NEW YORK STATE RURAL ADVOCATES

Homeowner Protection Program granted three years of funding.  The Affordable Housing Corporation receives $25 million increase.

In the late night hours of April 6, The New York State Legislature adopted the State’s FY 2022 budget – only five days late.

While the outline of the housing portion of the budget looks very much as proposed by Governor Cuomo, there are some very significant additions. 

In the Capital Projects bill, the Affordable Housing Corporation was allocated a total of $51 million.  The $25 million addition to AHC is set aside to fund a vacant property program that will involve the renovation of vacant and blighted homes for first-time homebuyers. The agreement between the Legislature and the Governor also included the Governor’s proposal to commit $100 million to the conversion of vacant hotels and other commercial in NYC to use as affordable housing.  Legislative leaders won a $325 million fund to provide capital improvements for the State’s public housing authorities.  Of the total amount $200 million will be allocated to the New York City Housing Authority with the remaining $125 million to be invested statewide.  The budget agreement also retains the proposed $186 million commitment to continue work on Governor Cuomo’s pledge to create 6000 new units of supportive housing.

The state funded local programs used by RPCs remained flat funded with RESTORE provided with $1.4 million, Access to Home at $1 million and the New York State Main Street program receiving $4.2 million.

Again this year, the Education, Labor, Housing and Family Assistance bill contained language allocating excess reserves of the Mortgage Insurance Fund (MIF) to several housing programs.  The Rural Preservation Program is allocated a total of $5,360,000 as proposed by the Governor with language added to carve out $150,000 for the Rural Housing Coalition.  NPC is funded at $12,830,000 with the same carve out for the NP Coalition.  The MIF also includes $45,181,000 to support several of the supportive services programs administered by OTDA and $65,568,000 for New York City Adult Shelters. 

The final budget agreement also includes an allocation of $600 million in federal COVID relief funds for a Homeownership Relief and Protection Program with up to $60 million of that amount set aside to support the Homeowner Protection Program (HOPP) for three years.  The balance of the funds in this program is to be administered by state and federally designated community development financial institutions (CDFIs) to assist distressed homeowners by providing mortgage payment assistance and similar support.  The Aid to Localities bill also provides a million dollars to cover services and expenses to over twenty not for profit, affordable housing organizations in the New York City area.