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Home-building agenda raises the roof

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul delivers her State of the State address in the Assembly Chamber at the state Capitol, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023, in Albany, N.Y. (AP Photo/Hans Pennink)

Serving as lieutenant governor for seven years from 2015 to 2021, Kathy Hochul made her former boss Andrew Cuomo a little more tolerable. Seen as the friendly face of the administration for municipal leaders, she built relationships traveling across the state while learning the landscapes from the Adirondacks to Yonkers.

Those experiences are driving the decisions she is making in the top post while still smiling. Obviously, they are not all popular.

Earlier this week, in her second State of the State address, Hochul talked hot-button topics that included taking another look at bail reform and further increases to the minimum wage, which increased to $14.20 an hour on Dec. 31. One other significant item on Hochul’s radar, that affects every region, has to deal with new housing. Her aim is to have 800,000 new homes built over the next decade to meet what she considers a historic shortage.

“New York faces a housing crisis that requires bold actions and an all-hands-on-deck approach,” she said. “Every community in New York must do their part to encourage housing growth to move our state forward and keep our economy strong.”

Upstate missed out on the building boom so many other states have benefited from in recent decades. Declining populations and high poverty rates have a way of suffocating development.

Just how bad is it locally? According to a Chautauqua Opportunities Inc. Community Needs Assessment from 2020, this region has some of the oldest housing stock in the nation. Making that problem worse is the lack of construction for new residences since 2010.

“Over 42.7% of the county’s homes were built before 1939, compared to 31.6% for New York and 12.5% for the nation,” the assessment noted. “Just 0.7% of the county’s homes were built since 2010 while state and national percentages are two (1.3%) and five times (3.3%) as high respectively.”

Those aging residences were partially the genesis for the Chautauqua County Land Bank, which aims to decrease the number and concentration of vacant and abandoned properties that were impacting neighborhoods. Some would say the nearly 15-year program has had its share of successes, while others would note it is another arm of the government fighting a losing battle.

Throughout its existence, the Land Bank has proven an ability to get dangerous structures demolished quicker than was the case in the past. One of those instances was in 2017 in Forestville when a home at 33 Main St. that fell into disrepair was removed.

“That property, unfortunately, is one of those examples of how negative an impact a zombie property can have on a community,” Land Bank Executive Director Gina Paradis said at the time the structure came down. “The property has sat vacant for years and just disintegrated and disintegrated over time, becoming a real public safety hazard.”

If the problem of derelict properties can hamper small towns, they are certain to be an epidemic in larger population centers. Dunkirk and Jamestown face these issues daily. While some of these structures have met the wrecking ball, too many others are a testament to the downturn the area is facing.

Even when hope does arise that a major build could be on the horizon, disappointment can follow if there is a lack of investment or if local regulations become too cumbersome. Dunkirk got a dose of that when the luxury Battery Point Villas project was targeted in 2018 for the land opposite the troubled Athenex plant. It never got off the ground and a demand for this type of living remains.

Hochul’s strategy, which calls for a new homes target of 1% over three years for upstate municipalities with the assistance of grants and aid, could serve as an incentive to boost development. By all accounts, home sales here remain brisk — and prices are on the rise.

But the governor’s observation — after years of travel — is right on the mark. Deteriorating housing and structures throughout the area forced the conversation to be more about revitalization and restoration.

In that mindset, leaders lost sight of the ultimate goal: growing the tax base and economy with new construction. “Through zoning, local communities hold enormous power to block growth,” Hochul said. “Between full-on bans of multi-family homes, and onerous zoning and approvals processes, they make it difficult – even impossible – to build new homes. … Local governments can and should make different choices.”

John D’Agostino is the editor of The Post-Journal, OBSERVER and Times Observer in Warren, Pa. Send comments to jdagostino@observertoday.com or call 716-366-3000, ext. 253.

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