Lawmakers expect a fairly peaceful budget process this year, but Gov. Kathy Hochul and legislative leaders are at odds over how much rental assistance to put in the annual spending plan as they look to reverse the state's ongoing shortage of affordable housing.

The governor isn't backing $250 million the Senate and Assembly proposed in each one-house budget to create a Housing Access Voucher Program and remains focused on building up a lacking housing supply instead.

"The more supply we have, the prices will go down and that's why we're in a crisis for anyone who's trying to find a home," Hochul told reporters Tuesday when asked about the program.

The governor held an affordable housing event in Albany on Tuesday with U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko and Sen. Pat Fahy, D-Albany, announcing $270 million to build 28 projects, or about 1,800 units for low-income families across the state.

"We're getting there, I can feel it," Hochul said.

The funding comes from a mix of state and federal tax credits.

Meanwhile, hundreds of housing advocates rallied in Capitol to pressure the governor to fund the Housing Access Voucher Program in the upcoming budget — arguing building new units takes time and people need help now.

Assembly Housing Committee chair Linda Rosenthal said the state vouchers would help 20,000 low-income households avoid foreclosure or eviction.

"Why not have them in a home as opposed to suffering on the street?" the assemblywoman said. "The state will pay either way."

Several lawmakers Tuesday said the vouchers are in keeping with top Democrats' renewed focus on affordability, adding the governor's $3 billion budget proposal to send one-time inflation "rebate" checks to single tax filers making under $150,000 a year and joint filers making up to $300,000, could be better spent on the rental assistance.

"I think it's very short-sighted to say that we're going to tackle our housing crisis, or statewide housing crisis, by building more," Rosenthal said. "There are people who are on the precipice of eviction that need help to stay in their homes and that's [half] of what HAVP will address. The other half would be for people who are currently living in a shelter."

Senate Housing Committee chair Brian Kavanagh agrees the rental assistance will cut back on increased homelessness and will stabilize families.

"The federal government [provides] a lot of that, the city of New York does a lot of that, the state does need to step up and ensure we're including rental assistance in this budget," he told Spectrum News 1.

Hochul and her top aides have pushed back on the state filling in for anticipated cuts to federal programs, including housing assistance.

But Kavanagh said the voucher program, which is modeled after federal Section 8, is intended to complement, not replace, aid from Washington.

"We're not looking to fund all the needs of New Yorkers through a program like this, but we think it's a meaningful, important tool," Kavanagh said.

The Senate and Assembly budgeted other housing reforms, including making $40 million permanent for the Homeowner Protection Program that helps people struggling with mortgage payments. The governor funded the program in her budget without codifying it.

The executive budget also included $500 million to repurpose state sites and create 15,000 new units over the next two years.

Lawmakers said they will continue to push the governor to make state-sponsored rental assistance a larger priority in the final budget due April 1.