New York housing policy must mesh with transit

A brand new train connection to the East Side of Manhattan will finally open this month. Gov. Hochul can ensure more New Yorkers benefit from this largest MTA capital project yet with a stronger approach to housing policy.

East Side Access will connect 11 LIRR lines and save as many as 160,000 passengers up to 40 minutes of commuting time, providing a long promised new connection for Long Islanders to Manhattan’s East Side. Along with the new third track from Floral Park to Hicksville, that’s a nearly $14 billion investment. While the benefits will be seen most notably in Nassau and Suffolk, and Queens to a lesser degree, it will also improve the environment and mobility. Over time — despite challenges with cost and delays — it will pay off in dividends for our regional economy.

But East Side Access will pay off even more if more New Yorkers can benefit from the new service.

Ideally, infrastructure dollars are spent in a way that benefits the most people. In other words, if a new commuter rail link is built, more housing should be allowed along the line so more people can benefit directly from the investment. This not only makes sense, but it’s also fair — if New York is investing billions into massive infrastructure improvements, more taxpayers should be able to benefit from that investment.

Unfortunately, no such agreement was made between the state and local officials, who control where and how much housing gets built, when the planning and construction of East Side Access began 20 years ago.

Some housing has been built on Long Island, thanks in part to local community planning and some dedicated town leaders. But overall, Nassau and Suffolk are still trailing our region in new housing production. In fact, Long Island permitted only about 21,500 new homes (apartments and single-family homes) between 2010-2020. That is a 2.1% increase over 10 years. For context, the New York-New Jersey metropolitan statistical area grew 6.6% in population in the same period — more than three times the rate of housing production on Long Island.

Lack of transit-oriented development is just one of the several reasons why communities like those on Long Island are struggling with expanding housing stock.

In the Regional Plan Association’s Fourth Regional Plan, we found that local zoning was one of the largest barriers to housing in New York’s suburbs and that on average, wealthier and whiter municipalities were the least friendly towards new housing alongside transit lines and stations. In Nassau County alone, for example, 16 LIRR stations had a median of 579,000 jobs accessible by transit within a 60 minute commute — almost five times the regional median of 121,000 — but those same 16 stations were among the least friendly towards transit-oriented development.

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But the good news is it’s not too late to fix these problems, and make sure that East Side Access benefits more residents.

Hochul says she wants the state to play a more active role in addressing housing affordability. This is welcome news — she has an opportunity in her budget next year to lead the way, and announce an ambitious approach that provides clear expectations for more housing and incentives to help make it happen.

Other states, like Washington, California, and our neighbors in New Jersey and Connecticut, are doing just that — cutting red tape, loosening local zoning, setting housing targets, and providing incentives to build. In fact, this is part of the reason why New Jersey is leading the region in new housing production. (New Jersey’s problem is in some ways the opposite of Long Island — it has lots of new housing in the counties closest to New York City, like Hudson and Essex counties, but desperately needs better connections to the city — hence the desperate need for the Gateway Program.)

The good news for Hochul is that New Yorkers support more affordable homes. Respondents to RPA’s three public opinion polls show that residents identify high housing costs as the biggest threat to the region, and they support policies like legalizing accessory dwelling units (e.g. basement or attic apartments) by a three to one margin and transit oriented development by more than two to one.

Putting forth a plan to address New York’s housing affordability crisis and providing better transit are fundamental solutions to the COVID recovery. In fact, the cost of housing is the biggest impediment to New York’s future. For all of the coverage of people leaving New York after COVID, the numbers actually show more people have left over the past decade because of housing costs.

New York State needs to play a stronger role in housing policy — the governor can start by ensuring more New Yorkers can benefit from East Side Access.

Slevin is the executive vice president of Regional Plan Association.