“The cost of living is just too damn high — especially when it comes to the sky-high rents and mortgages New Yorkers pay every month,” Gov. Hochul said.
Phase Two is to include 450 units of permanently affordable rental housing adjacent to the armory
The ceremony was presided over by Westchester County Clerk Timothy Idoni, and Jenkins’ oath was administered by New York State Supreme Court Justice Anne E. Minihan, 9th Judicial District, in a ceremony at the Michaelian Office Building in White Plains.
“The cost of living is just too damn high — especially when it comes to the sky-high rents and mortgages New Yorkers pay every month,” Gov. Hochul said.
ALBANY—In advance of her 2025 State of the State address on Jan. 14, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a series of housing initiatives, including new laws and policies and $100 million in funding geared at making homeownership more affordable and accessible in New York State.
One initiative focuses on disincentivizing institutional investors from buying up one- and two-family homes throughout the state. She explained that hedge funds private equity firms and other institutional investors, have played an increasingly significant role in the single-family and two-family housing market in recent years.
These large entities can often outbid prospective homeowners with all cash offers and fast-track their ownership by waiving inspections, appraisals and other common prerequisites that traditional homebuyers cannot. The rise in digital technologies has further paved the way for these entities to purchase single-family and two-family homes, allowing them to monitor real estate markets and move quickly to identify, evaluate and make offers on properties that fit their criteria.
Nationally, private equity firms own more than 500,000 homes. According to some estimates, private equity firms are expected to own up to 40% of the single-family rental market by 2030. When large investors hold a disproportionate share of a local housing market it removes opportunities for homeownership, exacerbating the existing scarcity and driving up prices for remaining homes on the market. These consequences are felt most intensely by first-time and low- or moderate-income homebuyers.
To help level the playing field and increase the opportunities for everyday individuals and families to purchase a home, Governor Hochul is proposing legislation to disincentivize large investment entities from buying single two-family homes en masse, and will require a 75-day waiting period for institutional investors to make an offer on one- or two-family homes.
Additionally, the governor will propose reducing the opportunity for institutional investors to take advantage of tax code provisions that make these investments in single- and two-family homes more lucrative by denying these entities the ability to utilize the interest deductions, depreciation deductions and other expenses associated with the ownership of these properties. If these measures are approved by the Legislature, New York State would be creating a nation-leading model that disincentivizes institutional investors from buying up homes, she said.
“The cost of living is just too damn high — especially when it comes to the sky-high rents and mortgages New Yorkers pay every month,” Gov. Hochul said. “Last year, we passed the most transformative plan in half a century to build more housing and lower costs for families. But shadowy private equity giants are buying up the housing supply in communities across New York, leaving everyday homebuyers with fewer and fewer affordable options. I'm proposing new laws and policy changes to put the American dream of owning a home within reach for more New Yorkers than ever before.”
To address the shortage of traditional smaller starter homes, Gov. Hochul has proposed $50 million in capital funding to incentivize the building of more starter homes, including innovative approaches to homebuilding such as the use of factory-built and modular development.
The governor also announced she will provide $50 million in new state funding to support New Yorkers struggling to save for down payments and help more individuals and families achieve the dream of homeownership.
She is also proposing an affordable homebuyer property tax incentive with a local opt-in for homes built with assistance from governmental entities, nonprofits, land banks or community land trusts, and sold to low- and moderate-income homebuyers.
In her State of the State address, the governor will propose a suite of actions to make discriminatory appraisal practices unlawful, enforce anti-discrimination principles in appraisals and diversify the appraiser workforce.
Her housing initiatives make up the governor’s fourth announced proposal to be included in her State of the State address. Her latest housing initiatives build on the governor’s $25 billion, five-year housing plan to create or preserve 100,000 affordable homes statewide. State officials noted that New York State has reached the milestone of creating 50,000 affordable homes within two years.
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