Governor Hochul Announces $5M in Grants Awarded to Help Pro-Housi...

Governor Kathy Hochul today announced that the state has awarded $5 million in technical assistance grants to help certified Pro-Housing Communities undertake activities to increase housing supply. Communities applied to receive up to $250,000 to help in their efforts to create master plans, conduct market studies and zoning analyses, streamline building permits and assist with implementing similar actions that improve their ability to cultivate a pro-housing environment.

"The Pro-Housing Communities Program is a true partnership between the State and localities that tackles the housing shortage, makes it possible for people to live in the communities of their choice and serves as an effective vehicle for aligning housing and local economic development," Governor Hochul said. "That's why we are making additional resources available to the 400-and-counting certified Pro-Housing Communities that will help them succeed in creating the housing New Yorkers want and need."

Governor Hochul signed Executive Order 30 in July 2023 creating the Pro-Housing Community Program, which recognizes and rewards municipalities actively working to unlock their housing potential and encourages others to follow suit. Under the Program, which is administered by New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR), local governments that are taking action to support housing growth to address the housing shortage throughout the State can apply to become certified. After becoming certified, localities have exclusive access to up to $750 million in discretionary State funding. Since the launch of the Pro-Housing Communities Program, these state funds support up to 20,000 more homes statewide.

The FY25 and FY26 Enacted Budgets strengthened the Program, which has grown to over 400 certified communities. More than 550 communities from across the state have submitted Letters of Intent to join the Program.

New York State Homes and Community Renewal Commissioner RuthAnne Visnauskas said, "The Pro-Housing Communities Program is an innovative and effective housing initiative that continues to grow as more and more localities join the Pro-Housing movement. This funding will ensure local officials have the tools and support to effectively strategize how they can achieve housing growth."

State Senator Brian Kavanagh said, "Today's announcement underscores our commitment to supporting communities across New York to do their part to address our housing shortage by giving them the tools and resources they need to succeed. Too often, municipalities that want to build more housing face real obstacles, from limited planning capacity to complex zoning and permitting challenges. These technical assistance grants help reduce those burdens by providing access to expert support that can streamline development, strengthen local planning efforts, and remove barriers to building affordable homes. I commend Governor Kathy Hochul and Commissioner RuthAnne Visnauskas for continuing to invest in programs that help communities all across New York create more housing opportunities and move urgently needed projects forward."

Pro-Housing Communities receiving technical assistance awards:

Long Island

• Town of Babylon $119,600, Suffolk County

Mid-Hudson

• Village of Ellenville $200,000, Ulster County
• City of New Rochelle $250,000, Westchester County
• City of Mount Vernon $250,000, Westchester County
• Town of Greenburgh $160,000, Westchester County
• Town of Rochester $167,000, Ulster County
• Village of Nyack $200,000, Rockland County
• Town of Saugerties $115,750, Ulster County
• Town of Kent $108,000, Putnam County

Capital Region

• Town of Greenwich $67,200, Washington County
• City of Rensselaer $250,000, Rensselaer County
• Warren County $230,000
• Columbia County $247,250

Mohawk Valley

• Village of Newport $150,000, Herkimer County
• Village of Boonville $215,000, Oneida County

North Country

• Town of Moriah $150,000, Essex County
• Town of Plattsburgh $160,545, Clinton County

Southern Tier

• Town of Ithaca $243,000, Tompkins County
• Village of Johnson City $80,000, Broome County

Western New York

• City of Jamestown $250,000, Chautauqua County
• Chautauqua County $250,000
• Town of Amherst $250,000, Erie County

Central NY

• Town of Owasco $250,000, Cayuga County
• City of Oswego $60,000, Oswego County

Finger Lakes

• City of Geneva $250,000, Ontario County
• Village of Avon $196,500, Livingston County

Through this new grant funding, eligible cities, towns and villages will also receive assistance that can be used to procure planning, engineering or other professional services that can provide the needed expertise and best practices for a variety of housing growth activities.

Examples of eligible activities include:

• Zoning analysis reports;
• Streamlining and accelerating building permitting services;
• Evaluation of publicly-owned properties for development;
• Request for Proposals preparation;
• Housing needs assessments; and
• Impact studies on proposed housing projects.

To learn more about the Program, including how to become Pro-Housing certified, please visit the Pro-Housing Communities Program website.

Governor Hochul's Housing Agenda

Governor Hochul is dedicated to addressing New York's housing crisis and making the State more affordable and more livable for all New Yorkers. Since FY23, the Governor has worked to increase housing supply to make housing more affordable by launching a $25 billion five year comprehensive Housing Plan, enacted the most significant housing legislation in decades and implemented new protections for renters and homeowners. Under Governor Hochul's leadership, HCR has created new programs that jumpstart development of affordable and mixed-income homes - for both renters and homebuyers. These include the Pro-Housing Community Program, which allows certified localities exclusive access to up to $750 million in discretionary State funding.

As part of Governor Hochul's 2026 State of the State, the Governor proposed her "Let Them Build" agenda, a series of landmark reforms to speed up housing and infrastructure development and lower costs. This initiative will spur a series of common sense reforms to New York's State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) and executive actions to expedite critical categories of projects that have been consistently found to not have significant environmental impacts, but for too long have been caught up in red tape and subject to lengthy delays.

The FY27 Executive Budget completes the Governor's current five-year Housing Plan to create or preserve 100,000 affordable homes statewide, including 10,000 with support services for vulnerable populations plus the electrification of an additional 50,000 homes. More than 77,000 affordable homes have been created or preserved to date. The Executive Budget also invests $250 million to accelerate affordable housing construction to speed up the building of thousands more affordable homes.