The New York State Environmental Quality Review Act — SEQRA — just turned 50. And it’s not aging well. As the state remains mired in a serious housing crisis, SEQRA is a primary culprit. The law’s noble underpinnings are designed to protect the environment and public health by avoiding hasty decision-making. But over the past half century, SEQRA has aged into a creaky, middle-aged arthritic. It has become abused by overuse and now stands in the way of progress. It’s holding us back and a checkup is overdue.
Government incentives have led to some momentum on housing, but the situation in suburbs like Westchester remains critical as new construction hasn’t kept pace with demand. A 2025 joint study by the Regional Plan Association and the Westchester County Association warns of a county-wide shortfall of tens of thousands of homes over the next decade. Rents are rising, vacancy rates have fallen below 2% and the consequences are severe: without more housing, tens of thousands of jobs and more than $50 billion in economic growth are at risk.
A mural is pictured on The Leaf, a 26-story mixed-use development with 477 residential units in New Rochelle Oct. 10, 2025. The building has a church on the ground floor and 25% of the units are affordable.
SEQRA’s impact on the land use approval process is largely to blame. Even where decisions remain with local governments, environmental review is the most time-consuming and costly phase of the process. The Citizens Budget Commission reports an average of two years for projects to work through environmental review (large projects can take much longer) and with double digit increases in development costs. Moreover, the process plays out unpredictably and is unevenly applied across multiple jurisdictions. It is handcuffing planning boards and local elected officials.
New York must modernize SEQRA and stop lagging behind
As New York lags, other states are acting. Last year, California modernized its environmental review process with bipartisan legislative support, passing laws that cut red tape for certain infill housing projects, protects them from frivolous lawsuits, and creates a 30-day deadline for agencies to act. Massachusetts is pursuing a similar path to streamline environmental review but through regulatory reform rather than legislation.
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Modernizing SEQRA in New York is finally gaining momentum. Recent legislative proposals would limit SEQRA review for certified projects that meet affordability, sustainability, and environmental standards and also place time limits on local decision making. And now Gov. Kathy Hochul is getting out front with the “Let Them Build” agenda contained in this year’s State of the State. This plan would amend SEQRA by exempting certain types of housing projects on previously disturbed land from comprehensive review. While compliance with local zoning and environmental laws remains mandatory, the projects would be presumed to have no significant impact on the environment. The governor’s reform agenda would also create a two-year maximum deadline to compete review of those projects requiring more comprehensive study.
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None of these reforms override local control. They don’t set quotas. They don’t force communities to change their zoning. They don’t mandate development. Rather, they empower local officials to act as they deem necessary in the face of disingenuous challenges by self-serving NIMBY activists. Moreover, these reforms would also advance other kinds of critical infrastructure improvements addressing wastewater systems, energy grids and transportation.
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State level policy reform is long overdue. This past year, in a first-of-its-kind public education project, the Welcome Home Westchester advocacy campaign released a municipal housing policy scorecard that showed strong progress by several local governments in the Hudson Valley suburbs. But while local policies are important, they cannot overcome the barriers created by a 50-year-old SEQRA without state level help. n its current form, this stale law is badly slowing the housing development our communities desperately need. Hochul and the Legislature must modernize SEQRA to empower local governments, accelerate housing approvals and meet today’s needs.
Michael N. Romita is President & CEO of the Westchester County Association.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: NY SEQRA modernize housing crisis | Opinion