Albany, NY – Unlock New York’s Future, new coalition of over 30 organizations representing housing, environmental, transit, community development, business, and civic groups from across the state, announced they have signed a joint letter urging the New York State Legislature to modernize the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) as part of the FY 2026–27 budget.
The coalition’s letter, addressed to Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, calls on lawmakers to adopt reforms that reduce unnecessary procedural delays while preserving strong environmental protections. The reforms would help support attainable housing, advance environmental goals by focusing review on projects with the greatest potential harm and prevent procedural hold-ups that delay broadly supported community priorities.
The letter states: “Across New York, families are facing rising housing and utility costs, limited access to child-care, and mounting climate-related challenges that threaten our communities. Modernizing the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) can help address these urgent challenges. It would reduce unnecessary delays that drive up rents, the cost of child-care, and the price of essential community projects without undermining New York’s strong environmental protections.”
SEQRA, a law written over 50 years ago, is now a bottleneck that delays and blocks the housing, clean‑energy, transit, and infrastructure projects New Yorkers need. In fact, its broad rules let a single opponent tie projects up in court for years, driving up costs, rents, and utility bills while slowing climate action. Although intended to protect the environment, SEQRA today often prevents building rooftop solar, energy‑efficient housing near transit, rail modernization, and critical road, bridge, and school repairs, outsized legal hurdles that benefit a few wealthy opponents at the expense of communities.
SEQRA reform is very popular, according to recent polling:
New Yorkers overwhelmingly support reforming SEQRA. Voters view SEQRA reform as critical to addressing the affordability crisis. They believe that too much red tape is holding New York back from making the improvements the state needs, including building affordable housing, upgrading roads and bridges, and getting clean energy projects off the ground to lower their utility bills.
SEQRA reform will address all of the top issues voters believe New York is facing. New York voters say that the top issues facing the state are increasing utility bills (78% major problem), the housing affordability crisis (72%), too much bureaucracy and red tape (62%), and aging infrastructure like roads, bridges, and highways (62%). All of these can be addressed by reforming SEQRA’s outdated rules and mandates.
Majorities want to make it easier to build several types of projects, all of which can be accomplished with SEQRA reform. Affordable housing, upgrades to roads and bridges, public transit and commuter rail upgrades, and clean energy infrastructure are the top examples of projects voters across New York say should be easier to build.
Support for SEQRA reform transcends partisan and geographical lines. When voters are given a short description of SEQRA reform, more than three in five support it. Support is high up and downstate and across partisan lines, with nearly three-quarters of voters in New York City supportive and majorities supportive in the suburbs and upstate.
Both Governor Hochul and state legislators stand to benefit from supporting SEQRA reform. Fifty-seven percent of voters say they would be more favorable to the Governor if she signed SEQRA reform into law, including over half of independents. And majorities say they would be more likely to vote for a state legislator who supports SEQRA reform.
Unlock New York’s Future includes:
American Institute of Architects New York (AIANY)
Association for a Better Long Island
The Building & Realty Institute of the Hudson Valley
Catskill Center for Conservation and Development
Climate Changemakers Brooklyn
CNY Fair Housing
Citizens Budget Commission
Citizens Housing & Planning Council
Community Preservation Corporation
Effective Transit Alliance
Enterprise Community Partners
Habitat for Humanity NYC and Westchester County
Habitat for Humanity of New York State (Habitat for Humanity NYS)
Hudson River Housing
Lantern Organization
Leadership Now Project
Long Island Association
Long Island Builders Institute
Long Island Housing Coalition
Long Island Housing Services, Inc.
New York Building Congress
New York Housing Conference
New York State Association for Affordable Housing (NYSAFAH)
New York State Builders Association
Open New York
Partnership for New York City
Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA (PCAC)
Queens Economic Development Corporation
Regional Plan Association
Responsive Government Action
Riders Alliance
True North Realty Associates, LLC
Westchester County Association
Westhab
The full letter is attached below:
January 2026
The Honorable Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Senate Majority Leader
The Honorable Carl Heastie, Assembly Speaker
New York State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224
Dear Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins and Speaker Heastie,
Across New York, families are facing rising housing and utility costs, limited access to child-care, and mounting climate-related challenges that threaten our communities. Modernizing the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) can help address these urgent challenges. It would reduce unnecessary delays that drive up rents, the cost of child-care, and the price of essential community projects without undermining New York’s strong environmental protections.
By modernizing SEQRA in this year’s budget, the Legislature can:
Support attainable housing – Streamlined review for new homes on previously disturbed land can help communities lower costs and increase opportunities in the right locations.
Increase child-care capacity – Clearer, faster review for new and renovated child-care centers will help meet the goal of ensuring that every family has a safe, nearby place for their children.
Advance environmental goals – Focused review on projects with the greatest potential harm preserves strong protections for air, water, and open space, while allowing beneficial green-infrastructure and clean-energy projects to proceed on a reasonable timeline.
Ensure that community priorities are not delayed by a small number of opponents – Modernization will prevent procedural slow-downs that can hold up broadly supported projects for years.
We respectfully urge the Legislature to enact SEQRA modernization in the FY 2026-27 budget—allowing projects that reflect community priorities to move forward without prolonged delays, while advancing housing, child-care, and environmental needs for New York families.
Thank you for your consideration and for your commitment to the wellbeing of New York communities.