A coalition of progressive New York State legislators has introduced a sweeping package of 32 bills aimed at addressing the state's housing crisis, including provisions that would override local zoning rules to allow denser development across suburban communities. The "State of Yes" package, unveiled in August 2026 by Assembly member Tony Simone and backed by progressive lawmakers, represents one of the most aggressive attempts yet to tackle housing shortages that have left 51% of New York State renters paying more than 30% of their income for housing and utilities in 2024. The Manhattan Institute's analysis of the legislative bundle, published in November 2026, finds that while it contains "the seeds of good housing legislation," it also ties pro-development measures to new restrictions on private landlords in what the report calls a flawed "Left-YIMBY bargain."
The housing affordability crisis hits hardest downstate, where 65.2% of renters earning $45,000 to $74,999 annually in the New York–Newark–Jersey City metro area were cost-burdened in 2024, compared with 42.2% in Albany and 27% in Buffalo at the same income level. The median home price-to-income ratio in the downstate metro area climbed to 7.4 in 2025, up from 5.2 in 2019 and well above the national average of 4.7. Regional Plan Association data cited in the report shows that new housing permits per 1,000 residents fell sharply in the suburbs between two periods—1990 to 2008 versus 2009 to mid-2026—with drops of 62.6% on Long Island, 34.9% in the Lower Hudson suburbs, and 42.4% in the Mid-Hudson suburbs, even as permits increased in New York City and the New Jersey portion of the metro area.
At the August news conference presenting the package, Simone declared that "New Yorkers need a big and bold housing agenda.… We need to stop nibbling around the edges." The centerpiece Exclusionary Zoning Reform bill would establish minimum zoning standards statewide, prohibiting cities from requiring lot sizes larger than 1,200 square feet for new housing, eliminating off-street parking mandates, and permitting at least four dwelling units per lot—six near rail transit. In villages, the legislation would similarly cap minimum lot sizes at 1,200 square feet and allow two units on every lot, while in towns, minimum lot sizes would be limited to 5,000 square feet in areas with water and sewer infrastructure. Another key proposal, the State Affordable Housing Zoning Board of Appeals bill, would create expedited approval procedures that could bypass local planning boards for mixed-income developments, with a state-level appeals board empowered to overturn local denials based on "regional needs" rather than community character or aesthetics.
The report argues that the package's structure reflects a problematic assumption: that pro-development policies must be traded for pro-tenant measures that further burden private landlords. Among the anti-landlord provisions, the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act would grant tenants' groups and designated nonprofits a "right of first offer" and "right of first refusal" on rental housing sales, creating delays the report warns would "encourage sellers to come to an expedited agreement to sell to the tenants or a designated nonprofit at a below-market price." The Manhattan Institute analysis notes this approach is "particularly problematic" because 2027—neither an election year nor the year before a gubernatorial race—offers "the most favorable possible timing for pro-growth reforms" without the need for such compromises. The state legislature has historically blocked housing reforms due to competitive suburban seats where Republicans fiercely protect local zoning control, but recent progress on environmental review exemptions and New York City's own "City of Yes" zoning reforms in 2024 suggest growing momentum.
Governor Kathy Hochul should push the legislature to adopt the package's strongest pro-housing measures in the 2027 session while resisting the bundled anti-landlord provisions, the report recommends. Priority bills include raising environmental review exemption thresholds for affordable housing, establishing minimum zoning standards to allow small multifamily buildings, and creating the state appeals board mechanism for mixed-income developments. The report concludes that "more housing is an inherently desirable goal—not something that needs to be justified by trading it for more forced transfers from economically stressed private rental landlords to tenants and nonprofits." Whether suburban communities will be compelled to accept denser development, after decades of local zoning control, will become clear when the legislative session begins.