NEW YORK STATE RURAL ADVOCATES

Albany New York

May 2, 2023

After New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced a “conceptual” agreement on a $229 billion 2024 State budget late last week, Legislative staff worked through the weekend to put the final touches on the eleven bills that comprise our State Budget.  Beginning on Monday of this week, the Legislature has started the process of passing the budget bills in time to avert a fourth budget extender.

For New York State Rural Advocates, the highlight is surely the record 40% increase in funding for the Rural and Neighborhood Preservation Programs.  Funded from surplus reserves of the Mortgage Insurance Fund, RPC funding is approved at $7.557 million, an increase of almost $2.2 million.  It will be up to leaders of the NYS HCR to determine the exact amount of 2023/24 RPC contracts but Rural Advocates anticipates that awards will be in the neighborhood of $125,000 per group.

Rural Advocates are proud to have led the effort to convince our sometimes-reluctant colleagues to adopt a particularly aggressive budget request this year based on our analysis of the dramatic loss to inflation of RPC spending power over the past twenty years.  Rural Advocates argued that the program would need over $7.5 million this year to equal the inflation adjusted funding levels of the early 2000s.

As is customary, the Legislature also amended the executive budget to carve out $250,000 for Rural Housing Coalition and the Neighborhood Preservation Coalition to support their training and technical assistance programs.

Reflecting other Rural Advocates’ priorities, the budget also included significant increases for some of the local administered programs that are used by Advocates’ members.  The RESTORE program which provides funding for emergency home repairs on behalf of seniors was increased from the Governor’s proposed $1.4 million to a whopping $8.4 million.  Access to Home is to receive a two million dollar increase to $3 million.  The budget also includes $7 million in Capital Projects Funds to support another round of HCR’s Small Rental Housing Development Initiative. Rural Advocates were pleased that funding for the important Homeownership Protection Program (HOPP) was restored to $40 million after having been zeroed out in the executive budget. Again this year, HOPP advocates worked very hard and put on an excellent funding campaign.

Among the disappointments is the Legislature’s failure to maintain the increase in funding for the Affordable Housing Corporation’s program that was included in the 2023 budget returning the program to the $26 million that has been in place since 1985.  The Legislature did adopt the Governor’s proposed addition of $14.5 million to AHC in order to fund the Legacy Cities Program. 

Meanwhile, Governor Hochul’s ambitious Housing Compact and a slew of related proposals fell completely off the table.  The Governor had proposed to establish housing production targets for all the State’s municipalities including a mandatory 3% goal for downstate and 1% for upstate communities.  The Governor would have created a mechanism to override local zoning in order to allow developers to produce some 800,000 housing units over the next ten years.   In response, Legislative leaders discussed a range of incentives rather that the Governor’s mandate but, in the end this budget contains none of her policy proposals.

While the Legislature did not adopt the Executive’s proposed $250 million Infrastructure Support Fund but they did include another $250 million to create a new Housing Access Voucher Program intended to provide rental assistance to households that are homeless or at risk of homelessness.    Also added is $135 million for the NYC Housing Authority, a perennial Legislative priority.   Other Legislative priorities including Good Cause Eviction appear not to have been included in the adopted budget.

Additional details of the approved budget are found in the table below.

On Tuesday, March 14, 2023 the New York State Senate and Assembly released their respective “one house” budget plans.  Presented as resolutions, the one house budget bills are the formal response to Governor Hochul’s executive budget and they provide the template for the three way negotiations that will result in an FY 2024 New York State Budget.

New York State Rural Advocates are pleased and proud that the one house bills reflect a number of Advocates’ priorities including a proposed increase for RPC/NPC funding to roughly $125,000 in the contract that would begin in June of 2023.

Other Rural Advocates’ priorities included in the one house bills are increases for the RESTORE and Access to Home Programs.  In the current budget RESTORE is funded at $3.4 million.  In her executive budget, Governor Hochul returns RESTORE to the $1.4 million level.  The Senate proposes to fund RESTORE at $6 million and the Assembly is suggesting returning the program to $3.4.  Access to Home is funded in the Governor’s budget at $1 million as it has been for many years.  The Assembly would increase Access to $2 million and the Senate would take it to $3 million.

Both houses included funding for the Small Rental Development program that Advocates have actively supported since the SRDI demonstration program in 2017.  The Senate would provide $20 million for a small rental development program, the Assembly is offering $10 million.

Both houses restore $40 million to support the foreclosure intervention activities of the Homeowner Protection Program (HOPP).  The Legislature also proposes to restore funding for land banks.

Both houses of the Legislature reject Governor Hochul’s Housing Compact as presented.  The Legislature would remove the mandatory targets and zoning overrides in favor of an incentive-based approach.  For example, Legislators would generously fund the Governor’s Infrastructure Support Fund and there is language in both one house bills that would establish an affordable housing committees to study approaches to increasing the State’s housing stock.

There has been much talk in the last two years about the need to create a rental voucher program to support homeless and other high need households. Both houses propose $250 million to fund the Housing Access Voucher program (HAVP) as detailed in A.4021 (Rosenthal) and S. 568 (Kavanagh).   The Senate and Assembly also propose additional funding for the NYC Housing Authority and the Senate would also provide additional capital funding for Upstate Housing Authorities.

With all three budget proposals on the table, negotiations on a 2024 State Budget have begun in earnest.  The budget is due by COB on March 31 but there is growing talk in Albany the this budget could be late as the Governor and the Legislature wrangle over a host of issues including bail reform, charter schools, taxes and a host of other issues.

Stay tuned!

New York Governor Kathy Hochul released her proposed 2024 state budget on Wednesday. For rural not for profit housing agencies, this budget is much more a policy statement than a budget. By contrast, the 2023 budget was all about money – $4.5 billion in housing capital to be spent over the next five years and as a result of last year’s huge commitment, this 2024 housing budget represents a return to more traditional spending patterns.

By NYS Rural Advocates calculations, the Governor is proposing to allocate just over $400 million for affordable housing in the proposed FY 24 year budget. As has long been the practice of New York Governors, the Hochul budget takes back most of the additional funding added in negotiations with the Legislature last year. The Rural and Neighborhood Preservation Programs were each reduced by the one hundred thousand dollars that was included last year in order to increase support for the Rural and Neighborhood Coalitions. The RESTORE program was cut from the $3.4 million to $1.4 million. Included is a proposed increase for the Affordable Housing Corporation (AHC). AHC was funded at $26 million for several years but last year received an increase to $36 million. Although the AHC appropriation appears to be $40.5 million it also appears that $14.5 million of that is headed to a non traditional AHC program and therefore, the AHC appropriation has also been reset to budgets before the last.

The other major capital programs were funded at traditional levels including $44.2 million for the Housing Trust Fund, $1 million for Access to Home, $4.2 million for the NY Main Street program and $14 million for Homes for Working Families. The Hocul budget would also eliminate the $7 million included last year to support the Small Rental Development Initiative.

There are some additions to the Capital Projects Fund including $50 million for the Homeowner Stabilization Fund, a new line for a $20 million Lead Abatement Program and a whopping $250 million to an Infrastructure Support Fund. After years of advocating for funds to be directed to the the little Infrastructure Development Demonstration Program (IDDP), Rural Advocate’s will be pressing for the new Infrastructure Fund to include much needed support for private sewer and water in rural areas.

The Governor’s budget proposal leans heavily on funding from the Mortgage Insurance Fund (MIF) where she would provide $5.360 million for RPCs and $12,830,000 for NPCs. As is traditionally the case, the Governor does not provide for funding for the NP Coalition and the Rural Housing Coalition. These line items will have to be included in budget language agreed to by the Governor and the Legislature. Also coming from the MIF are $21.710 million for Rural Rental Assistance and $50.780 million for the Homeless Support programs administered by the Office of Temporary and Disability insurance.

If you are looking for funding for Mobile Home replacement, Accessory Dwelling Units, Homeownership programs or senior housing, please look to the 5 year Housing Capital Plan funded in 2023 included in the table below.

Much of the ink expended on the Governor’s housing budget is devoted to the non-budgetary items she includes. The headlines focus on Hochul’s commitment to building 800,000 new housing units over the next ten years. She plans on achieving this goal through a series of actions including a sure to be controversial carrot and stick approach using local housing targets that would require that downstate communities produce a 3% increase in housing stock over three years. Upstate communities will need to produce a one percent increase over the same three years. The Division of Housing will be tasked with providing support for housing production through Planning and Infrastructure Grants and by removing obstacles to housing approvals. To review the entire package of the Governor’s housing policy proposals see the Human Services Briefing Book.

April 11, 2022

After some starts and stops, the New York State Legislature began passing FY 2023 budget bills Thursday evening and finished their work in the early morning hours of Saturday. 

A review of the published budget bills finds that Rural and Neighborhood Preservation Programs are essentially flat funded with RPCs set to receive $ 5.460 million from the Mortgage Insurance Fund, an increase of one hundred thousand dollars that would cover increased funding for the Rural Housing Coalition.  RHC is set to receive $250,000 in the coming contract cycle.  Also funded from MIF is the Rural Rental Assistance Program that will receive $ 21.6 million to continue fully funding the Section 515 RA program.

The Capital Projects budget contains funding for several of NYS Rural Advocate’s priorities.  Recognizing increased demand and the impact of recent changes to the program, The Affordable Housing Corporation (AHC) which has long been funded at $26 million will receive a $10 million bump to $36 million in the 2023 budget.   The historically oversubscribed RESTORE program which provides emergency home repairs for seniors will also be increased from $1.4 million to $3.4 million.  In another important win for Rural Advocates, the Capital Projects Fund will also include $7 million for an updated version of the Small Rental Development Initiative (SRDI).

After extensive lobbying by the entire affordable housing community, funding for the 5-year Affordable Housing Capital Plan remained as the Governor had initially proposed at $4.405 billion.  That amount includes $20 million for the Mobile and Manufactured Housing Replacement Program.  It is important to note that the MMHRP has still not been formally created in Statue and this is business we hope to address later in the Legislative session.   The five year capital plan also includes $400 million for homeownership programs with details of the program remaining to be ironed out.

The newly enacted budget will provide funding to continue support of the Homeownership Protection Program (HOPP) at $35 million, an increase over the $20 million proposed by the Governor.  The budget will also provide nearly a billion dollars to support an emergency rental assistance program to be administered by OTDA and intended to provide very low income households that are homeless or at risk of homelessness. The budget will also provide $50 million for a one time program for service and expense of Land Banks.

January 18, 2022, Albany New York

New York Governor Kathy Hochul today introduced her first executive budget proposal totaling $216 billion.  The proposal projects balanced budgets out six years as the result of better than expected income and sales tax revenues and massive amounts of federal COVID relief dollars.

Affordable Housing has been a prominent topic of discussion, speculation and advocacy over the past several months and the result is a proposal that would commit a total of over $5 billion dollars including $4.5 billion in housing capital funds that will be invested over five years.

Rural Advocate’s preliminary analysis finds that most New York State’s traditional housing programs were flat funded in this executive proposal.  This is true for the programs that most concern Rural Advocate’s members with RPC funded from the Mortgage Insurance fund (MIF) at $5.36 million which is expected to result in 2022 RPC contracts at or near the funding level of the past several years.  The LPA programs are proposed to be similarly flat funded with RESTORE funded at $1.4 million, Access to Home at $1 million and New York Main Street at $4.2 million.  New York State Rural Rental Assistance (RRAP) is proposed for $21.6 million which is expected to fully cover existing contracts.

Particularly disappointing is the proposal to leave the Affordable Housing Corporation program (AHC) funded at $26 million which is one million dollars more than this important program received in 1985.  The other big capital housing programs are also proposed to be funded at recent levels with the Housing Trust Fund slated to receive $44.2 million, Homes for Working Families will see $14 million and the Homeless Housing and Assistance Program will again be funded at a robust $128 million.

As expected, the Governor also proposed to fund a new 5-year housing capital plan touted in the State of the State address as a $25 billion initiative to create or preserve 100,000 units over the life of the plan.  According to budget documents, this plan is based on actual State appropriations totaling $4.5 billion dollars, an increase of $2 billion over the first five year plan.

The largest investments in the proposed five year plan include $1.5 billion for the development of Supportive Housing and another $1 billion for new multifamily construction.  Also included are $300 million for the development of Senior Housing and $90 million for the development of middle income housing.

Rural Advocates are encouraged by 5-year plan commitments to invest in programs that impact Upstate and rural New York including an additional $80 million for the Rural and Urban Community Investment Fund (CIF), and new program of $450 million for multifamily preservation, $150 million for upstate Public Housing, $20 million to support Manufactured Home programs and $60 million for Small Building Rehab and New Construction.  The 5-year proposal earmarks $400 million for Homeownership Programs and several new initiatives including $85 million for a program to promote and develop Accessory Dwelling Units and $250 million to support the electrification of existing affordable housing.

• Rural Preservation is an important strategy for addressing the unique challenges of rural affordable housing.  We call for full funding of $100,000/ year for sixty Rural Preservation Companies and a carve-out of $250,000 to support the Rural Housing Coalition’s training and technical assistance functions.   Recommended 2022 funding: $6.25 million

• NYS Rural Advocates supports the New York Housing Conference’s Recommended 2022 funding for a new five year affordable housing capital plan.   Recommended 2022 funding: $6 billion

• In late December 2021 Governor Hochul signed A.4341/S.3372 to increase the Affordable Housing Corporation program’s per unit funding limits putting additional pressure on AHC after 35 years of flat funding.  Now is the time to increase the AHC appropriation.  Recommended 2022 funding: $50 million.

• New York’s smaller communities do not have access to funding to support the development of appropriately scaled rental housing.    Rural Advocates call for the creation of a SRDI like small project initiative within HCR’s Office of Community Renewal.  Recommended 2022 funding: $20 million

• The lack of public infrastructure constitutes a serious impediment to the development of all forms of housing in rural communities.  NYS Rural Advocates calls for new funding for the Infrastructure Development Demonstration Program (IDDP, Article 21 of Private Housing Finance Law).  Recommended 2022 funding: $25 million

• Homelessness continues at crisis levels in rural New York.  We support continued aggressive funding for the Homeless Housing and Assistance Program (HHAP) and its associated services programs.  Recommended 2022 funding: $128 million for HHAP and $45 million for associated services

• New Yorker State is currently facing unprecedented rates of mortgage delinquency, tax default and increased threats to homeownership.  In order to address these challenges, NYS Rural Advocates support robust funding for the Homeowner Protection Program (HOPP).  Recommended 2022 funding:  $35 million
• Rural New York is home to thousands of low income elderly and disabled homeowners.  Given the area’s older housing stock and the overall lack of economic resources, Rural Advocates support increased funding for the important HOPE/RESTORE and ACCESS to Home programs.  Recommended 2022 funding: $3 million for HOPE/RESTORE and $3 million for Access to Home.

• The Rural Rental Assistance Program (RRAP) provides essential rent subsidies to some of our State’s lowest income households.  NYS Rural Advocates supports the continued partnership between New York State and USDA Rural Development.  Recommended 2022 funding: $23 million

• Manufactured Housing is a critical component of the rural housing stock and an important source of housing for low income, rural New Yorkers.  Rural Advocates calls for additional funding for the Mobile and Manufactured Home Replacement Program (MMHRP) and for the Manufactured Home Advantage Program MHAP).  Recommended 2022 funding: $3 million for MMHRP and $5 million the MHAP.

• The New York Main Street Program (NYMS) is a proven tool for revitalizing our State’s downtown commercial and residential elements.  New York State Rural Advocates call for a funding increase to support an expanded program and the development of a New York State Main Street Center to support the capacity to deliver these programs.  Recommended 2022 funding: $10 million

• The sponsors and managers of affordable rental housing for seniors in our state are being overwhelmed by the human services demands of an aging population. Rural Advocates urge the establishment of a Services Coordinator Program to provide operators of affordable housing with resources and programmatic support to better meet the needs of our low income residents.    Recommended 2022 funding: $10 million

• New York State Rural Advocates and its members find New York State’s reimbursement funding model to be counterproductive and we strongly recommend that the approach be reconsidered.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul delivered her first State of the State today (January 5, 2022).  Resuming a traditional approach to the speech, the Governor addressed members of the State Legislature from the historic Assembly Chamber.  The Governor appeared to deliver the one hour speech without the benefit of notes or even a visible teleprompter.

New York Governor’s State of the State speeches are always built on extensive lists of proposals – some of which are enacted and many others that die a quiet or not so quiet death.  This address contained enough proposals to fill a 235 page briefing book with nearly 20 pages devoted to homelessness and affordable housing. 

Affordable housing advocates had to be delighted when the Governor began her discussion of housing by proposing new Comprehensive 5-year housing plan that would create or preserve 100,000 units with a headline grabbing $25 billion price tag.   We can expect to see details of the proposed 5-year plan in a week or two when Governor Hochul will present her budget address and simultaneously release her detailed Executive Budget.

Reflecting the first five year plan, the Governor proposes an aggressive program to create and preserve 10,000 supportive housing units.  She also proposes $300 million for the new construction and preservation of senior housing across the state.

Among the more innovative proposals she proposes to encourage the creation of accessory dwelling units and a pilot project to create homeownership projects that prioritize resident control and permeant affordability.  She also proposes to weatherize and electrify our housing stock and to otherwise spur innovation in affordable housing.

Governor Hochul addressed a number of rural housing issues that have been raised by NYS Rural Advocates.  From the briefing book she proposed to improve the housing stock of rural rental properties and to make financing more accessible and affordable for manufactured homes.

The board and members of the New York State Rural Advocate converged on Cooperstown on November fifteen and sixteenth for the organization’s 40^th annual meeting.  Attendees voted to install two new members to the Rural Advocates Board of Directors and reelected four current members. 

New board members are April Ramadhan, executive director of the Rural Revitalization Corporation serving Cattaraugus County and Jaylyn Heames who has recent been named executive director of Snow Belt housing in Lewis County.  Board members elected to a renewed, two year term include M.T. (Peg) O’Leary of the Community Services Program in southern Dutchess County, Tracy Gibeau, Albany County Rural Housing Alliance, Barb Lamphere, Barb Lamphere Consulting and Bruce Misarski, executive director of  the Housing Assistance Program of Essex County.  The new and reelected members join seated members Julie Chevalier of Community Progress, Inc,; Renee Bloom, Keuka Housing Council; Ron Filmer, Schoharie Rural Preservation Company,: Jill Alcorn,  Genesee Valley Rural Preservation Company, Antonia Besculides, Western Catskills Community Revitalization Council,; Joshua Freifeld, Chautauqua Home Rehabilitation and Improvements Corp.; Larry Krajeski, Catskill Mountain Housing Development Corp, and  Sheila Neville, Construction Management Associates, LLC

With annual meeting business out of the way, the two dozen members gathered at the Otesaga and several other members joining by zoom went on to discuss a wide range of issues impact the work of community based housing organizations in rural New York State.  The group focused their attention on several issues areas including manufactured housing, Small rental projects, the development of homeownership opportunities and the operation of the  Office of Community Renewal’s Local Programs.

Later in the day, the gathering was joined via zoom by Assembly Housing Chair Steven Cymbrowitz and the Chair of the Senate Committee on Housing. Construction and Community Development.  The conversation with the Housing Chairs focused on several current issues including the renewal of the State’s Five Year Housing Capital Plan, the status of the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) and efforts to “green up” New York’s housing development efforts.

Before the meeting adjourned, Rural Advocates members took time out to celebrate two of our colleagues who have long been long time supporters of Rural Advocates.  Virginia (Ginny) Bates has been a fixture in rural New York advocacy and program delivery for all of three decades.  Once a program specialist at Steuben Church People Against Poverty (later known as Arbor Development), Ginny moved on to a role supporting program delivery for several southern tier and Finger Lakes housing groups.  Ginny’s husband Bob was one of three original incorporators of New York State Rural Advocates in 1981 and was an active in the Section 515 rural rental housing program.  Although Bob has since moved on to be a vintner and restaurateur, the products of his affordable housing work all across rural New York.   

On Tuesday the 16^th,  NYS Rural Advocates Board held its annual reorganizational meeting at the Otesaga.   After seating the newly elected board members, board reelected the current slate of officers with Julie Chevalier as Chair, Peg O’Leary vice chair (though it is agreed that Julie and Peg will function as co-chairs), Ron Filmer as treasurer and Renee Bloom as secretary.

The board went on to continue their discussion of a proposed 2022 budget recommendations and the broader legislative agenda and refine plans for Rural Advocates’ annual Legislative gathering in Albany scheduled for February 23,2022.