Gov. Hochul speaks in Rochester about plan to make housing more affordable

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Gov. Kathy Hochul spoke in Rochester on Friday about the state’s plans to make housing more affordable, including by tackling private equity firms that drive up prices.

Hochul said the state is ahead of schedule on its plan to build 100,000 new housing units in five years across New York. The state is also providing grants to communities that are building more housing units.

She also spoke about private equity firms, which often make cash offers for homes that the public can’t compete with. She said these large corporations have strangled housing markets across the country.

“We’ve all seen it. A young family finds the home they’ve been searching for. They scrape together every dollar they have, and then they lose out to an all-cash offer from a faceless, nameless corporation with no connection to the community,” Hochul said.

Hochul announced that New York will ban private equity companies from bidding on properties during the first 75 days on the market. The state will also ban price-fixing software that artificially inflates rents, which Hochul says costs tenants $3.8 billion dollars a year nationally.

“As we’ve seen in our past battles, we can’t unleash the full potential of the housing market without a fight. That’s the way it is,” Hochul said.

You can see Hochul’s full news conference here: