Not in the Vanguard

Yesterday, Governor Kathy Hochul celebrated the certification of New York's first Pro-Housing Communities as part of her long-term strategy to support local efforts to build more housing statewide. The certification, first announced by Hochul last year as part of a package of executive actions to increase the housing supply, recognizes localities committed to housing growth and gives them priority consideration over other localities for up to $650 million in state discretionary funding. In her 2024 State of the State Address, Hochul proposed strengthening the Pro-Housing Communities program by making the certification a requirement for communities to access state discretionary funds.

Curiously, Hudson, a city with a Housing Trust Fund, a Housing Justice Director, and a mayor who took office four years ago declaring that he had a "huge plan for housing" he'd been working on for a year, was not one of the first twenty to be certified as Pro-Housing Communities. Here, in alphabetical order, are the communities that were:

• City of Binghamton
• Village of Canajoharie
• Town of Canton
• Village of Canton
• Village of Croton-on-Hudson
• Village of Dryden
• City of Dunkirk
• Village of Johnson City
• City of Kingston
• Town of Lowville
• Village of Mineola
• Town of New Lebanon
• City of New Rochelle
• City of Newburgh
• Town of North Elba
• Town of Plattsburgh
• City of Poughkeepsie
• Village of Pulaski
• Town of Red Hook
• City of White Plains

According to the governor's website, there are more than sixty other communities that have started their applications for Pro-Housing Community certification. Perhaps Hudson is among those.