Curley, 25, of Massapequa Park.
Long Island is home to Levittown, famous as a model for the modern suburb of affordable houses separated by tidy yards. It also had an early covenant that barred homeowners from renting or selling to people who weren’t white. Advocates see the legacy of such practices today.
Laura Harding, president of Long Island-based ERASE Racism, said that while some localities have taken steps to build affordable housing, others maintain the sort of exclusionary zoning and practices behind racial segregation. She said they can be “subtle things,” like a predominantly white town accused of giving preference to local residents for housing programs.
“This isn’t just about poor, low-income Black people and Latino people, which is what the prevailing stereotype is when you hear ‘affordability,’ ” Harding said. “This is about everyone who is literally struggling to afford to stay in the communities that they know, or into a new home.”
Housing advocates blame local officials for too often rejecting plans for multifamily housing that would ease that pressure. One example is the 146-unit affordable housing development Matinecock Court in East Northport, which will have its official groundbreaking this year.
The project was first proposed in 1978.
“It has taken 44 years and many lawsuits,” said Pilar Moya-Mancera, executive director of the nonprofit Housing Help Inc. “That’s what it takes for Long Island to build multifamily, affordable housing in a white neighborhood.”
Looming in the background on Long Island are gains made by the Republican Party in recent elections. GOP candidates won all four of the island’s congressional contests last year, in large part by painting Democrats as soft on crime. Now they can also run on zoning and the governor’s proposed tax increase to aid the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates public transit systems in New York City and its suburbs.
“There are many Democrats who think that the current housing proposal, along with an MTA payroll tax, are potential extinction events for their party in local races,” said Lawrence Levy, executive dean of the National Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University.
A counterproposal from the Senate’s Democratic conference included a more incentive-heavy housing plan that excludes mandatory requirements and overrides of local zoning.
Hochul and legislative Democrats were trying to resolve their differences in negotiations over the budget, which was due April 1. That deadline has been extended into at least next week. The governor has described housing costs as a “core issue” that needs to be addressed.
“I knew it would not be easy,” she told reporters Wednesday.
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