ALBANY, N.Y. — When lawmakers brought New York Gov. Kathy Hochul an end-of-session offer earlier this month designed to help New York tenants and developers amid a housing crunch, her response was swift and frustrating to them.
She quickly rejected the offer and threatened to veto lawmakers’ other top priorities, legislators and aides familiar with the conversations told POLITICO.
So a housing deal collapsed — for the second time this year. And more broadly it demonstrated how the governor has struggled in her relationship with lawmakers — leaving many feeling like she’s negotiating in bad faith to her own detriment.
"We don't expect the governor to take what we hand her without having input. But just to reject it out of hand seems to be ignoring the biggest crisis we're dealing with now," Senate Deputy Majority Leader Mike Gianaris (D-Queens) said in an interview.
The inability to reach a housing agreement that could have either incentivized or required communities to build more housing, continued a tax break for developers and provided eviction protections for tenants left all sides reeling heading into the summer after a bruising six-month legislative session.
Critics said the end-of-session turmoil punctuated multiple missteps that eroded the Democratic governor's political capital after gaining extraordinary goodwill when she succeeded scandal-scarred Andrew Cuomo in August 2021. She is the state's first woman governor and in the first year of a four-year term.
"I think there is a general confusion on who's her audience," Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas (D-Queens) said. "We are working in good faith to come up with compromises on urgent issues, and I would underscore housing as one of the top crises in our city and state."
The Assembly returns to Albany on Tuesday to finish up its business for the year, and González-Rojas is pressing for the chamber to pass the Coverage for All Act, which would extend public health benefits to undocumented immigrants — something Hochul has expressed general support for since it will be funded by the federal government.
But now Hochul is raising concerns about the cost after it passed the Senate last week, to González-Rojas' dismay.
"I'm honestly very confused. I think that's the general sentiment," González-Rojas said. "People are just wondering who she is trying to appease and who's her audience and why she's not willing to work in good faith."
The public has taken notice. A Siena College poll last month showed more New Yorkers viewed Hochul unfavorably than favorably for the first time in her tenure. And this is after she eked out a win against Long Island GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin in the closest governor's race since George Pataki beat Mario Cuomo in 1994.
The session started with the Senate rejecting Hochul's pick of Hector LaSalle for chief judge, then was followed by her refusing to compromise on a housing deal that incentivized communities to build new homes instead of requiring them to do so as the governor had proposed.
And the session is ending with anger from Rochester officials over being left out of talks between Hochul's office and the Seneca Nation over a potential casino in the Western New York City. Her pick to head the New York Power Authority, was unable to win Senate support in the final days of the session, leaving his long-term status for the critical job in limbo.
"I just think they are always fighting the wrong fight," said one Democratic strategist in Albany who was granted anonymity to discuss the administration. "I think they're always fighting yesterday's fight and never fighting tomorrow's fight."
Hochul, meanwhile, points to a robust legislative session full of victories: record school aid, raising the minimum wage and increased funding for the troubled Metropolitan Transportation Authority. She also held up the budgetto expand judges' ability to set bail — a critical issue that, despite changes last year, nearly cost her the election amid voters' concerns about crime.
On housing, Hochul said she remains unwilling to negotiate away some of her priorities. Without a mandate and the ability for the state to override local zoning, communities would be unlikely to build on their own, she has stressed.
"I have to focus on, yes, protect tenants; but number one, I have to build more housing. We need more units built because otherwise landlords will always be able to charge more because it's a simple matter of supply and demand," she told reporters Tuesday in Albany.
"And that is something the Legislature didn't quite understand it the way I hope they do in the future. If we build more, like other cities, it drives the price down. I think there is still an opportunity."
Gianaris — who was among the key advocates for new tenant protections and limits on rent increases, called "Good Cause" legislation — suggested that Hochul was siding with the powerful real estate industry. The industry opposed the measure and didn't want to accept an extension of the 421-a tax break for developers if it meant fewer rights for landlords.
"It's clear to me that the completely inflexible position that the developers have taken has been adopted by the governor — and that's not productive," Gianaris said.
Others hoped that Hochul would have cut the best deal possible rather than everyone leaving Albany with no movement toward affordable housing or tenant protections.
"Everybody's got to give," Sen. Pete Harckham (D-Westchester County) said. "If we want to get something done meaningful for the state of New York, everyone has to compromise."
Hochul's standing with the Legislature will face an even greater challenge next year. She has been able to keep most groups happy by providing record aid for schools and other priorities. But the state faces a $9 billion deficit next year — its largest in more than a decade — that will end the yearslong spending spree.
Still, Senate Housing Chair Brian Kavanagh (D-Manhattan) said the months of negotiations this year over housing will benefit talks in 2024.
"We've gotten closer now than we have," he said. "I was disappointed that we didn't get a deal done at the end, but I do think the work we did, especially in trying to get consensus in the Legislature, will mean what we did now will be a framework for future negotiations."
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By: Joseph Spector
Title: Hochul ending legislative session with little love from Albany
Sourced From: www.politico.com/news/2023/06/21/hochul-legislature-new-york-00102205
Published Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2023 03:30:00 EST
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