Establishes a housing project revolving loan program and fund

• Democratic2

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why Rachel May says this is needed

The great scale of New York State's housing crisis has been extremely well documented and discussed. Tenants and prospective homeowners facing huge and rising costs, low availability, and poor conditions virtually everywhere in the state. Financing for affordable housing in the country overall remains at far too low a level to reach the needs of New York- ers, with the existing programs that are in existence requiring lengthy periods of time and vast resources to be able to be successfully completed. Most of the state outside of New York City has very few scal- able financing options for mixed-income development. The recent high-interest rate environment has been a major driver of the cost it takes to complete a residential development, and makes building any units affordably very difficult. One key tool the state could use to help build more housing, and more affordable units, is a revolving loan fund. Revolving funds work by issuing loans at much cheaper rates than typical market rate loans for mixed-income buildings. Once the project is completed, project owners are then able to obtain permanent financing at a cheaper rate, due to a decrease in risk in construction and leasing. The owners then pay the original loan back to the revolving loan fund, ready to be used again. We believe this is a prudent use of public dollars to create a virtuous cycle of investment well into the future. By seeding a revolving loan fund to be used for mixed-income housing at $1.5 billion, the state could unlock new housing production, helping grow the economy and providing great relief for residents seeking more affordable housing options.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.