Issue Position: Housing as a Human Right

Issue Position

Housing should be a fundamental human right. All people deserve safe, healthy housing they can afford in the community where they want to live. Unfortunately, for far too many people in Cortland and Tompkins Counties, this is a dream and not a reality.

In the 125th Assembly District we face a diverse set of housing challenges in each of our unique communities. Rural towns and hamlets, walkable villages, and the cities of Cortland and Ithaca each struggle with different housing issues that must be addressed. In the City of Ithaca, there is a low vacancy rate creating an unstable market with high housing prices and rents, insufficient housing of all housing types (affordable, senior, homeowner occupied, student, and rental), and an aging housing stock. In the City of Cortland, there is a shortage of affordable housing and an aging housing stock, which makes maintenance a concern for many households. Rural areas in the 125th have higher levels of homeownership but many homeowners struggle with low quality housing and housing costs that they cannot afford -- especially when transportation costs to jobs and services are factored in.

As the chair of the Tompkins County Legislature's Housing and Economic Development Committee and as a member of the Community Housing Development Fund, I have worked collaboratively with community partners for years to promote mixed-income housing developments and increase local development of permanently affordable housing.

What can New York State do to make housing safe, healthy, and affordable to all?

State support is needed to encourage more housing construction:

● Promote public-private partnerships, such as the Community Housing Development Fund that establishes a partnership between Tompkins County, the City of Ithaca, and Cornell University.

● Prioritize transportation-efficient locations, with a mix of housing types and uses.

● Encourage zoning that makes it easier to build affordably and in the right places.

● Fund mixed income publicly owned housing in communities with housing shortages.

● Increase funding for supportive housing for populations with special needs.

Repair and reinvigorate existing housing: The best investments are in housing that already exists. Don't allow deterioration to become the only path to affordability!

● Expand programs to repair substandard housing, to improve safety and accessibility

● Invest in energy efficiency, to improve long-term affordability while reducing greenhouse gas emissions

● Create a solution to the "split incentive," where efficiency improvements benefit renters who pay monthly utility bills, but owners are paying for those improvements.

Stop Displacement

● Support the Fair Housing Law and enforce the Prohibition of Source of Income Discrimination.

● Good Cause Eviction: Build more housing in walkable mixed use communities while also protecting the people who are already there from displacement and eviction.

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