Housing advocates are urging New York state leaders to do more to address tenant protections and rental affordability, even as Governor Kathy Hochul pushes reforms aimed at speeding up housing construction.
While Hochul’s plan focuses on regulatory changes to encourage new development, advocates say it doesn’t expand tenant protections or rental assistance programs. They note the absence of proposals to increase funding for the state’s Housing Access Voucher Program or to extend rent stabilization beyond New York City.
Sumathy Kumar, executive director of Housing Justice for All, highlighted challenges upstate communities face when trying to implement rent stabilization. She pointed to Kingston, where legal challenges from landlords have hindered enforcement.
“Landlords have constantly sued the city over minute bureaucratic details,” Kumar said. “What ends up happening is the tenants who are supposed to be rent stabilized are left in limbo, not sure if their protections are going to go away one day or continue.”
Kumar expressed hope that state lawmakers will pass the REST Act, which would allow municipalities across New York to implement rent stabilization without the legal obstacles that have stalled efforts in multiple cities. The bill received positive feedback during a 2025 New York Assembly hearing, despite opposition from the real estate industry.
Advocates are also calling for expanded funding for the Housing Access Voucher Program, currently in the second year of a four-year, $50 million pilot. The program provides rental assistance to those who are unhoused or at risk of losing housing and could help as many as 78 percent of renters statewide spending more than a third of their income on housing.
Governor Hochul has previously opposed making the program permanent, citing costs. Kumar said those concerns must be weighed against the risk of losing critical housing support, especially amid potential changes in federal funding.
“It is really important, in a moment where federal cuts are coming — on housing, on benefits and services — that we fund rental assistance right now,” she said.
Although Congress rejected proposed cuts to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and approved a $70 billion increase without restrictions on vouchers, data show that at least 170,000 people nationwide were projected to lose supportive housing under earlier proposals.
