Numbers questioned as gov’s plan fades

Expert says new Nassau housing units undercounted by Hochul

BY ROBERT PELAEZ

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s controversial housing plan that is not likely to be in the state’s 2024 budget used incorrect data on multi-family dwelling units on Long Island, according to Vision Long Island Director Eric Alexander.

“We’re kind of low-balled here,” Alexander said in an interview with Blank Slate Media Friday.

The core of the plan, as of Friday, will not be included after strong opposition from local officials, according to Politico and multiple reports. Alexander, who has worked for the regional smart growth organization for 25 years, said that the multi-family unit census data used by the state in Hochul’s proposal was not an accurate representation.

The state, according to Alexander, used a figure of 6,500 multi-family dwelling units that were approved on Long Island during the past dozen years. A pair of 2022 spot checks by Vision Long Island and Carolyn Grossman Meagher, director of the New York City Regional Planning Division, revealed that in Long Island’s downtown areas, there had been 16,000 such units approved in the past 17 years, he said.

That figure surpasses 20,000 such units approved in all of Long Island during roughly the last 17 to 20 years, Alexander said. Data used by the state showed that Mineola had 300 such units, Alexander said, when the spot checks revealed the number was really 1,200.

Efforts to reach state officials for comment on the matter were unavailing.

Hochul’s plan called for a 3% increase in housing units over three years, the possibility of the state stepping in if the 3% goal was not met and the use of transit-oriented developments to achieve that objective. The plan was intended to addressa shortage of 800,000 housing units in the New York metropolitan area.

Data from the 2020 Census showed there were more than 78,000 households in North Hempstead. A total of 2,364 housing units would have to be constructed in the town over the next three years to meet Hochul’s 3% goal.

The deadline to finalize a state budget was April 1, although nothing had been passed as of Tuesday.

Alexander said the plan would have negatively affected all of Long Island and that a regional-based approach to solve a need for housing will not work in Nassau and Suffolk County. Providing affordable and general housing, he said, is still a necessity, but he fears the heated opposition to Hochul’s plan could jeopardize responsible development in the pipeline.

“This has been a disastrous setback,” Alexander said. “The process of fighting this…this battle that people want to con-

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