The new year is bringing new opportunities and change to New York politics. Just as our own New Year’s resolutions weigh on us personally, there are political commitments that carry high expectations across the state. Particularly, the wave of newly elected mayors stepping into office with campaign promises has New Yorkers eager to see them fulfilled.
No matter where you live in the state, the message from New Yorkers stays the same: Housing is unaffordable, and more of it is needed. While tools and strategies may vary by region, the housing issues are common across communities.
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Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s victory in New York City’s high-stakes mayoral race underscores a reality we have been confronting for years: New York is facing an affordability crisis, and housing is at the root of it. We must be clear: This problem — and this moment of opportunity — are not limited to the five boroughs. Major transformative political shifts are happening in upstate cities, where other newly elected mayors have also made housing a central priority.
Regional disparities that hinder housing production remain pronounced as ever: While downstate markets face intense financial and regulatory pressures, upstate communities often struggle with access to resources. New leadership has now created a historic opportunity to advance local housing solutions that can help address this. We must urgently focus both on building new affordable housing and preserving the homes we already have. By prioritizing affordable housing, new leaders can continue to maintain public trust and deliver the tangible results New Yorkers expect.
In Buffalo, Mayor-elect Sean Ryan won by a significant margin, with housing a key focus of his campaign. Under his “City of Good Neighborhoods” framework, Ryan is positioned to leverage state funds to expand and rehabilitate uninhabitable units and vacant lots for more affordable housing. These initiatives, including the city’s “Block by Block” program, aim to rebuild Buffalo’s depleted housing stock, convert vacant rental units into affordable homes, and reverse decades of disinvestment.
Syracuse is experiencing a similar turning point. Under outgoing Mayor Ben Walsh, Syracuse has been confronting housing pressures, most recently highlighted in his final community briefing on the ongoing housing crisis. While the city made incredible strides by meeting its new affordable housing development target, there are growth pressures tied to semiconductor developer Micron’s arrival and other factors that have expanded housing needs. Looking ahead, Sharon Owens, due to be Syracuse’s first Black mayor, also received broad public support for her readiness to tackle housing affordability and economic growth. On the same election day, Democrats also captured the Onondaga County Legislature for the first time in nearly 50 years, creating a new potential for city-county coordination on housing policy.
Meanwhile, in Albany, Mayor-elect Dorcey Applyrs, previously serving as the city’s chief auditor, initiated a comprehensive audit before even taking office, confirming what residents have long felt. The audit shows that Albany is facing a deepening affordability crisis marked by severe rent burdens, unit shortages and a deteriorating housing stock. The upside is that Applyrs has indicated openness to reevaluating inclusionary zoning rules and exploring mixed-income development as part of a broader strategy to rebuild.
This alignment of new leadership is creating a generational opportunity to tackle the crisis. To witness some of it firsthand, in recent weeks I have visited the Albany capital region, Rochester, Syracuse, Utica, Poughkeepsie, Newburgh and Buffalo. I have met with developers, property managers and service providers, and toured new construction and preservation projects, as well as properties facing significant challenges.
Meeting with community leaders and policymakers, I have seen how eager they are to build new housing and preserve existing homes to address housing challenges. Upstate developers are constantly bringing forward creative, locally grounded strategies that complement these statewide efforts.
What’s more, with the right incentives and fewer regulatory barriers, developers are well-positioned to deliver the housing agenda our newly elected leaders are striving for. With the right public-private coordination and momentum, we can lay the foundation for meaningful improvements in addressing the housing crisis.
It will also require a push for more targeted state resources. New York must do more to implement smart pro-growth and preservation policies. That means increasing funding for vital programs, expanding support for preservation efforts, and utilizing every available policy tool such as zoning, land use reforms, and maximizing tax incentives to make building affordable homes easier and faster. Solutions must also address a wide range of cost drivers, including skyrocketing insurance costs, outdated zoning, overly complex regulatory processes, slow permitting, prolonged construction timelines and more.
We are at a crucial moment in shaping housing policy. New leadership brings both the challenge and opportunity to coordinate housing strategies across jurisdictions to support an equitable and inclusive affordable housing agenda.
Carlina Rivera is president and CEO of the New York State Association for Affordable Housing and a former member of the New York City Council from Manhattan.