Housing affordability will continue to be a major issue this legislative session. But according to one housing advocate, unless legislation is keenly targeted, rural areas of New York state will continue to lose out on state funding to wealthier urban and suburban communities which are better positioned to scoop up state grant money.

Michael Borges, executive director of the Rural Housing Coalition, shared a story with Capital Tonight of a $7 million grant acquired two years ago with the help of state Sen. Michelle Hinchey, chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee. 

“Over the last two years, a majority of that money, which was targeted to small villages and towns, has been going to urban areas,” Borges said.

Borges blamed towns and villages in wealthier communities in Westchester County and Long Island that have more personnel and a greater capacity to submit better applications than their counterparts in rural communities upstate where a community’s planning officer may double as its mayor.

“We need to do more to specialize and target state funding to address the unique needs of rural areas,” Borges said.

Borges is counting on more state funding this year because the federal government has been cutting housing funding.

“Funding for [Housing and Urban Development], funding for USDA, which funds a lot of rural housing programs at the federal level was rolled back, was cut,” he said. “So, it doesn’t bode well or the future."

According to a Marist Poll commissioned last year by the Rural Housing Coalition, 73% of New York residents reported that the affordability of housing is a major problem.

This year, the Rural Housing Coalition polled municipal leaders and found that 68% of respondents believe that housing affordability is a major concern in their localities.

That same survey also found that there are generally three major obstacles to building affordable housing – a lack of infrastructure, a lack of dedicated funding at the state level for rural housing and a lack of capacity at the local level. 

“When we have to apply and compete with urban areas for the same pot of funding, there’s no competition. They have more capacity,” Borges said.