As if taxpayers don’t have enough government debt weighing them down, the state Legislature voted to tack on another $5 billion, allowing the red ink for the New York State Housing Finance Agency (HFA) to hit $36.28 billion.
Among various agencies and authorities that have brought state debt to an eye-popping $224.3 billion, the HFA is tasked with funding multi-family housing projects.
The debt hike bill was one of the first passed by the senate and assembly in the 2025 session and is expected to be signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul, who’s made affordable housing a hallmark of her administration.
Created in 1960, the HFA is a public-benefit corporation dedicated to increasing the supply of homes for low-and moderate-income individuals. It achieves this by issuing bonds to provide low-interest loans to developers of regulated housing projects.
Long Island officials had previously beat back an attempt by Hochul to usurp local zoning authority to build these units in the suburbs, but the push continues in New York City and other urban areas, particularly to create places to live for the thousands of illegal immigrants drawn here by the state’s sanctuary policies.
All eyes are on the governor and the Democrat leadership to see if they’ll break the $240 billion mark in their upcoming budget proposal.
While Hochul’s State of the State message acknowledged the overwhelming issue of government spending and taxes, it remains to be seen if they’ll do anything about it. It's a tall order since they burn through twice as much money than Florida, which has a greater population and no state income tax.
With the wasteful spending Albany dials up year after year, it's no wonder New Yorkers are bailing out in record numbers to the Sunshine State, leaving those left to pick up the tab.
Farming out $224.3 billion to the HFA and other agencies in the form of debt compounds the affordability problem.
The state’s 47 different borrowing entities suck dollars from the economy and pass the bill for excessive government spending to future generations. Affordable housing would be more easily achieved, many argue, if the legislature cut taxes, beat back inflation caused by government spending, and reduced state regulations and fees on the housing industry.
The problem of debt also plagues the federal government, which has rung up a $36.35 trillion national tab, a $323,000 noose around the neck of each and every taxpayer. This astounding liability is considered by many to be the greatest threat to national security, and New York Democrats are doing their best to make it worse.
Incoming President Donald Trump plans to dig the nation out of its economic hole by tapping the vast resources of oil and natural gas energy right under our feet. He calls the Democrat policies to block the use of these fuels the “Green Energy Scam,” stating that wind, solar, and the massive battery depots needed to store these intermittent supplies are environmentally hazardous and won’t even come close to meeting the nation’s power requirements, especially those of the burgeoning Artificial Intelligence industry.
New York is taking the opposite approach and has laws that ban fossil fuels entirely. The Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act passed by the Democrats will have severe economic repercussions as it forces schools to convert buses to all-electric and bans HVAC systems using gas and oil in new construction, among other expensive mandates.
As it stands, the state is nowhere near building the charging stations needed for the electric cars and trucks its laws require, a problem highlighted by the Biden administration’s construction of less than a dozen stations after spending $5 billion.
In an astounding reversal of deep-rooted environmental dogma, Gov. Hochul is calling for nuclear power to supplement New York’s energy supply, an idea that landed like a lead balloon with those behind the historic closures of the state’s Indian Point and Shoreham atomic stations.
President Trump’s “Drill baby, drill” stance is particularly salient to New York since it sits on a Saudi Arabia-sized deposit of natural gas that would lift the economic prospects of all its citizens. However, the Democrats won’t allow it to be touched.
Science is split on whether climate change is a man-made phenomenon and whether severe economic restrictions imposed on New Yorkers to meet political goals will do anything to change it.