New York housing advocates feel the state is not taking the affordable housing crisis seriously.

The recent budget proposal and State of the State address neglected to talk about reducing high rental costs and protecting tenants from unlawful eviction.

A Rand Corporation report noted state policies haven't taken steps to address systematic barriers and cost drivers limiting housing production.

Cea Weaver, campaign coordinator for Housing Justice For All, sees towns and cities taking steps to solve their affordable housing problems.

"Across the state, tenants are working to opt into rent control in New York City, in Rochester, in Ithaca, in Syracuse," Weaver outlined. "Other places, Hudson Valley. New Yorkers are opting into rent stabilization so, that's an important measure that keeps people housed."

She argued passing good cause eviction protections and creating a housing access voucher program could reduce housing issues. Opposition has come from the real estate industry, which wants to keep things status quo.

While Gov. Kathy Hochul has said people are leaving New York due to a housing shortage, Weaver noted it is due to rising costs. The Fiscal Policy Institute reported on average, savings from lower housing costs are 15 times greater than savings from taxes for former New Yorkers.

Housing affordability is an issue voters across party lines want addressed. Weaver acknowledged despite the inertia in the Legislature to get this done, a lack of political will is the ultimate hurdle.

"I think sometimes in an election year, people make the decision to just keep their head down and do nothing when they really could do something brave," Weaver asserted. "There's an assumption that 'If I don't move, maybe they won't see anything, everything will be OK,' or something like that. It's annoying. It's really, really silly."

It is uncertain how much longer the issue can be put off. Cities across the state are declaring housing emergencies due to high rents and costs. Newburgh declared one in 2023, with Ithaca and Rochester facing similar issues.

A 2021 survey found 77% of Newburgh residents would leave because of high rents since they're spending more than 30% of their income on housing alone.

Homelessness in South Dakota may be down overall, but the state's urban areas are an exception. New programs in Sioux Falls aim to address it.

The most recent point-in-time data show the number of people unhoused in Sioux Falls rose by 20% between 2022 and 2023. Native people experience homelessness at a disproportionately high rate, making up nearly 40% of the unhoused population in the area. So, South Dakota Urban Indian Health launched the Wo'Okiye program last year, with case management services and help making and getting to medical appointments.

Monica Bailey, program manager and Standing Rock Sioux Tribe member, said these wraparound services give staff a variety of options to respond.

"If they want to go to treatment or if they want to talk. We also provide smudging, therapeutic beading and sewing. We just meet people where they're at on their journey," she said.

Bailey added the organization is averaging 1,300 contacts a month -- an increase from about 260 last September, after launching its initial street outreach efforts a year ago.

The City of Sioux Falls also hired its first Homelessness Services Coordinator in April. Bailey said Wo'Okiye will work closely with the coordinator, and has partnered with others in the city.

"For example, we have a great relationship with downtown Sioux Falls Library, where they can call us and we can go in and check on someone, and bring them to our space or see if we need to do a warm handoff," Bailey said.

The unhoused population in Rapid City also grew last year, although homelessness across the state has decreased nearly 8% since 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.


get more stories like this via email

As Virginia evictions rise, one group is helping low-income renters fight back.

Before the pandemic, evictions peaked at 16,000 in January 2020. An eviction moratorium kept renters housed during part of the pandemic but evictions are growing again.

Phil Storey, director of the Eviction Defense Center at the Virginia Poverty Law Center, said his office helps people navigate housing court.

"We wanted to provide not just information about things they can bring up to the judge to try and affect what happens but also some tools that'll help them do that without having to act as if they were experienced lawyers," Storey explained.

He added eviction laws are better for tenants, although they still give landlords an advantage. Affordable housing significantly declined in the state leaving many people unable to afford housing. The Eviction Defense Center operates on two websites. English speakers can use FightMyEviction.org and Spanish speakers can use NoDesalojo.org.

While the Eviction Defense Center is still relatively new, Storey is looking for ways to improve and build on it. He added they want to learn from the users taking advantage of the tools being offered.

"Obviously, we'll be able to go sort of peek behind the curtain and see which paths people are following through the information," Storey noted. "If some of them end up as dead ends or if people end up backing out of the decision tree, or things like that. We'll learn things about how to make that all better."

New York's 2025 budget takes proactive steps to address rural housing.

In the budget, $10 million was allocated for improvements to rural housing built by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Section 515 program. Rural housing organizations asked for $25 million but are grateful the state is taking action.

Mike Borges, executive director of the Rural Housing Coalition of New York, said another bill the Legislature should pass makes the Mobile and Manufactured Home Replacement Program permanent.

"Basically what that does is provide grants to low- to moderate-income people to replace their mobile homes that are dilapidated and unsafe," Borges explained.

He would also like to see administration fees increase for nonprofits taking part in the Access to Home Program, which provides accessibility modification for low- to moderate-income residents. Reports showed it got requests totaling $12 million but only got enough funding for $1 million in improvements. The Senate is poised to pass both bills, leaving the Assembly as the final hurdle.

However, the budget was not perfect for rural housing. Borges said one shortcoming of the 2025 budget were cuts to the RESTORE program, which provides emergency repairs for low-to-moderate-income seniors. He said New York should take action now to continue improving rural housing preservation and development.

"We need a comprehensive housing initiative that looks at the obstacles to building and renovating, repairing housing in rural communities," Borges contended. "The three main obstacles to that are local capacity, infrastructure and targeted programs for rural housing."

He added rural areas do not often have the same resources and capacity as urban communities. Because rural housing is in short supply because of the aging housing stock, there have been stark population declines from rural New York communities.