The Welcome Home Westchester Campaign supports Governor Hochul’s continued commitment to building critically needed housing as outlined in her State of the State address. State-level leadership will be necessary to deal with this complex issue. Further investments in the successful Pro-Housing Community Program and the creation of a revolving loan fund for mixed-income rental development will expand affordability and unlock new housing opportunities statewide.
We are also heartened to see one of our “5 in 2025” policy agenda items partially included. Our campaign has long championed fast tracking environmental review for housing that we know from years of experience will have a minimal impact — and possibly a positive benefit — for the environment. The Governor’s proposal for a more reasonable review timeframe for multi-family housing with no more than 10,000 square feet of gross floor area is a small but noteworthy first step to preventing more energy efficient and climate-friendly housing from being ironically hijacked by the environmental review process. We believe this proposal should be expanded to include larger projects as well.
We look forward to collaborating with state and local leaders to move these proposals to forward this legislative session. We believe that doing so will move us closer to a Westchester that is welcoming to all who wish to live and work here – to our shared prosperity!