The fact that Gov. Kathy Hochul has pulled Accessory Housing from her to do list of budget priorities – clearly realizing it would be political suicide – does not deter Republicans from accusing Hochul and Democrats of destroying Suburbia (just as they continue to use the lies about defund police; they’re coming for your guns; the tyranny of masks and vaccine mandates; and CRT indoctrination in public schools!).

Hochul initially proposed to change zoning laws to allow Accessory Dwelling Units as part of a $25 billion five-year housing plan aimed at creating and preserving 100,000 affordable homes throughout New York, of which 10,000 would have support services for vulnerable populations. Affordable housing is being advanced in separate legislation.

At a  Republican rally Feb. 6 in the Great Neck Village Green, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman decried, “Hidden in the governor‘s 300-page budget message, (a proposal) would take land use authority from villages and overnight a house could go up, you don’t know who they are, who rents out. It would change the character [of suburbia]…increase the population in Nassau County without planning, infrastructure, police, teachers.”

Blakeman added: “We’re not going to take it anymore. This is our county, our way of life. It’s worth fighting for. We won’t take it lying down.. In suburban life, parents have choice over what they do.”

And another rally against accessory housing Feb. 3, The Island Now reported Blakeman said, “From overcrowding classrooms, endangering the safety of communities, straining public safety, sanitation, traffic, and utility resources to destroying the environment and increasing the carbon footprint, Gov. Hochul’s policy directly threatens L.I.’s quality of life and will turn our neighborhoods into the overcrowded urban centers that most residents fled from in order to live here.“

“Allowing Accessory Dwelling Units on the property of homes that are currently zoned for single-family use is nothing short of a direct attack on our suburban communities and the quality of life we cherish,” North Hempstead Supervisor Jennifer DeSena said. “The legislation proposed in the governor’s budget cannot be allowed to go forward, and I will work tirelessly to defeat it on behalf of those who have elected me.” (Notably, a former North Hempstead Supervisor, Jon Kaiman, now a candidate for Congress, first proposed accessory housing years ago, but withdrew the proposal after a backlash.)

The problem is that despite the Republicans’ protestations, they are already turning a blind eye to what is now illegal (unsafe, unhealthy) housing – there are numerous examples in the Village of Great Neck – while pushing high-density development of multistory buildings (often because the developer is a friend, donor or relative) and hide the adverse impacts on traffic, environment, schools. Witness the Village of Great Neck, and Mayor Pedram Bral’s mantra that more development is the only antidote to ever increasing property taxes.

What they have no interest in, though, are the affordable housing strategies that help homeowners directly and can be accomplished in short order.

And yet voters of all stripes are clamoring for affordable housing.

Just as affordable housing has to be done – and can be done – in a way that enhances the community for everyone, using sustainable development and wellness strategies, there is a place for accessory housing and it could be, should be, done with appropriate regulations. It would solve the longstanding demands for affordable housing to help seniors keep their family home, to give young people a steppingstone to homes of their own, to enable vital workers like health care and teachers to be closer to jobs and lowering costs of commuting, to keep a workforce in the community who are also our volunteer firefighters.

Another benefit is that seniors would have someone close by to assist them if necessary. Indeed, Accessory Housing is called “Mother-Daughter” or “Granny” housing and has been used often in the past, during housing shortages, such as during World War II.

And there is an argument to be made that justice demands a kind of reparations for decades of discrimination (GI bill, federal mortgage redlining, bank policies, limited access to credit, punishing credit ratings and higher interest rates and downpayment requirements) that have contributed to Nassau County being one of the most segregated in the country, and people of color never attaining the legacy wealth that comes with home ownership (and quality public schools).

And isn’t access to home ownership preferable over outright payouts of the compounded interest on 40 acres and a mule? Also, home ownership contributes to a stable community of people invested in quality of life, and who are more engaged voters.

But though Hochul’s proposal would allow for homeowners to turn attics, basements, garages and separate cottages into housing, it is hardly a laissez-faire, anything goes enterprise in which municipalities have no authority. Her legislation would allow municipalities to set minimum and maximum size requirements that both meet safety standards but will not prevent reasonable new construction” that does not jeopardize public health or safety, Blank Slate reported. The state could – and should – also set minimum criteria.

What Hochul is proposing would allow apartments within single-family homes, as well as construction of cottages and trendy tiny houses as small as 200 square feet in a backyard – too tiny for a family but affordable to young adults, when too many are squeezed out of home ownership, especially as housing values have skyrocketed along with rents. But so have property taxes and maintenance costs, forcing empty nesters out of their community.

(See details of “Accessory Dwelling Unit Act of 2022” in Newsday’s “Hochul plan to boost ‘accessory’ housing sparks debate on LI”, https://www.newsday.com/news/region-state/hochul-housing-accessory-dwelling-unit-zoning-1.50503340)

Politicians have talked for decades about affordable housing, but fail to do anything about it as the situation has worsened. Building projects require years of planning and construction. Accessory Housing would be a fast way with minimal capital investment to take the edge off a housing and employment crisis – like health care workers and teachers who can’t afford to live here – and alleviate pressure on seniors who are house rich but cash poor.

They are great at attacking a proposal, but contribute very little to a workable proposal of their own to solve this important problem. And while it is questionable how many homeowners would take advantage of Accessory Housing – whether it would in fact produce overcrowding – suburbia is already different than in the 1950s.