Nassau County’s three town supervisors, all Republicans, rallied last week against a proposed bill in the state Legislature that would allow faith-based organizations to override local zoning to build affordable housing.

“We’re here to say to Albany: Stop overriding our local government. Stop overriding our local zoning,” North Hempstead Supervisor Jennifer DeSena said at the rally.

DeSena and the two supervisors were joined at the rally by village mayors, school board presidents, county legislators and state senators who said the legislation represented an attack on the suburban lifestyle.

A press release from the Town of North Hempstead announcing the rally said the officials would demand that “Governor Hochul and state lawmakers stop the “Faith-based Affordable Housing Act” that overrides local zoning laws.”

But there was a problem with the officials’ complaints. The housing legislation was not part of the ongoing budget negotiations in which the bill could be approved.

The governor’s Long Island press secretary told Blank Slate the governor did not propose the bill, did not support the bill and the legislation was not in the proposed budget.

So why the rally?

Hempstead Town Supervisor Don Clavin said he was aware that the governor’s office did not intend to include the bill in the budget but attempts to move the legislation forward might continue in the future

Clavin might be right, but hundreds of bills move forward in the state Legislature that never see the light of day – particularly when the governor does not support them.

The officials were not wrong to support the legislation.

We don’t believe faith-based groups, which receive special protection under federal law on where to locate, should be treated differently than other organizations in following local zoning laws.

The local officials correctly pointed out that 1,100 properties, mostly in residential areas, would be instantly eligible to be zoned for affordable housing.

But expressing concern in the press release about “high-density, five-story apartment buildings” – as opposed to low-density, five-story apartment buildings – ending the suburban dream? Really?

Apartment buildings five stories and more already exist on the North Shore and no one is calling North Hempstead the big city.

More concerning is the apparent opposition stated in the release and at the rally to any new housing. This, in the midst of a housing shortage in New York estimated at 800,000 living units that has caused home prices and rents to soar, driving many people out of the state.

The press release from DeSena’s office said this was the “third straight year Albany lawmakers are pushing plans that override local zoning laws that were put into law decades ago to protect the health, safety and character of local communities.”

Well, yes, we have a housing crisis and the state is actually trying to do something about the problem across the state, including Nassau and Suffolk counties.

Nassau and Suffolk counties have been particularly unhelpful with some of the nation’s most restrictive zoning laws.

Among 32 counties in New York City and its suburbs, Suffolk ranked 32nd and Nassau ranked 31st in the number of housing permits issued from 2010 to 2020, according to a Regional Plan Association report in 2022.

So the state’s efforts to address the housing shortage for three straight years makes sense.

Hochul initially proposed legislation to require municipalities to allow a minimum of one accessory dwelling unit such as a modest apartment over a garage or a basement unit on all owner-occupied residential zoned lots.

The governor later sought to have the state step into local zoning decisions if municipalities did not achieve a 3% increase in housing units over three years, primarily through transit-oriented developments.

But Hochul backed off both times when Nassau County officials from both parties vehemently criticized the plans, calling them an attack on local control and the suburban lifestyle.

Hochul has since turned to offering grants to municipalities that encourage more housing to be built. Mineola was a recent recipient of one grant.

DeSena, like many local officials, has said local officials are in the best position to make zoning decisions.

She also said she is in the process of developing a town master plan that would address the housing issues. But she has yet to give any details on how this is being done, by whom and what it will cover.

Villages, not the town, make most zoning decisions in North Hempstead. Will villages be part of the master plan? If not, how will the housing in the villages be addressed?

There is also the question of whether local officials are best suited to address the housing shortage. Local officials have not significantly increased housing over the past 50 years.

What makes anyone believe they will do so now, especially when this may conflict with their constituents’ financial interests and what they want?

The rise in home prices propelled by the housing shortage may be bad for New York’s economy but it is good for the value of residents’ homes. And it is the residents who live here who vote, not those who would like live here.

The press release issued by DeSena’s office for the rally cast further doubt on the willingness of local officials to encourage new housing due to its impact on schools.

“With the cost of education at $36,000 per pupil on Long Island, an influx of students from apartments will cost local homeowners millions in higher taxes and stretch school infrastructure beyond its limits at a time when New York State is proposing school aid cuts across Long Island,” the release said. “This population increase will also impact government services such as sanitation, sewage, drinking water, roadways, and more.”

Talk about a won’t-do spirit. But this is not unexpected. School districts have in recent years been among the vocal opponents of new housing.

One wonders who was running schools when the town’s population grew from 142,613 to 235,087 between 1950 and 1970.

That is not the case now. School enrollment dropped 3.4% in Nassau County from the 2012-2013 to the 2022-2023 school year

In North Hempstead enrollment essentially stayed the same overall with disparities within school districts. Carle Place decreased 8.9%, East Williston had a 8.2% drop and Manhasset recorded an 8.1% decline. Herricks was an outlier with a 12.8% rise.

The $36,000 in spending per pupil on Long Island is actually well below what some school districts on the North Shore spend. They are more in the $35,000 to $40,000 per pupil range and go as high as $45,000.

By contrast, Florida and Texas, popular destinations for New Yorkers leaving the state that are often lauded for their affordability, spend $,9,983 and $9,872 per pupil.

But owners of new apartment buildings would also pay these high taxes.

And Nassau County, with its 56 school districts, could also develop ways to reduce costs to accommodate more students including eliminating programs that would be considered luxuries almost anywhere else.

Yes, state aid has declined in many districts across Long Island after years of across-the-board increases.

State Budget Director Blake Washington told Newsday school aid increased by $7 billion over the last three years, with an additional $13 billion increase in federal aid during the same period

Hochul proposed $34.75 billion in state aid for 2024-2025 – a 2.43% increase over last year.

The decline in state funds for some districts is based on changes in how foundation aid – money intended to aid less affluent districts – is distributed

For the first time, the state is taking into account declines in enrollment. Hochul had also sought to eliminate a policy of not cutting aid to any district regardless of declining need or population. But that provision was reportedly dropped in the face of heated opposition on Long Island officials.

There is another explanation for the timing of the rally: politics.

Trailing Joe Biden badly in the suburbs during the 2020 presidential election, then-President Donald Trump announced a change in federal housing rules that would hurt blacks and other low-income people.

“I am happy to inform all the people living their Suburban Lifestyle Dream that you will no longer be bothered or financially hurt by having low-income housing built in your neighborhood,” tweeted Trump, who is now the Republican Party’s presumptive presidential nominee. “Your housing prices will go up based on the market, and crime will go down. I have rescinded the Obama-Biden AFFH Rule. Enjoy!!”

Trump was referring to a change in fair-housing rules made during the Obama administration that required localities which received federal housing funding to address any biased practices that concentrated low-income housing in small geographic areas.

The then-president did not win the suburban women’s vote in 2020.

But DeSena and her colleagues did win re-election as town supervisors this year after opposing state housing proposals.

We would hate to think that last week’s rally was part of political campaigning in 2020. But it’s tough not to.