New York’s Housing Crisis: New Mayors, Old Problems and a Need for Unified Action

With new leadership taking the helm in nearly every major city across New York and impending cuts on the federal level threatening critical housing programs, voters have a crucial role to play in this election cycle. Every vote is a powerful tool to demand bold action, hold leaders accountable, and ensure that the production and preservation of affordable housing remains a top priority.

We are facing a housing emergency of historic proportions, and the political moment is as perilous as it is pivotal. The decisions made by local leaders in the coming months will shape the trajectory of affordable housing for years to come, but they cannot act alone. State and federal support must match the urgency of the moment.

The federal government’s increasingly hostile posture toward housing is sounding alarm bells. 

Proposed staffing cuts at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), including a staggering reduction of up to 84 percent to the Office of Community Planning and Development, would be devastating to affordable housing efforts in New York. More than 1 million New Yorkers in Manhattan alone rely on federal rental assistance, including $2.1 billion in Section 8 vouchers. A full 70 percent of the New York City Housing Authority’s operating budget depends on this federal funding. HUD has already announced it will end Emergency Housing Voucher Assistance Payment funds, putting 5,500 New York City households at risk of losing critical support by 2026. If we continue at this pace, HUD’s local operations could disappear altogether, a development that would be catastrophic for thousands of families.

These looming cuts come as the costs of building and operating affordable housing continue to skyrocket driven by inflation, tariffs, labor shortages and surging insurance premiums. Unlike market-rate developers, affordable housing providers cannot pass along these costs to tenants. The result is a growing reliance on subsidies that are simultaneously under assault, creating a chilling effect across the entire development community. The lack of predictability in funding, combined with increasingly constrained tools for building affordable homes, leaves many would-be projects stuck in limbo, or never launched at all.

Yet, there is an opportunity — if we seize it. With new mayors poised to take office in cities across the state, New York is at a major political inflection point. Voters are demanding leadership that can finally get ahead of the housing affordability crisis. In campaigns statewide, candidates are pledging to build hundreds of thousands of new homes, to reform zoning laws, and to invest in local solutions. These commitments are encouraging, and they show that housing is rightly at the forefront of our political discourse. But promises are not plans, and pledges alone are not policy.

Where candidates have held public office, voters should scrutinize their history carefully, especially their track record on affordable housing creation and preservation. It’s not enough to campaign on lofty ideals — we need evidence that leaders will follow through. When elected, these new mayors must implement real, data-driven solutions that prioritize housing affordability. They must also be held accountable if they fail to deliver.

At the state level, New York must do more to protect and expand its role as a bulwark against federal retreat. That means fully funding vital programs, increasing allocations to preservation efforts, and using every available policy lever such as zoning, land use reforms, and maximizing tax incentives to make it easier and faster to build affordable homes. Rejecting federal spending cuts and staff reductions is a start. Investing new and significant resources to increase the supply of affordable housing and keep renters stably housed must follow.

Meanwhile, we must make it clear to Washington: Walking away from housing is not an option. Proposed cuts to HUD are an abandonment of our most vulnerable residents and a direct threat to decades of bipartisan progress. If federal leaders continue down this path, it will be up to state and local governments to step into the void with limited tools and even fewer dollars.

This moment demands courage: from voters, from candidates, from every level of government. We cannot afford to let up. If we are to address the crisis with the scale and seriousness it requires, we must act decisively and collectively. The stakes are too high to wait.

Jolie Milstein is president and CEO of the New York State Association for Affordable Housing.