In her third State of the State address Tuesday, Gov. Kathy Hochul laid out myriad proposals to tackle the issues of crime, mental health and housing affordability in New York.
Hochul gave the address — titled “Our New York, Our Future” — in the Assembly chamber of the state Capitol on Jan. 9, with lawmakers from both chambers of the state legislature, the judges of New York’s highest court, and mayors from across the state — including New York’s Eric Adams — all in attendance. The speech was also coupled with the release of a 181-page book containing 204 policy proposals that Hochul will pursue over the coming year.
While speaking from the parapet in the Assembly chamber, Hochul said that while her two and a half year tenure has seen improvements across New York, there are still persistent issues she must address.
“The state of New York is strong, stronger today than when I became governor two years ago,” Hochul declared. “There’s still some switchbacks before we reach this summit. Across our nation and in our state, people worry that a safe and affordable life is somehow out of reach.”
Hochul notably did not outline any proposals to address the ongoing migrant influx, instead saying she would speak to the issue when rolling out her executive budget plan next week, a move advocates and elected officials were quick to criticize.
“Despite thousands of asylum seekers arriving in New York over the last two years, the governor failed to mention how the State plans to maintain the tradition of our welcome harbor for immigrants, home to the Statue of Liberty,” city Comptroller Brad Lander said in a statement.
Crime
After successfully making changes to the state’s 2019 bail reforms over the past two legislative sessions, Hochul detailed a public safety agenda for this year that instead focuses on combating headline-grabbing issues like retail theft and the proliferation of unlicensed cannabis sales.
Retail theft has become an increasingly common occurrence in New York since the COVID-19 pandemic, with images of items at stores getting locked up behind plexiglass panels becoming ubiquitous.
“Retail theft has surged creating fear among the customers and the workers,” Hochul said. “Thieves brazenly tear items off the shelves and menace employees. Owners go broke replacing broken windows and stolen goods, driving many out of business.”
Therefore, the governor said she is launching a state police “Smash and Grab” unit and a “Joint Operation” across various levels of law enforcement to crack down on organized retail theft rings, according to the governor’s office.
The proposal was lauded by the Collective Action to Protect Our Stores, a coalition of store owners from across the state, in a Tuesday afternoon statement.
“Retail workers – deemed ‘essential workers’ at the height of the pandemic – need our help, and we are glad to see that Governor Kathy Hochul is taking this head-on,” the coalition said. “For too long, retail workers have been subject to repeated attacks in stores, but legislators in Albany now have the chance to stand up for them in a real way by including them in this year’s budget.”
Amid the proliferation of smoke shops selling cannabis without licenses, following New York’s legalization of the substance in 2021, Hochul proposed a bill that would grant greater enforcement power to the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) and local governments. The legislation would clear the way for the state and localities alike to shut-down illicit weed sellers more speedily and create local registries of legal cannabis businesses to help municipalities in the effort, according to Hochul’s office.
But criminal justice advocates blasted Hochul for her focus on beefing up law enforcement. Zoë Adel Perry, director of criminal legal strategy at Envision Freedom Fund, argued her proposals would endanger low-income communities of color.
“We are deeply concerned about the proposals in Governor Hochul’s 2024 agenda regarding the safety and well-being of our communities, especially their effect on Black, brown, immigrant, and low-income New Yorkers,” Perry said. “Increasing the volume of draconian laws and devoting millions more dollars to law enforcement will not create the safety we all deserve.”
Mental Health
But the governor said her public safety agenda cannot be accomplished without also tackling the prevalence of mental health issues in the New York.
“No matter how much we spend on law enforcement or expand their powers, New Yorkers will not be able to let their guard down until we fix our mental health system,” she said. “And too often the people involved in violent instances on our streets, in our subways are victims themselves. Victims of a system that failed to provide them the treatment they need.”
Among the governor’s mental health proposals are plans to add 200 new psychiatric inpatient beds across the state over the coming years. Additionally, she intends to establish a dedicated team within the state Office of Mental Health to monitor a “small number” of individuals known to cycle through homeless shelters, carceral settings and psychiatric hospitals to help connect them with social services.
Hochul will also require hospitals to screen psychiatric patients for risks like suicide, violence and substance use to make sure there is follow-up mental health care both when they are admitted and discharged from hospitals.
Housing
The governor is taking a different approach to combating the state’s housing shortage this year, after her proposal to build 800,000 new units of housing through mandated growth targets failed to gain traction last year.
“One year ago, I pushed what The New York Times described as the most ambitious housing plan since the Rockefeller administration in the 1960s,” she said. “Unfortunately, many made it clear they would not support it. I knew we were unlikely to win this fight overnight or even in one year.”
To that end, the governor is instead pursuing a suite of targeted measures to both boost the production of new housing and add some tenant protections.
One of those measures is to develop housing on sites owned by state agencies, which include former prisons and areas near commuter rail stations. She said the state is putting $500 million into a fund to convert the state-owned lots, so they can support housing construction — an effort that could lead to the creation of 15,000 new units.
When it comes to building in New York City, Hochul is also once again vying to replace the 421-a affordable housing tax incentive that was favored by developers, but was allowed to lapse in 2022 due to its unpopularity among state lawmakers. Furthermore, she proposed lifting a cap on building density, allowing for office to residential conversions and legalizing basement apartments.
All of those measures are favored by Mayor Eric Adams, who applauded the governor for including them in her plan.
“With the governor’s support, we’re confident that our lawmakers will also say yes to the legislation that our city needs to address our housing crisis with the urgency New Yorkers demand,” Adams said, in a statement.
However, housing advocates who have long sought tenant protections like “Good Cause Eviction” were far less pleased with the governor’s address. Cea Weaver, campaign coordinator of the group Housing Justice for All, said Hochul’s plan “leaves out” renters.
“Rather than policies to keep tenants in their homes, Governor Hochul offers little more than enforcing existing laws against voucher discrimination and the same-old incentives for developers to build housing that won’t be affordable to those who need it most,” said Weaver, in a statement. “Governor Hochul is clearly more concerned with pleasing her billionaire real estate donors than with keeping New Yorkers in their homes and off the streets.”
