A new legislative package signed into law by New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Thursday hopes to boost homeownership in the state through tax incentives and better protection for renters.

“Every New Yorker deserves a safe, stable place to call home,” Hochul said in a press release. “With this legislation, we’re opening more doors to homeownership and strengthening protections for renters—because every New Yorker deserves the fair chance to build a better life in a home they can afford.”

Tackling New York’s Affordability Issues

New York remains one of the most expensive housing markets in the nation, and prices are still rising due to an ongoing inventory shortage. In September, the median sale price of a home at $875,000, up 8 percent from a year earlier and nearly double the national median sale price of $435,495 in the same month, according to Redfin.

The average median rent in the state in the same month was $3,600, up $105 from a year earlier, according to Zillow. At the national level, the average rent for all bedrooms and all property types was much lower, at $2,015. 

In New York City, which is notorious for its expensive housing and rental markets, rent prices have bounced back after the pandemic declines, and are now still rising. In the third quarter of the year, the median asking rent for a 0-2 bedroom in the city was $3,581—up $203 from a year earlier, according to new data.

The median asking rent for larger units with three or more bedrooms was $4,948, up $49 year-over-year.

What’s In The Homeowners’ Package

The homeowner package, according to a press release by Hochul’s office, includes a measure to provide an affordable homebuyer opt-in property tax incentive for homes built with assistance from governmental entities, nonprofits, land banks, or community land trusts, and sold to low- and moderate-income homebuyers.

Another measure is meant to empower communities to redevelop vacant properties into housing, creating an opt-in tax incentive to incentivize redevelopment of vacant or abandoned one-to-four family homes for use as affordable homeownership or rental housing.

Part of the new legislative package is also an effort to combat home appraisal discrimination, which has often put non-white households at a disadvantage. The new law would make it a violation of the state’s Human Rights Law to discriminate when providing real estate appraisals or in making such services available, enabling the Department of State to fine appraisers if found guilty of doing so.

Finally, one measure requires notice to be provided 90 days before a homeowners’ association or condominium board lien starts foreclosure action for unpaid common charges, assessments, fines or fees.

What’s In The Renters’ Package

Crucially, the new legislative package bans landlords in New York from using algorithms—such as artificial intelligence—to inflate rent prices. Data mentioned by the governor’s office has shown that these kinds of algorithms have been used to drive rent increases in the state, costing tenants an estimated $3.8 billion more in inflated rents last year alone. 

“During an affordable housing crisis, real estate tycoons have turned to sophisticated computer algorithms to help them raise rents and turn a larger profit. In New York, that scheme ends today,” Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal said in a press release.

“It’s already too hard to be a renter in New York, and we cannot allow exploitative technology to make it any harder,” State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal said.

Other measures included in the package extend security deposit protections to rent-regulated tenants—who during the pandemic were left out of these same protections—limit the fees a landlord could collect due to a bounced check to the greater of $20 or the costs the landlord incurred.

Finally, another measure ensures that family members and other individuals with established emotional and financial ties to tenants of the New York Housing Authority (NYCHA) properties are granted succession rights—a move that legislators hope would prevent displacement of families and promote transparency.