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June 2026

Newly Enacted Budget Allocates $850 Million to Tackle Housing Crisis and Lets New York Build!

The new Fiscal Year 2027 State Budget features $850 million in new capital funding. It also includes Governor Hochul’s innovative and important proposals, including her signature Let Them Build agenda, that will make it easier and faster to create and preserve the housing New York needs.  

Throughout the budget process, the Governor remained steadfast in her commitment to Let Them Build, a series of common-sense reforms to the State’s Environmental Quality Review Act that will speed up development and lower costs of housing and infrastructure, all without harming our ability to protect the environment.

The Governor’s plan brings the 1975 SEQRA law into the 21^st century while still requiring compliance with crucial State regulatory and permit requirements governing water use, air quality, and protection of natural resources.   

Projects subject to SEQRA review can take as much as 56% longer to get from concept to groundbreaking, and add more than $82,000 to the cost per home in New York City, with similar impacts throughout the state. 

This means higher rents and rising housing prices at a time when New Yorkers can least afford it.

Let Them Build eliminates red tape and modernizes SEQRA by classifying some critical projects that are understood to have no significant impacts on the environment in a way that they would not need additional SEQRA review.

In addition, the Budget appropriates more than $850 million in new funding to tackle the housing crisis, including $250 million to accelerate affordable housing development and support HCR’s $25 billion five-year Housing Plan, which is in its final year and has already created or preserved more than 81,000 homes.


Other Housing Highlights of the Enacted Budget

Making Homeownership More Affordable

• $100 million to support the expansion of the MOVE-IN NY program and continued exploration of innovative emerging factory-built and modular construction technologies to build homes more quickly and at lower costs.
  

Investing in Public Housing

• $140 million for capital improvements to New York City Housing Authority developments and $75 million for public housing authorities outside New York City, providing vital support to this essential housing stock and critical quality-of-life improvements for the residents who call it home.
  

Improving Mitchell-Lamas

• $85 million for capital improvements to preserve Mitchell-Lama developments statewide.
  

Increasing the Number of Land Banks

• Expanding the cap on the number of land banks that can be established in New York State from 35 to 45 and adding $50 million in new funding.
  

Upgrading Manufactured Homes

• $6 million to create a new revolving loan fund to finance critical infrastructure and upgrades for manufactured home parks.
  

Protecting Tenants

• $20 million for lead abatement programs to protect tenants in areas of high risk outside New York City from lead hazards.
  

Helping Homeowners Recover

• $50 million for the Resilient and Ready program to help homeowners recover from and better prepare for extreme weather events.
  

Help for Small Rental Units and Municipalities Outside NYC 

• $40 million to upgrade vacant rental units outside New York City and $30 million for infill development of small homes outside New York City.
• $10 million for small multifamily rental developments outside of larger municipalities and $10 million for rural housing subsidized by the USDA 515 program.
  

Development Highlights

Important Information on SNAP

Last year, President Trump signed H.R.1 into law, imposing more expansive SNAP work requirements on "Able Bodied Adults Without Dependents" (ABAWDs) who receive SNAP. Individuals must show they participate in employment, job search, or education/training for 80 hours per month, or qualifying volunteer activities for about 18 hours per month, in order to retain SNAP benefits.

Please help us spread the word and raise awareness of this new law so that we can keep as many New Yorkers as possible connected to their SNAP benefits and able to afford food. 

Below is text you can use for a social media post or to include in an email or newsletter. 

Do you rely on SNAP benefits? If so, you may be subject to new Federal work requirements. Check if you are affected and make sure you don't lose your benefits: otda.ny.gov/abawd