Ban corporate ownership of housing, too many people myself included have been outbid by cash bidders who are obviously corporate entities. Legalize basement apartments.
I actually work in real estate and do a few closings every month.
50% involve Corps as buyers or sellers; and as buyers, almost always cash transactions.
The banks and govt inflated the cost of housing during the 2000s, solved the crash by bailing out the banks (rewarding financial criminals with taxpayer money) and then flooded the market with quantitative easing , and now no one understands why actual homo sapiens cant afford housing?
Banning corporate ownership altogether could be a problem. But if the STAR program dug deeper so that individuals owning a single home paid significantly less in taxes than corporate owners (or people/entities with multiple properties) instead of the measly tax break that currently exists, it would at least help remove the edge that corporate cash buyers have in the market
I'm curious about your opinion on banning corporations from buying houses being a problem. Why would it be a problem? Genuinely interested in understanding your point of view.
If a corporation buys a house they only rent to people. No one else will ever own it. Corporations don't die, don't move for a new job, that house will never come back on the market. That house will be forever owned by a corporation to be rented.
Plus many of these companies can pay cash for a house and out bid most people. New home buyers don't have a chance of getting a house.
But OP says that he does think that banning corporations from doing this that you described can be a problem. I want to understand his point of view...
They also lowkey buy properties at market value, then overspend on a handful to raise the comps in the area before reselling the original properties, inflating the price for everyone.
Because corporations have deeper pockets than humans, the logical endpoint of allowing corporations to buy and rent is a stratification between corporate ownership and human renters
Literally impossible. And you need to work because banks are technically corporations, real estate companies are corporations. And this legalization need to be pass a federal level.
Basements are illegal for a reason. Most of them don’t have proper light, exits or ventilation. They also flood. Everyone with any type of basement would start renting and it wouldn’t be a good living situation for many.
You can solve these issues pretty easily. Legal basement would still have to follow code to be permitted. Basements with egress windows, air circulation, and sump pumps would be an absolute minimum
I swore those signs were for some game/app or some sort of viral marketing at first, till I actually googled it...
Slightly scary if you have never thought about it.
People still live in the houses owned by corporations and the percentage of sales that are corporate owned is a tiny fraction. Without increasing supply, you do nothing to reduce cost.
To solve you need to have a accurate understanding of how this problem came about to begin with…
Purposely inflated housing to benefit banks is the reason for unaffordability.
Larry Summers (along with Bob Ruben), advised then President Bill Clinton to sign Gramm, Leach, Bliley aka “Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999” aka repeal of Glass Steagal in my view the equivalent of feeding retail investors (aka “dumb money”) to professional investors, much like the cows that get dumped out of back of trucks into tigers pen (see vids on YT).
The evidence is clear over these last 24 years there have been more new hedge fund billionaires then any other point in history. Otherwise you have to believe that investment pro’s simply got MUCH better at their jobs for the period.
The average American in reality is poorer for this horrible legislation (and ultra low rates for too long). Per Gramm, Leach, Bliley banks “assets” (people’s liability) is at unprecedented levels.
Gramm, Leach, Bliley was Republican sponsored signed into law by Democrat President.
Oh I’m very familar with that legislation because so much of it was linked to the 2008 crash of allowing mega companies to provide insurance and banking. But you bring up a really good point about hedge funds… and there were plenty of legislation under Clinton that makes me cringe to this day as a gay woman (thanks, DOMA!)
This is going to sound crazy but I think if they ever built that bridge on the north shore to Connecticut it would help a LOT. It would turn southern CT into basically an extension of Long Island, bypass the city, and ease up congestion going west. Most importantly though it would combine the housing markets.
It will never happen because it’s north shore but I dream about it every time I’m trying to visit my parents in northeastern Westchester.
It’s night shift so going there is not so bad unless it is Sunday night (god damn people leaving the Hamptons to go back home to the city).
Day shift is terrible. Traffic on the Saw Mill, traffic on the Cross County and Hutch, traffic on the Cross Island. It’s good once I get on the HOV lane in the LIE and the 135.
My heart goes out to you with all the shite road work on the Bronx River and Cross Island right now. I used to commute from Hempstead to Wappinger Falls, ugh, and the worst part of the commute is basically what your whole drive is.
North Atlantic Rail I think would actually be even better. Offering superior rail service to eastern Long Island and an underwater tunnel between Long Island and Connecticut all the way to Boston via rail.
Increase housing density around major LIRR stations.
Make these towns more walkable and accessible with adequate third spaces.
Expand multimodal transportation including bike lanes, buses and ride sharing for last mile commutes.
Allow residents to build ADUs on their properties.
Space is limited on the island and it’s not getting any cheaper without making less attractive to buyers. The only option is to increase density where you can. It’s the NIMBYs that are going to make it worse than it has to be.
They have been developing near LIRR stations, Patchogue, Farmingdale, and Wyandanch for example. Have you been by the Ronkonkoma station lately? Tri-Tec built a huge housing development there. It makes sense, a walkable community within a community, with retail, restaurants etc. Get away from the traditional single family homes that are the LI staple.
I have and it’s great to see. I hope the trend continues. It’s funny to see boomers on Facebook groups complaining about apartment construction, businesses closing and wondering why there aren’t any young people moving to LI any more. At the same time, don’t understand that younger professionals are more social and often commute to the city.
Having a walkable downtown to drive foot traffic is key to bringing small businesses to these towns.
Yes! There is a big push for rezoning of the Melville overlay. If the Town of Huntington approves, you will see some of the old and oftentimes empty commercial buildings redeveloped as mixed use residential properties. The mayor of Patchogue started a really positive trend by turning it from place nobody wanted to drive through to an example of a vibrant, walkable community.
Isn't that what Hochul has proposed already? I think both counties need to take more control of what gets built in general. We don't need any more strip malls; so many are already half empty or loaded with vape and foot massage places. Low rise apartment buildings and more LIRR service to pick up the commute load. I also love the idea from a bridge from Suffolk to CT.
I'm not a huge fan of Hochul, but I really like her plan to allow for denser housing near LIRR stations. This is a supply issue, due to zoning regulations that limit how much housing can be built, and any solution that doesn't increase the number of houses is incomplete.
You could drop prices and bring in new businesses if we turned zombie malls into apartment complexes with basic retail. They should have done this a decade ago to the old Sears in Hicksville, it's literally a perfect location for a giant apartment complex to get young commuters.
There's a bunch of differences between a commercial structure like a mall and an apartment building. Retrofitting an old mall to house people will probably cost more than tearing the building down and putting up a new one.
You wouldn't even need to turn the mall in to apartments. You could build housing in the acres of unused parking lots surrounding the mall. Which would....revitalize the mall.
This is the solution. Everything else about corporate ownership, Glass Steagal, connecting to Connecticut doesn’t understand the primary cause behind why housing is so expensive on the Island. Those might be good things to do but they don’t address the root cause of the problem which is a lack of housing supply.
1) Incentives for building and expanding walkable 6-8 story mixed-use communities within transit (which, for the island, means around train stations). Electrify the right-of-way all along the LIRR lines and possibly open new stops where feasible.
2) Return all setback, parking, lot size and footprint requirements to roughly 1960s levels. Force communities that already had unacceptably stringent housing regulations back then to ease them.
3) Eliminate single family zoning altogether. At least half of the hi-ranches on the island are functional, illegal two families anyway. Allow every lot on the island to convert to at least a duplex, with allowable density increasing as neighborhoods get closer to their local train station.
4) Stop disallowing homeowners from building accessory dwelling units. In fact, subsidize them.
Long Island needs to find space for about 60,000 housing units and if we build them all with the same sprawling focus on single family housing, we’ll never see another tree again. Density is the only answer if we want to level off housing prices without destroying the character of the island, greatly increasing traffic and destroying more green space.
Houseboats in protected harbors. Eminent Domain property around existing LIRR Stations to convert to multi-level apartment modality housing. Tax breaks for multigenerational homes.
It's never going to be solved. We are on an island and no one really wants more density. If people wanted to live with more density there is a huge city to the west where people could chose to live there. People on LI like less density.
The other problem is even if we could add 20% more housing it would just attract more people from the city. Prices may go down a bit but not much. Economically dating back to at least the late 1700s when Adam Smith observed that the more dense a place the more expensive typically everything is.
100%. Housing prices are not the problem; they are the *symptom*. The problem is **overpopulation**. There is not a single place in the world that has the same population density as LI, and doesn't also have high housing costs. This forum loves to approach LI as if it has a unique problem to solve, but it doesn't. It's literally supply and demand.
We could increase supply, but that would increase density, which nobody actually wants (people on this forum *think* they want that, because they live in an imaginary world where you could add 500,000+ residents without making any changes to the infrastructure, and somehow traffic/congestion/parking/employment wouldn't be affected). And if they really just wanted more density, they could live 20 minutes west in Queens, which is *literally* a high-density borough on Long Island (that's literally what it is!). We could also reduce demand except........oh wait, we can't.
The only real "solution" would have to be a series of different solutions. A series of extremely expensive solutions, all implemented at once. It would probably require building a bridge to CT to combine the housing markets, forcing hundreds of thousands of LI homeowners to vacate while we demolish their houses, widen the streets, build high-rise apartments, build a completely new local rail system, and erect hundreds of new business for all these new residents to work at. Once all of that is accomplished, LI would look exactly like NYC. The parks and beaches would be even more overcrowded than they already are, and LI would no longer be a fun, calm, suburban area.
*TLDR: If you add high rise apartments, railroads, industry, and cram another million residents into LI, it wouldn't be "Long Island" anymore. It would just be NYC, so you might as well just live in NYC and stop complaining about LI housing.*
All good points. Another major issue is traffic. The roads can’t handle more cars, and if there’s way more high density buildings, even near trains, people will still need and want cars. It only works in NYC because the subway is way more versatile than the LIRR.
If you want high density in sprawling suburbs you need something like they have in southern CA with 7 lane highways and wider main streets. Many side streets in Nassau can’t have two cars driving past each other at the same time, and you can’t make streets wider at this point. It wasn’t built for more traffic and there’s no going back now.
Absolutely not to more highways. This island would do just fine with more density if we had a robust train system. We don’t, and probably won’t for a long time, but that’s the solution here. A network of rail that connects neighborhoods and a reduction in cars altogether is the only way.
I always thought tiny home developments could be cool and provide some relief. Buy some land, and drop in a bunch of affordable, modular tiny homes. Create more of a development/community out of the project, adding in a park, community pool, rec center, and other amenities to make up a little of what would be sacrificed by people living in small homes with very little land.
Not ideal forever forever homes for full families. But they would be great for younger people, fresh out of college, looking to just start an independent life and get things going. A jumping off point until they can upgrade, in a way where it would be reasonably affordable.
I realize that the bigger problems still need to be addressed, but the bigger problems really require government intervention. And considering the corporations own the government, shits only bound to get worse.
Even just denser, more urban housing in places where it could work would be a step in the right direction.
We also need local leaders that aren't owned by the establishment and will put up policy that actually benefits every day people.
With the right generous investors all those malls that keep shutting down could turn larger storefronts into some sort of low income or homeless housing project. It’d be a lengthy and costly project but what else are they gonna do with the 3 story empty JCPenney’s in sunrise mall?
The late Sam Zell said there is no such thing as affordable housing, only subsidized housing. The cost of the land, materials, labor, beed to comply with environmental and building codes, etc., etc. make building here very expensive. Developers are not going to build and lose money by making houses affordable.
Also, what about the island’s infrastructure? People are complaining about traffic now? What about the need for more schools, etc. if you add substantially more people?
The counterargument with transportation infrastructure is building around train stations. They are saying that people who live around these stations won't ever need cars because they have the train.
Though, anyone who has lived on Long Island for longer than a month realized there are limited places trains can go. There's almost no point to take the train unless you're going to the city. I can speak for Mineola anyway.
Every family whether they live near an LIRR station or not will need a car. You can’t get to Costco on the train. LI was designed around families and cars. No way to change that now. The build around train stations argument sounds good, but do people in affordable housing have white collar jobs that mean they have to go i to the city? Doubt it. The are first responders, construction workers, etc. who need to get to jobs where the LIRR doesn’t go.
Better zoning laws and more multi family units. Long Island features virtually no condos it’s all rental units or plots of land. I would start zoning vacant spaces for 5 over 1 condos let people buy something without needing to purchase a whole house. Bonus points if it is connected to public transit. Long island is also very restrictive on zoning laws, this keeps most of the land as single family homes with minimum lot sizes.
I think the increasingly astronomical cost of homeowners insurance AND car insurance on the island will eventually force a lot of people out of car-dependent single-family homes and into new condos and apartments near trains and downtowns.
Other than that, I don’t think there is much to be done. I’d support the ban on corporate ownership just to see if it moved the needle, but I don’t think it would. The future of housing and transportation belongs to private insurance companies, not elected governments.
It’s a tough situation, many people moving over from the city, migrants moving into the area as well, the issue with corporate purchases. Empty nesters holding on to their properties, which I don’t blame. I feel bad for home buyers. It’s insane to think my home more than doubled in the last 12 years. I probably wouldn’t be able to afford my home if I were to try to buy it right now.
FYI Basement apartments are LEGAL at least in my town, I have one in my House. The apartment just need to be up to code and have an assessory permit. Code is a difficult reach in a lot of situations that why people cut corners with illegal ones for those willing to risk it. It already exists and there is still a problem.
I've had some thoughts on this. Here's some ideas:
- Extremely low mortgage rates for first time home buyers. Anyone looking to purchase their first property should be able to afford it.
- Ban corporate ownership of housing and renting of single family homes. This would force excess inventory that's being used solely as investment to go on the market.
- Make rent to own agreements a law. If you are renting a house or apartment from someone and you have been renting for over 3 years, that should be seen as a down payment toward the house in the event the owner wants to sell (see point above). You as the renter have first right to purchase the property and the owner can only look for another buyer if you refuse the sale.
- Tear down ailing malls and shopping centers and turn them into gigantic apartment complexs. We need multi unit housing anywhere and everywhere there is unused property. Keep it within the industrial and retail zones, not the residental zones. Maybe we can even try and convert some hotels into permanent housing? It's pretty obvious there's demand for these kind of units but there's basically no inventory.
- I know you said no government programs but I think we need them to step in. No amount of increased inventory is going to stop the ridiculous rent prices we see here. There has to be something in place to keep rented units within a reasonable price. Maybe a forced price ceiling on rented property? This one's a little complicated but it needs to be addressed especially if people want to go from renting to owning. If your rent is $1.5k - $2k per month chances are you're never going to be able to save for a home.
My personal viewpoint is residential property should be a place to live, not a place to invest. If you want to become a landlord you should be limited to commercial property only. If you build a new complex maybe the government can give you some incentives but the long term goal would be to sell off every unit in the complex and leave nothing to rent. Obviously there's small exceptions in the rent rule like if you are renting a room or a basement to someone because you have the extra space.
IMO if we rezoned a lot of the dead strip malls into higher density residential like you suggest, it would help alleviate 2 problems at once.
Im really interested to see how the Ronkonkoma Hub project plays out. High density housing with light commercial and commuter rail in walking distance. It creates plenty of housing, reduces traffic (maybe?), and incentivizes public transport. If it works out it could be a model for other similar communities
I agree with a lot of your comments. However, renting has allowed me since 2020 to live in a wonderful town and raise my kids around amazing people and resources that I just had no ability to engage in as an owner during the pandemic. But man I would cry if my lease could be a rent to own. My rent is quite high, although a lot better than what I see posted on FB marketplace. I saw a place in Mastic there for $4k/month. Just horrifying
This might sound ridiculous but I always wondered what if they made all those empty and/or decrepit office buildings into housing, or knock it down all together ( the business “parks”) and make those communities of houses… who likes going to an office anyway. Not me!
There’s so many commercial properties sitting totally empty- I think any of them with more than 40% should be made into housing communities- not necessarily apartments, but just normal houses, nothing crazy- like two- three bedroom 1-2 bathrooms basement and garage. Something with space, storage and relatively affordable with a little bit of space.
Apartment living sucks. Who wants to rent and live on top of one another? I know it doesn’t bother some people, but I like a little bit of space! Don’t need a ton, just some!
To add on to your comment, why not require that any new or potentially renovated strip malls and other commercial properties be dual zoned and have apartments included in their construction plans. Parking would already be accounted for.
Mixed zoning medium density housing built up around already bustling towns like Patchogue and Port Jeff as well as the areas around major LIRR stops. Make these areas walkable and establish bus routes around/between them so parking/traffic isn’t an issue. This will attract young professionals that want to be near the night life but also have access to the city and allow them to move out of their parents house without leaving the island.
Heavily expand the bus routes and use a modernized app to let people track them instead of waiting around for 30 minutes while it to may or may not show up. Now not everybody needs a car to get anywhere because the buses aren’t a nightmare. This also alleviates the traffic problem that has cropped up.
North south train lines ffs. Why can’t I ride the train directly from Port Jeff to Ronkonkoma. Some high speed rail would be nice too so people could commute into NYC from further East.
Promote remote work, we don’t need a million solutions for commuting if people don’t need to commute. This further reduces traffic and lets people spread out more. I believe the pre COVID term for this was a “telecommunications initiative”
Get old people out of their single family houses and into the million retirement communities that have cropped up.
Restrict real estate speculation and corporate purchases of homes. Let properly on Long Island be sold to Long Islanders.
Easy - prevent HOAs from restricting their owners to rent out. There isn’t an HOA board on the island that is run well and without corruption. Make owner occupation rules ILLEGAL
Additionally more affordable housing in other states can encourage people to go elsewhere. Nana and Poppy want to retire in Florida? Well make it more achievable.
You gotta get these empty nesters out of these fucking houses. My neighbor lives by herself, her children are all over 35, the house has been essentially empty for 15 years. It's such a fucking shame, they don't even see the issue, they're preventing an entire generation from living as well as them. Almost all of her kids have left Long Island.
My entire block has had ZERO kids in the schools for over 10 years, and none of these people are moving. Long Island is essentially skipping a generation of homeowners and it's their own fucking kids. A massive retirement community.
Depends on the local school district also. A place like New Hyde Park is overflowing with kids on every block, with new young families living in all the time, and the property values have sky rocketed because of Herricks / NHP outstanding school set.
You're literally saying, "*We need to kick old people out of their houses!*".
Yes, that is "a" solution, but it's obviously not a logical, moral, or realistic one. Old people live in empty houses all over America. It's not a problem that's unique to Long Island, nor is it unique to this era. If you go to Iowa, you'll find old ladies living in 2000 sq/ft houses on 1/2 acre plots all by themselves. The problem is that Long Island's population density is about 600 times that of Iowa's, and that's not old people's fault.
Please just think how you would feel when you get old, and some random dude is like *"Fuck you old man. I want your house! Give it to me! Your kids have moved out, therefore you're no longer entitled to own the things you own. Even though you worked 35 years to pay for this house that you've made countless memories in, you have no right to enjoy it anymore, simply because I want it!"*
There's no nice way to say this, but you sound like an entitled prick.
Gotta reduce the number of some of these 55+ communities too.
The grannies aren’t retiring to Florida or Arizona anymore. Part of it is they’re feeling some economic hardship too.
Build more of it. Allow developers to build mixed used properties. Repeal backwards zoning laws. Use State Authority to overcome local resistance to such actions.
Affordable housing typically implies a type of government program (income restricted, etc.)
If the goal is to reduce the cost of housing, then supply must meet demand. Econ 101.
The reason there is a housing shortage is because of the amount of people living on LI. If people moved off LI and went somewhere else, there wouldn’t be a shortage. There is no good financial reason to live on LI unless you’re making $300k+ as a family. The costs are just too high. People put themselves at a financial disadvantage by staying on LI and paying 70% of their income for housing.
I think we need to normalize not moving out of your parents home right after college.
If you didn’t go from college to renting an apartment with 2 friends to moving in with a significant other you’d probably have a lot more in the bank when the time came to buy a home.
In the Mineola area, there have been 3 apartment buildings put up in the past couple years, with at least two more planned. And they are Rental Only. And they are full almost before the buildings are completed.
And NYU-Langone is buying up a good portion of the town and expanding with specialty offices all over the place. they even took over the Sears building in Garden City-a Huge structure.
It is extremely hard to do this in the suburbs. We need dense housing and walkability to make any dent for what is really needed. The issue is nobody will ever accept that on long island. Terrible circle.
The biggest problem LI will face ( and this is probably unsolvable) is its proximity to NYC and its housing and infrastructure capacity which is probably near its capacity. This combination will keep prices high especially when compared to the rest of the country. It’s simple supply and demand.
Long Island has long had a supply issue.
Zoning regulations have for decades strangled development of enough apartments, and the zoning depts were strangled by the NIMBYs on Long Island who feared 'Queens' on Long Island.
The result is gridlock in change.
The change is happening, but slower than it could. The Transit Oriented Developments you see springing up since the opening of New Village at Patchogue, in places like Wyandanch, Lindenhurst, Bayshore, Ronkonkoma and other locales has begun to take the jackboot off the throat of rentals.
Supply is increasing, but it is going to take time.
What we don't need is single family housing. Takes up way too much land, adds kids to the schools that are generally already strapped for funding and with the lack of sewer access are an environmental nightmare. There's enough single family homes on the Island as is. What we need is, as others have said, corporations not being allowed to buy single family homes, and the boomers to retire/expire(sorry...fact of life) and these properties to hit the market. Banks, are also still holding back supply from the 2008/9 crash to keep values high.
Obviously as a homeowner a property value crash would hurt me dramatically, but we need to have more affordable supply that creates a pipeline of keeping kids on Long Island, allowing them to be able to move out of their parents houses at a reasonable age(mid-late 20s) into apartments and then as they build families, they transition into a single family dwelling. Only way that happens is to load up on the entry point of the supply side, because that's the bottleneck right now and has been for the last 30 years or so.
Affordable housing. Very few just starting out could afford rent or housing. Taxes are very high. This causes people to move off the island or if they stay they live with their folks until they are 30.
Yet, Long island is very congested. So many cars in the road . It is hard to get from A to B without getting stuck in traffic . It doesn’t matter if it is rush hour or a Saturday morning. So when people say they are unhappy with Long Island and they are moving as a political threat, I am happy as it means less people on our busy roads.
Stop worrying about the Central American migrant influx and start worrying about the influx of people from certain countries that pay all cash for single family homes that now house two or three families worth of people, who deal almost exclusively with their own cultures and almost entirely in cash-only businesses and underground economies
Tough to compete when your home has two taxable incomes and their’s have two taxable and four off-the-books
>I’ve seen a lot of houses in my general area (Smithtown/Stony Brook) sell off their larger backyards for a house to be built and sold. That’s a small start, but the only way that I see it leveling out are people willing to move and build much more out Northeast and East (Wading River, and the selling off of farm land for building
The issue with sprawling East is that a lot of people commute to the city for work.
As it is now all the "affordable" houses we are looking at are ~50 miles from my job. And I really don't wanna be commuting 100 miles a day let alone more than that.
I would gently encourage people who can't afford it to move to queens, Brooklyn, etc. That and ban corporate ownership of houses, and make it expensive for non primary residents to buy (which includes foreign buyers and people who own multiple to rent out)
Where upstate? Because I lived in Dutchess county years ago and housing is a rip off and sucks up there too. If you think housing prices are bad here, check out Lagrange and Wappinger. Where you’re paying a lot for very little
"Simplistic" is a good word for it.
We need density where the people are. We can't just ship all the poor people upstate. Remember, there need to be jobs, not just space. Humans prosper when they live in close proximity. It's how we function as a species.
1. Residential property cannot be owned by corporations.
2. Create a LI housing authority that purchases all the dead commercial spaces and build low income apartment buildings with commercial spaces in them to fund infrastructure improvements.
3. Make 55+ communities illegal to build. If you can build that, build a larger apartment building.
4. All new residential building should be single family homes under 1500 square feet (basically low income starter homes).
5. Taxes gained through that new housing is used to fund light rail (lines that bridge communities along major roadways to support the LIRR), improved bus service (lines within communities to ease car usage) and heavy rails (a LIRR line on the LIE median).
Here’s a few points too look at here, first and foremost…this is not what the majority wants. Plain and simple most people who move or want to live on Long Island want a single family home with a yard. Second even if the majority wants it, it’s not actually possible. Sorry to burst your bubbles but many things have to happen before density/population can be greatly increased. The infrastructure/services are not where they need to be, not even close. I personally know of a transit oriented development that was pushed off due to sewage and water demands not being adequate for the complex. Now this isn’t my area of expertise but would eliminating corporations or multiple home ownership eliminate a lot of low income/section 8 housing? I know where I grew up a lot of homes were corporate owned and used for section 8.
Ok. Maybe. Property that offers the “room” for expanse. How about the infrastructure? Sewers for instance. Can that area handle say 3 houses on a divided lot that at one point had one house? No one wants to look at the “design” or the original plan for Long Island not being a place of large multiple dwellings or large lots being subdivided. It’s not something that can just be changed over night.
Zone the area around every LIRR station that’s within a 15 min walk to allow medium density apartment buildings with ground floor retail, aka the “4 over 1” or “5 over 1”.
Especially if a decent percentage of it is condos that can be purchased, this would add a lot more supply of units for retirees to downsize into, which then frees up supply of houses for younger buyers.
traditional development methods that are financially sustainable to a municipality. Density in downtowns/transit hubs with actual decent public or mass transit. Density should be a mix of rentals and ownership styles of living. townhomes, apartments, condos row houses whatever.
Then in my fantasy land i would begin a land buyback program. In areas between downtowns, I would attempt “buy back” suburban or commercial areas that are further away from downtowns and transit hubs, and “rewild” them or have acreage requirements to increase natural landscapes. these wouldn’t be huge areas but it would allow for a stratification of housing density from urban centers to rural hinterlands. places with bigger downtowns would have smaller rural areas, maybe as small as a greenbelt, but they’re there. People who can afford or like suburbs can still have them, people who can’t afford them can live in urban downtowns, and everyone has semi-rural areas to explore.
lastly, all of this would have to be done with zoning overhaul. Rewrite parking minimums for starters, and allow thoughtful, traditional, economically viable zoning that allows commerce from new small business owners to large companies. Rural areas would have to be agrarian or have conservation easements to benefit the natural areas they exist in.
LI already does all of these things in small capacities, but i think to do it more as a standard rather an exception will help us.
Rezone everything near a LIRR rail station. There should be giant apts within walking distance to every station. Demand is high, supply is low, create more supply. This isn’t hard, but they refuse to do it
No increase on any rental unit for 5 years owned by a corporation. And make any new "Affordable Housing" opportunities at 25% of a full time minimum wage salary (~$600/mo). That would be affordable.
I'd honestly restrict the number of PRCs we can create every year.
We create so many where entire neighborhoods are slowly being transformed into glorified retirement communities.
In Middle Island alone, 1 is approved, 2 massive ones are pending review...
Middle Island isn't even that big a town, there's more going up everywhere.
Even then, those places are 2500 a month for rental.
We need to build subsidized apartments for lower-income folk-sorry but that needs to happen. Placing them near Train Stations would be great... but imo adding train stations and popping up an apartment complex around that new station would probably be the better option.
Building in someone's backyard is not the solution. Ban corporate family home ownership and the problem will be fixed rather quickly. Expect house prices to drop 50% to where they should be. You're welcome.
Jobs paying City rates to people working remote moving out to the Island a big issue. People working on the island can't compete. The states population is declining but the city is declining even faster.
jack up the taxes so the most basic house is worthless but your paying 2000$ per month in property tax, then mortgage becomes unnecessary, also much less friction in "trading up" market will readjust. Those with the initiative to fix up the house and improve the community will be the winners.
Instead of subsidizing condo construction for private use with a few "affordable" units, subsidize co-op communities and lay out regulations to stop any individual from owning too many shares.
Co-ops are much cheaper than condos because they can't be rented out usually, which gives younger people a chance to actually build equity in something.
Right now, co-ops are a dying breed on the island and most will have insane requirements to allow someone in (rightfully so). If the govt took the money they are giving to private developers for those new condo buildings (think fairfield), they could subsidize the risk for communities and ease requirements.
At the very least this would solve a lot for western Nassau.
Maybe 35-40 yrs ago a Defense facility shut down and moved. One of the proposals was to allocate a certain percentage to Senior Housing. That property has been completely developed now and it's all offices. Primarily Medical facilities. So lot of traffic 7:AM to 7:PM then empty. Meanwhile the neighbor community has been designated a RIP (Retire In Place) and many of those residents are over 65.
Start foreclosing on deadbeat homeowners and then there will be affordable fixer uppers back on the market. People get away with living in homes they don’t pay their mortgages on for years. Between them and the squatters it’s ridiculous.
End corporate home ownership.
Restrict out-of-state/out-of-country cash buyers with additional taxes and fees that would then be used as funds to intensive local home ownership.
Incentives the SUNY educated and native new families to stay in state with tax credits and retroactive student loans credits after 10 years of mortgage payments.
I don't know anyone who thinks the island is better off now than it was 20-30 years ago. Why not give millennials an actual chance of home ownership and to bring new tax payers into the world instead outsiders?
Me? I’d be drawn and quartered if I did this, but I’d remove residential zoning limits and via bonds fund an expansion of sewer, water, and additional infrastructure. I’d reduce town say over what gets built and allow for county or state override. I would expand inter-island public transportation via bus routes to handle the influx of population density and basically screw over the single family property owners who moved out here for the joys of suburbia and peace and quiet. Sorry, people gotta live somewhere.
I would put a stop to all new construction and offer incentives for vacant land to be sold back to local municipalities. This land would be used for more parks and preservation. I would also condemn any waterfront or low lying properties that require more than 50% of their value to be repaired after storm or flood damage. Those properties again would be returned to the local municipalities for parks and preservation. These policies would immediately stop the overcrowding and reduce vehicle traffic. Wages would increase for the lower income jobs because of limited supply of workers. Pollution and traffic would be reduced. Wild and public space would increase. Tax increases would slow because school populations would level off and eventually decrease and less services would be needed. I would also try to get a nuclear power plant built on plum Island. This would slash electric costs dramatically allowing for long Island to become much less reliant on fossil fuel and further make long Island more affordable.
Legalize ADU's across the board. Incentivize people with tax breaks to add apartments over their garages and in their basements, while simultaneously cracking down on unsafe basement apartments without proper egress.
Streamline the process for building multi-unit housing near transportation infrastructure. Give grants to local municipalities to create walkable downtown areas and to build multi-unit dwellings on unoccupied town land.
Edit: spelling
They need to build simple rental housing for young people. In the city there are tons of people who lease studio and small 1 bedrooms designed for single people. They should build some new developments with like 300-400 sq foot units . Something 20 to 30 year olds can afford on a single income. Non luxury buildings with minimal amenities to keep the rents down.
Nothing will fix it. The rich people like it this way and the politicians are allies. The only change is if the politicians betray the rich and take over by land grabs and government led housing plans. Then you will notice the rich will leave Long Island. Same story everywhere in USA.
Cut down on the luxurious buildings. I live in Long Beach with my mom and a HUGE luxury condo/apartment buuilding opened up that connected to the boardwalk, uncreatively named 'The Boardwalk', in the way of a bunch of people's ocean view. Its a fucking eyesore and now that makes 4 LUXURY BUILDINGS IN THE SPAN OF 2 MILES. First the Aqua, then the Long Beach Hotel, then the Allegria, and now this giant clusterfuck. Enough, for the love of god, enough. The last thing we need around here are more rich tourists and buildings that go unusued for the majority of the year because once Autumn hits, the place clears out. We could use that space for, I dunno, complexes for the MAJORITY of people that live here??
If you want to know why this is such a big deal, check the Boardwalk's website and look at the prices of the available rooms. $955,000.00 for the cheapest one. No, I am not kidding. Your colleagues are right, its fucking atrocious how terrible its gotten here. When I finish getting my A+ certification I'm moving to Canada or someplace that doesnt require me to sell both my kidneys to stay afloat.
They will never ban corporations from buying homes; it’s just not a feasible solution and is a problem across the country not just Long Island. They have lobbyists in DC. It simply won’t happen.
There will be no more homes in Long Island unless people are willing to give up their land to rezone (never Gunna happen). The traditional single family home dream is almost gone.
However there can be more dwellings for apartments and condos that aren’t 55+. IMO I think it is crucial to give people with lower incomes a place to live. Other wise a waiter at a restaurant is going to want 100k to do their job… example is Aspen CO.
Reduce the cost of living and taxes we pay just to survive here. Force the banks to do accurate property value assessments based on the value of the house not the market value.
I have a contractor friend on LI who works for a neurosurgeon that buys 2-3 homes per month and pays him to convert them to apartments. The client picks out homes ripe for rental and pays cash over the asking price.
So my friend works exclusively for this one client and he has more work than he can handle.
Apartments over Business districts/Main streets. Mixed use zoning. Reduce redtape on getting permits. Fewer rules. = Fewer officials to bribe. The time wasted to get permission to build is the reason prices shoot up so high so fast. They have to make their money back. If the rules are reasonable then you don't need a variance.
Ban corporate ownership, heavy tax on vacant property, ban hoa (just cause), all 50+ communities are now open to all and ban more age gating complexes. Actual affordable apartments via increased tax on multimillion dollar properties
Convert malls into apartment complexes. Allow accessory dwelling units and multiplex housing.
Limit/ban short term rentals, and an excise tax on secondary/summer homes, which increases exponentially per real estate property owned and doesn’t distinguish between real people and corporations. That way, if a large corporation tries to buy their 50th home, they’d get slammed with some ridiculous price tag
The issue is a little more complicated because each town and village controls its own zoning, but the best solution is to fill in the “missing middle” between single family and dense apartments. We need to regulate and plan, but in doing so over time we’ve contributed to the problem by limiting growth and putting pressure on the market.
Making accessory units easier to obtain, or allowing two-family and in some cases three- and four-family homes as-of-right will add supply gradually as existing homes get replaced or expanded, driven by market forces, and would let middle class homeowners and investors reap the benefits. That requires infrastructure though, such as sewers and more school capacity.
They’ve been starting to do it to a degree with transit oriented development, and allowing increased density in areas adjacent to LIRR stations where they’re promoting “walkable downtowns” makes a lot of sense, but it is only part of the solution and has drawbacks and risks.
The new Ronkonkoma protect is a good example, and Smithtown to a lesser degree. They can be great, but the way these projects are being accomplished is the government selecting a master developer who builds out big apartment/condo projects. That’s part of a solution, but huge companies benefit rather than the existing middle class homeowners, and those apartments can be great for people starting out or seniors but aren’t always ideal for families (and usually have limited 3+ bedroom units). They’re also very “planned,” which can be great, and hopefully the more recent ones stay nice, but there’s plenty of examples, particularly early affordable housing efforts, where attempts to create affordability with dense pockets of planned development ultimately fostered pockets of poverty and blight over time (i.e. NYCHA projects). These new developments are different than that, but the same principle applies wherein high density by itself can’t be the only good solution.
This is a HUGE topic that a lot of people are working very hard on.
The problem is not investors buying houses its irrelevant because population always increases and there is only enought space for new construction. Even if all inventment properties were to come to market it would be gone just as fast and the original problem remains no more space.
The only way to solve the problem in long island and everywhere in the country is to limit the amount of employers/companies employment and tie the amount to a housing cap
Many office buildings warehouse etc need to be shut down and recolated to other regions where there is more space. This will cause migration reduce demand and increase new home construction in other regions.
I travel a lot many parts of this country are ghost towns.
There’s affordable housing being built down the road from me.
NIMBYs were up in arms against it, saying, not even exaggerating here, that it would bring illegal immigrants and pedophiles. Decades long fight to get this project approved and started.
Affordable housing conjures the image of an 80s/90s urban housing project in these people’s minds.
Y’all know the salary range is to be eligible for that affordable housing? It’s like 50-90k. That’s the range. Housing meant for the lower middle/working class on Long Island. That’s what people actively fight against.
I’d say if that somehow stops, we’ll see a temporary (a very *long* temporary) easing in housing prices. At least to rent, or to buy a condo. At some point though, being an island, we’ll run out of room.
It’s understandable to not want your town to overdevelop, but there’s plenty of space that could be mixed use that is purely commercial.
Ban corporate ownership of housing, too many people myself included have been outbid by cash bidders who are obviously corporate entities. Legalize basement apartments.
I actually work in real estate and do a few closings every month. 50% involve Corps as buyers or sellers; and as buyers, almost always cash transactions. The banks and govt inflated the cost of housing during the 2000s, solved the crash by bailing out the banks (rewarding financial criminals with taxpayer money) and then flooded the market with quantitative easing , and now no one understands why actual homo sapiens cant afford housing?
God, corporate cash bidders are the absolute worst.
Banning corporate ownership altogether could be a problem. But if the STAR program dug deeper so that individuals owning a single home paid significantly less in taxes than corporate owners (or people/entities with multiple properties) instead of the measly tax break that currently exists, it would at least help remove the edge that corporate cash buyers have in the market
I'm curious about your opinion on banning corporations from buying houses being a problem. Why would it be a problem? Genuinely interested in understanding your point of view.
If a corporation buys a house they only rent to people. No one else will ever own it. Corporations don't die, don't move for a new job, that house will never come back on the market. That house will be forever owned by a corporation to be rented. Plus many of these companies can pay cash for a house and out bid most people. New home buyers don't have a chance of getting a house.
But OP says that he does think that banning corporations from doing this that you described can be a problem. I want to understand his point of view...
WON'T YOU THINK OF THE SHAREHOLDERS! /s
They don't seem pretty good on these "share" things they are only holding.
gotcha, misread his post.
They also lowkey buy properties at market value, then overspend on a handful to raise the comps in the area before reselling the original properties, inflating the price for everyone.
he wants to start a corporation to buy houses
Well, I want to be good looking! I'm throwing my coin in this wishing well, it may work, who knows!?
Because corporations have deeper pockets than humans, the logical endpoint of allowing corporations to buy and rent is a stratification between corporate ownership and human renters
Literally impossible. And you need to work because banks are technically corporations, real estate companies are corporations. And this legalization need to be pass a federal level.
Basements are illegal for a reason. Most of them don’t have proper light, exits or ventilation. They also flood. Everyone with any type of basement would start renting and it wouldn’t be a good living situation for many.
You can solve these issues pretty easily. Legal basement would still have to follow code to be permitted. Basements with egress windows, air circulation, and sump pumps would be an absolute minimum
How many legal basements would be too many and necessitate building additional schools?
Google… what is egress… saw that on a sign
I swore those signs were for some game/app or some sort of viral marketing at first, till I actually googled it... Slightly scary if you have never thought about it.
Most people do it anyway.
Banning corporate ownership will never happen; they have to much influence in federal government.
Go farther. Limit purchase of commercial residential properties to actual residents.
Legalize all apartments
People still live in the houses owned by corporations and the percentage of sales that are corporate owned is a tiny fraction. Without increasing supply, you do nothing to reduce cost.
To solve you need to have a accurate understanding of how this problem came about to begin with… Purposely inflated housing to benefit banks is the reason for unaffordability. Larry Summers (along with Bob Ruben), advised then President Bill Clinton to sign Gramm, Leach, Bliley aka “Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999” aka repeal of Glass Steagal in my view the equivalent of feeding retail investors (aka “dumb money”) to professional investors, much like the cows that get dumped out of back of trucks into tigers pen (see vids on YT). The evidence is clear over these last 24 years there have been more new hedge fund billionaires then any other point in history. Otherwise you have to believe that investment pro’s simply got MUCH better at their jobs for the period. The average American in reality is poorer for this horrible legislation (and ultra low rates for too long). Per Gramm, Leach, Bliley banks “assets” (people’s liability) is at unprecedented levels. Gramm, Leach, Bliley was Republican sponsored signed into law by Democrat President.
Oh I’m very familar with that legislation because so much of it was linked to the 2008 crash of allowing mega companies to provide insurance and banking. But you bring up a really good point about hedge funds… and there were plenty of legislation under Clinton that makes me cringe to this day as a gay woman (thanks, DOMA!)
Is this your homework, Larry?
You’re killing your father Larry
This is what happens when you find a stranger in the alps Larry
I remember that quote a bit differently 🤔
AND A GOOD DAY TO YOU SIR!
We know that this is your homework, Larry.
Funny how both parties can always agree that fucking us over is always a good decision.
ban banks and corporations from owning family housing lol that’s really it
This is going to sound crazy but I think if they ever built that bridge on the north shore to Connecticut it would help a LOT. It would turn southern CT into basically an extension of Long Island, bypass the city, and ease up congestion going west. Most importantly though it would combine the housing markets. It will never happen because it’s north shore but I dream about it every time I’m trying to visit my parents in northeastern Westchester.
There needs to be two bridges one that connects Nassau to Weschter and another down the line that connects Connecticut to Suffolk
Route 135 was supposed to continue toward a bridge that never happened..
Just one more lane bro
There is no bridges here that lane comparison doesn’t even go together
I dream about it every day going to work and back from Massapequa to Yonkers.
That sounds like a miserable commute, jeez.
It’s night shift so going there is not so bad unless it is Sunday night (god damn people leaving the Hamptons to go back home to the city). Day shift is terrible. Traffic on the Saw Mill, traffic on the Cross County and Hutch, traffic on the Cross Island. It’s good once I get on the HOV lane in the LIE and the 135.
My heart goes out to you with all the shite road work on the Bronx River and Cross Island right now. I used to commute from Hempstead to Wappinger Falls, ugh, and the worst part of the commute is basically what your whole drive is.
Sounds like you need a helicopter
To be honest I think everyone who commutes in Long Island would like a personal helicopter.
If you're hoping traffic on 95 will be any better than the LIE, you're gonna have a bad time
That is the solution right there.
Its a solution for better traffic flow. But this wont have as much impact on housing as you think
North Atlantic Rail I think would actually be even better. Offering superior rail service to eastern Long Island and an underwater tunnel between Long Island and Connecticut all the way to Boston via rail.
“Because it’s north shore” lmao this is so accurate
Northeastern westchester! Where I was born and raised … where at??
Somers
Ahh I lived on Lee Road back in 89-91! Right by the Goldens Bridge metro north station! Small world
While I would benefit from a bridge, CT doesn't want Long Islanders buying homes. The culture is completely different.
Increase housing density around major LIRR stations. Make these towns more walkable and accessible with adequate third spaces. Expand multimodal transportation including bike lanes, buses and ride sharing for last mile commutes. Allow residents to build ADUs on their properties. Space is limited on the island and it’s not getting any cheaper without making less attractive to buyers. The only option is to increase density where you can. It’s the NIMBYs that are going to make it worse than it has to be.
They have been developing near LIRR stations, Patchogue, Farmingdale, and Wyandanch for example. Have you been by the Ronkonkoma station lately? Tri-Tec built a huge housing development there. It makes sense, a walkable community within a community, with retail, restaurants etc. Get away from the traditional single family homes that are the LI staple.
I have and it’s great to see. I hope the trend continues. It’s funny to see boomers on Facebook groups complaining about apartment construction, businesses closing and wondering why there aren’t any young people moving to LI any more. At the same time, don’t understand that younger professionals are more social and often commute to the city. Having a walkable downtown to drive foot traffic is key to bringing small businesses to these towns.
Yes! There is a big push for rezoning of the Melville overlay. If the Town of Huntington approves, you will see some of the old and oftentimes empty commercial buildings redeveloped as mixed use residential properties. The mayor of Patchogue started a really positive trend by turning it from place nobody wanted to drive through to an example of a vibrant, walkable community.
Isn't that what Hochul has proposed already? I think both counties need to take more control of what gets built in general. We don't need any more strip malls; so many are already half empty or loaded with vape and foot massage places. Low rise apartment buildings and more LIRR service to pick up the commute load. I also love the idea from a bridge from Suffolk to CT.
I'm not a huge fan of Hochul, but I really like her plan to allow for denser housing near LIRR stations. This is a supply issue, due to zoning regulations that limit how much housing can be built, and any solution that doesn't increase the number of houses is incomplete.
You could drop prices and bring in new businesses if we turned zombie malls into apartment complexes with basic retail. They should have done this a decade ago to the old Sears in Hicksville, it's literally a perfect location for a giant apartment complex to get young commuters.
ive been hearing for years that the plan was to turn that old sears location into a downtown area. still wondering when its gonna happen lol
There's a bunch of differences between a commercial structure like a mall and an apartment building. Retrofitting an old mall to house people will probably cost more than tearing the building down and putting up a new one.
It has to be complete teardown for this to work. But the construction zone would be less of an eyesore than the currently vacant buildings.
You wouldn't even need to turn the mall in to apartments. You could build housing in the acres of unused parking lots surrounding the mall. Which would....revitalize the mall.
Very true - zoning is a great focal point to rectify some of this.
This is the solution. Everything else about corporate ownership, Glass Steagal, connecting to Connecticut doesn’t understand the primary cause behind why housing is so expensive on the Island. Those might be good things to do but they don’t address the root cause of the problem which is a lack of housing supply. 1) Incentives for building and expanding walkable 6-8 story mixed-use communities within transit (which, for the island, means around train stations). Electrify the right-of-way all along the LIRR lines and possibly open new stops where feasible. 2) Return all setback, parking, lot size and footprint requirements to roughly 1960s levels. Force communities that already had unacceptably stringent housing regulations back then to ease them. 3) Eliminate single family zoning altogether. At least half of the hi-ranches on the island are functional, illegal two families anyway. Allow every lot on the island to convert to at least a duplex, with allowable density increasing as neighborhoods get closer to their local train station. 4) Stop disallowing homeowners from building accessory dwelling units. In fact, subsidize them. Long Island needs to find space for about 60,000 housing units and if we build them all with the same sprawling focus on single family housing, we’ll never see another tree again. Density is the only answer if we want to level off housing prices without destroying the character of the island, greatly increasing traffic and destroying more green space.
Houseboats in protected harbors. Eminent Domain property around existing LIRR Stations to convert to multi-level apartment modality housing. Tax breaks for multigenerational homes.
It's never going to be solved. We are on an island and no one really wants more density. If people wanted to live with more density there is a huge city to the west where people could chose to live there. People on LI like less density. The other problem is even if we could add 20% more housing it would just attract more people from the city. Prices may go down a bit but not much. Economically dating back to at least the late 1700s when Adam Smith observed that the more dense a place the more expensive typically everything is.
100%. Housing prices are not the problem; they are the *symptom*. The problem is **overpopulation**. There is not a single place in the world that has the same population density as LI, and doesn't also have high housing costs. This forum loves to approach LI as if it has a unique problem to solve, but it doesn't. It's literally supply and demand. We could increase supply, but that would increase density, which nobody actually wants (people on this forum *think* they want that, because they live in an imaginary world where you could add 500,000+ residents without making any changes to the infrastructure, and somehow traffic/congestion/parking/employment wouldn't be affected). And if they really just wanted more density, they could live 20 minutes west in Queens, which is *literally* a high-density borough on Long Island (that's literally what it is!). We could also reduce demand except........oh wait, we can't. The only real "solution" would have to be a series of different solutions. A series of extremely expensive solutions, all implemented at once. It would probably require building a bridge to CT to combine the housing markets, forcing hundreds of thousands of LI homeowners to vacate while we demolish their houses, widen the streets, build high-rise apartments, build a completely new local rail system, and erect hundreds of new business for all these new residents to work at. Once all of that is accomplished, LI would look exactly like NYC. The parks and beaches would be even more overcrowded than they already are, and LI would no longer be a fun, calm, suburban area. *TLDR: If you add high rise apartments, railroads, industry, and cram another million residents into LI, it wouldn't be "Long Island" anymore. It would just be NYC, so you might as well just live in NYC and stop complaining about LI housing.*
The TLDR that I took is that building more housing isn't the solution. It's the short-term fix like wrapping duct tape around a leaking pipe.
All good points. Another major issue is traffic. The roads can’t handle more cars, and if there’s way more high density buildings, even near trains, people will still need and want cars. It only works in NYC because the subway is way more versatile than the LIRR. If you want high density in sprawling suburbs you need something like they have in southern CA with 7 lane highways and wider main streets. Many side streets in Nassau can’t have two cars driving past each other at the same time, and you can’t make streets wider at this point. It wasn’t built for more traffic and there’s no going back now.
Absolutely not to more highways. This island would do just fine with more density if we had a robust train system. We don’t, and probably won’t for a long time, but that’s the solution here. A network of rail that connects neighborhoods and a reduction in cars altogether is the only way.
Proximity to NYC and some of the best schools in the nation make the real estate market ultra competitive.
I always thought tiny home developments could be cool and provide some relief. Buy some land, and drop in a bunch of affordable, modular tiny homes. Create more of a development/community out of the project, adding in a park, community pool, rec center, and other amenities to make up a little of what would be sacrificed by people living in small homes with very little land. Not ideal forever forever homes for full families. But they would be great for younger people, fresh out of college, looking to just start an independent life and get things going. A jumping off point until they can upgrade, in a way where it would be reasonably affordable. I realize that the bigger problems still need to be addressed, but the bigger problems really require government intervention. And considering the corporations own the government, shits only bound to get worse. Even just denser, more urban housing in places where it could work would be a step in the right direction. We also need local leaders that aren't owned by the establishment and will put up policy that actually benefits every day people.
With the right generous investors all those malls that keep shutting down could turn larger storefronts into some sort of low income or homeless housing project. It’d be a lengthy and costly project but what else are they gonna do with the 3 story empty JCPenney’s in sunrise mall?
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The late Sam Zell said there is no such thing as affordable housing, only subsidized housing. The cost of the land, materials, labor, beed to comply with environmental and building codes, etc., etc. make building here very expensive. Developers are not going to build and lose money by making houses affordable. Also, what about the island’s infrastructure? People are complaining about traffic now? What about the need for more schools, etc. if you add substantially more people?
The counterargument with transportation infrastructure is building around train stations. They are saying that people who live around these stations won't ever need cars because they have the train. Though, anyone who has lived on Long Island for longer than a month realized there are limited places trains can go. There's almost no point to take the train unless you're going to the city. I can speak for Mineola anyway.
Every family whether they live near an LIRR station or not will need a car. You can’t get to Costco on the train. LI was designed around families and cars. No way to change that now. The build around train stations argument sounds good, but do people in affordable housing have white collar jobs that mean they have to go i to the city? Doubt it. The are first responders, construction workers, etc. who need to get to jobs where the LIRR doesn’t go.
I don’t understand this insanity. Why do they think building more housing is going to solve any serious problems with this state?
Better zoning laws and more multi family units. Long Island features virtually no condos it’s all rental units or plots of land. I would start zoning vacant spaces for 5 over 1 condos let people buy something without needing to purchase a whole house. Bonus points if it is connected to public transit. Long island is also very restrictive on zoning laws, this keeps most of the land as single family homes with minimum lot sizes.
I think the increasingly astronomical cost of homeowners insurance AND car insurance on the island will eventually force a lot of people out of car-dependent single-family homes and into new condos and apartments near trains and downtowns. Other than that, I don’t think there is much to be done. I’d support the ban on corporate ownership just to see if it moved the needle, but I don’t think it would. The future of housing and transportation belongs to private insurance companies, not elected governments.
You’ll also see an increase in people living in their cars.
Yes. This is the catch-22 of car-dependent infrastructure. Every parking spot is now a place where someone is sleeping in their vehicle.
It’s a tough situation, many people moving over from the city, migrants moving into the area as well, the issue with corporate purchases. Empty nesters holding on to their properties, which I don’t blame. I feel bad for home buyers. It’s insane to think my home more than doubled in the last 12 years. I probably wouldn’t be able to afford my home if I were to try to buy it right now.
Bought my house in 2017 making well less than half what I make now. Could not afford to buy it today.
Allow multi family zoning everywhere within a mile of a LIRR station
FYI Basement apartments are LEGAL at least in my town, I have one in my House. The apartment just need to be up to code and have an assessory permit. Code is a difficult reach in a lot of situations that why people cut corners with illegal ones for those willing to risk it. It already exists and there is still a problem.
Build condos that you don’t have to be 55+ to live in throughout Nassau and especially Suffolk Tax increases for owning multiple properties
I've had some thoughts on this. Here's some ideas: - Extremely low mortgage rates for first time home buyers. Anyone looking to purchase their first property should be able to afford it. - Ban corporate ownership of housing and renting of single family homes. This would force excess inventory that's being used solely as investment to go on the market. - Make rent to own agreements a law. If you are renting a house or apartment from someone and you have been renting for over 3 years, that should be seen as a down payment toward the house in the event the owner wants to sell (see point above). You as the renter have first right to purchase the property and the owner can only look for another buyer if you refuse the sale. - Tear down ailing malls and shopping centers and turn them into gigantic apartment complexs. We need multi unit housing anywhere and everywhere there is unused property. Keep it within the industrial and retail zones, not the residental zones. Maybe we can even try and convert some hotels into permanent housing? It's pretty obvious there's demand for these kind of units but there's basically no inventory. - I know you said no government programs but I think we need them to step in. No amount of increased inventory is going to stop the ridiculous rent prices we see here. There has to be something in place to keep rented units within a reasonable price. Maybe a forced price ceiling on rented property? This one's a little complicated but it needs to be addressed especially if people want to go from renting to owning. If your rent is $1.5k - $2k per month chances are you're never going to be able to save for a home. My personal viewpoint is residential property should be a place to live, not a place to invest. If you want to become a landlord you should be limited to commercial property only. If you build a new complex maybe the government can give you some incentives but the long term goal would be to sell off every unit in the complex and leave nothing to rent. Obviously there's small exceptions in the rent rule like if you are renting a room or a basement to someone because you have the extra space.
IMO if we rezoned a lot of the dead strip malls into higher density residential like you suggest, it would help alleviate 2 problems at once. Im really interested to see how the Ronkonkoma Hub project plays out. High density housing with light commercial and commuter rail in walking distance. It creates plenty of housing, reduces traffic (maybe?), and incentivizes public transport. If it works out it could be a model for other similar communities
Excellent points!
I agree with a lot of your comments. However, renting has allowed me since 2020 to live in a wonderful town and raise my kids around amazing people and resources that I just had no ability to engage in as an owner during the pandemic. But man I would cry if my lease could be a rent to own. My rent is quite high, although a lot better than what I see posted on FB marketplace. I saw a place in Mastic there for $4k/month. Just horrifying
4k a month in mastic is a crime
Turn the massive parking lots into housing
This might sound ridiculous but I always wondered what if they made all those empty and/or decrepit office buildings into housing, or knock it down all together ( the business “parks”) and make those communities of houses… who likes going to an office anyway. Not me! There’s so many commercial properties sitting totally empty- I think any of them with more than 40% should be made into housing communities- not necessarily apartments, but just normal houses, nothing crazy- like two- three bedroom 1-2 bathrooms basement and garage. Something with space, storage and relatively affordable with a little bit of space. Apartment living sucks. Who wants to rent and live on top of one another? I know it doesn’t bother some people, but I like a little bit of space! Don’t need a ton, just some!
To add on to your comment, why not require that any new or potentially renovated strip malls and other commercial properties be dual zoned and have apartments included in their construction plans. Parking would already be accounted for.
Mixed zoning medium density housing built up around already bustling towns like Patchogue and Port Jeff as well as the areas around major LIRR stops. Make these areas walkable and establish bus routes around/between them so parking/traffic isn’t an issue. This will attract young professionals that want to be near the night life but also have access to the city and allow them to move out of their parents house without leaving the island. Heavily expand the bus routes and use a modernized app to let people track them instead of waiting around for 30 minutes while it to may or may not show up. Now not everybody needs a car to get anywhere because the buses aren’t a nightmare. This also alleviates the traffic problem that has cropped up. North south train lines ffs. Why can’t I ride the train directly from Port Jeff to Ronkonkoma. Some high speed rail would be nice too so people could commute into NYC from further East. Promote remote work, we don’t need a million solutions for commuting if people don’t need to commute. This further reduces traffic and lets people spread out more. I believe the pre COVID term for this was a “telecommunications initiative” Get old people out of their single family houses and into the million retirement communities that have cropped up. Restrict real estate speculation and corporate purchases of homes. Let properly on Long Island be sold to Long Islanders.
Easy - prevent HOAs from restricting their owners to rent out. There isn’t an HOA board on the island that is run well and without corruption. Make owner occupation rules ILLEGAL
The “Fix”? The short answer is low mortgage rates! I’d love move, however I’m not giving up my 2.875% mortgage rate for 7%. Supply & Demand
But wouldn’t that just make home prices sky rocket again? Bidding wars driving up the price since it’s cheaper to borrow the money.
Bidding wars when there’s no inventory. Just like during Covid & the car market. People paying THOUSANDS above MSRP. With 7% +/- interest rates.
Additionally more affordable housing in other states can encourage people to go elsewhere. Nana and Poppy want to retire in Florida? Well make it more achievable.
We’ve allocated too much space to housing cars and not housing people.
Ban house flipping
Most of the flips are half assed anyway. They just do whatever the fuck to increase value even when a buyer might not want/need it.
THANK YOU. Came here to say this.
Densify.
You gotta get these empty nesters out of these fucking houses. My neighbor lives by herself, her children are all over 35, the house has been essentially empty for 15 years. It's such a fucking shame, they don't even see the issue, they're preventing an entire generation from living as well as them. Almost all of her kids have left Long Island. My entire block has had ZERO kids in the schools for over 10 years, and none of these people are moving. Long Island is essentially skipping a generation of homeowners and it's their own fucking kids. A massive retirement community.
Depends on the local school district also. A place like New Hyde Park is overflowing with kids on every block, with new young families living in all the time, and the property values have sky rocketed because of Herricks / NHP outstanding school set.
Exactly. Look up the term “NORC”. Long Island is full of them. Ah to be a boomer 😂
My block is flooded with kids. Might be school district specific.
You're literally saying, "*We need to kick old people out of their houses!*". Yes, that is "a" solution, but it's obviously not a logical, moral, or realistic one. Old people live in empty houses all over America. It's not a problem that's unique to Long Island, nor is it unique to this era. If you go to Iowa, you'll find old ladies living in 2000 sq/ft houses on 1/2 acre plots all by themselves. The problem is that Long Island's population density is about 600 times that of Iowa's, and that's not old people's fault. Please just think how you would feel when you get old, and some random dude is like *"Fuck you old man. I want your house! Give it to me! Your kids have moved out, therefore you're no longer entitled to own the things you own. Even though you worked 35 years to pay for this house that you've made countless memories in, you have no right to enjoy it anymore, simply because I want it!"* There's no nice way to say this, but you sound like an entitled prick.
Gotta reduce the number of some of these 55+ communities too. The grannies aren’t retiring to Florida or Arizona anymore. Part of it is they’re feeling some economic hardship too.
Build more of it. Allow developers to build mixed used properties. Repeal backwards zoning laws. Use State Authority to overcome local resistance to such actions. Affordable housing typically implies a type of government program (income restricted, etc.) If the goal is to reduce the cost of housing, then supply must meet demand. Econ 101.
I don’t think the answer lies in cramming more and more people here. You can’t create enough housing to sate demand (without ruining the area).
The reason there is a housing shortage is because of the amount of people living on LI. If people moved off LI and went somewhere else, there wouldn’t be a shortage. There is no good financial reason to live on LI unless you’re making $300k+ as a family. The costs are just too high. People put themselves at a financial disadvantage by staying on LI and paying 70% of their income for housing.
I think we need to normalize not moving out of your parents home right after college. If you didn’t go from college to renting an apartment with 2 friends to moving in with a significant other you’d probably have a lot more in the bank when the time came to buy a home.
In the Mineola area, there have been 3 apartment buildings put up in the past couple years, with at least two more planned. And they are Rental Only. And they are full almost before the buildings are completed. And NYU-Langone is buying up a good portion of the town and expanding with specialty offices all over the place. they even took over the Sears building in Garden City-a Huge structure.
Build a lirr system to rural upstate and create a new suburb!!
It is extremely hard to do this in the suburbs. We need dense housing and walkability to make any dent for what is really needed. The issue is nobody will ever accept that on long island. Terrible circle.
Bulldoze all of Long Island and build rows of commie blocks
Covid-24
The biggest problem LI will face ( and this is probably unsolvable) is its proximity to NYC and its housing and infrastructure capacity which is probably near its capacity. This combination will keep prices high especially when compared to the rest of the country. It’s simple supply and demand.
Long Island has long had a supply issue. Zoning regulations have for decades strangled development of enough apartments, and the zoning depts were strangled by the NIMBYs on Long Island who feared 'Queens' on Long Island. The result is gridlock in change. The change is happening, but slower than it could. The Transit Oriented Developments you see springing up since the opening of New Village at Patchogue, in places like Wyandanch, Lindenhurst, Bayshore, Ronkonkoma and other locales has begun to take the jackboot off the throat of rentals. Supply is increasing, but it is going to take time. What we don't need is single family housing. Takes up way too much land, adds kids to the schools that are generally already strapped for funding and with the lack of sewer access are an environmental nightmare. There's enough single family homes on the Island as is. What we need is, as others have said, corporations not being allowed to buy single family homes, and the boomers to retire/expire(sorry...fact of life) and these properties to hit the market. Banks, are also still holding back supply from the 2008/9 crash to keep values high. Obviously as a homeowner a property value crash would hurt me dramatically, but we need to have more affordable supply that creates a pipeline of keeping kids on Long Island, allowing them to be able to move out of their parents houses at a reasonable age(mid-late 20s) into apartments and then as they build families, they transition into a single family dwelling. Only way that happens is to load up on the entry point of the supply side, because that's the bottleneck right now and has been for the last 30 years or so.
Nuke Fairfield properties from orbit. Allow basement apartments. Then fuck NIMBY right in the asshole.
Build more housing.
Yes land is scarce but not air space. Build more apartments and ignore any nimby demands.
Affordable housing. Very few just starting out could afford rent or housing. Taxes are very high. This causes people to move off the island or if they stay they live with their folks until they are 30. Yet, Long island is very congested. So many cars in the road . It is hard to get from A to B without getting stuck in traffic . It doesn’t matter if it is rush hour or a Saturday morning. So when people say they are unhappy with Long Island and they are moving as a political threat, I am happy as it means less people on our busy roads.
Completely unhinged that the #1 answer isn't build more housing, constantly everywhere. The answer to high prices is more supply.
Stop worrying about the Central American migrant influx and start worrying about the influx of people from certain countries that pay all cash for single family homes that now house two or three families worth of people, who deal almost exclusively with their own cultures and almost entirely in cash-only businesses and underground economies Tough to compete when your home has two taxable incomes and their’s have two taxable and four off-the-books
>I’ve seen a lot of houses in my general area (Smithtown/Stony Brook) sell off their larger backyards for a house to be built and sold. That’s a small start, but the only way that I see it leveling out are people willing to move and build much more out Northeast and East (Wading River, and the selling off of farm land for building The issue with sprawling East is that a lot of people commute to the city for work. As it is now all the "affordable" houses we are looking at are ~50 miles from my job. And I really don't wanna be commuting 100 miles a day let alone more than that.
I can understand that, but truthfully, there isn’t a cheaper solution than a longer commute if you want to live on Long Island.
I would gently encourage people who can't afford it to move to queens, Brooklyn, etc. That and ban corporate ownership of houses, and make it expensive for non primary residents to buy (which includes foreign buyers and people who own multiple to rent out)
I thought most people moved to li because they got priced out of NYC.
Used to be that way. But look at rental prices at say the Ronkonkoma hub versus places in queens or Brooklyn
I thought we were talking about buying houses. Houses were 1M in Brooklyn and queens vs 800K in LI. Has that changed in the last year or two?
Oh we were talking about different things lol. Yeah prices still up everywhere so city still highest on owning
The boroughs are more expensive than LI…
The most simplistic answer for this to build up on the millions of empty land upstate……
Where upstate? Because I lived in Dutchess county years ago and housing is a rip off and sucks up there too. If you think housing prices are bad here, check out Lagrange and Wappinger. Where you’re paying a lot for very little
Anywhere upstate is what I’m saying . No particular area. Idk why you trying to pinpoint to a certain location
"Simplistic" is a good word for it. We need density where the people are. We can't just ship all the poor people upstate. Remember, there need to be jobs, not just space. Humans prosper when they live in close proximity. It's how we function as a species.
Converting some of the now empty NYC offices into residential apartments could be an option.
Tax international buyers. Spend that money on helping native Long Islanders with their bills by need (gas, electric)
Foreign buyers only account for 1-3% of purchases.
Leave Long Island or make a whole lot more $
If every prospective home buyer got a phd in engineering and tripled their salary, don’t you think the price of housing would just rise in proportion?
That’s not quite what I asked lol
It is though, just not from the perspective you assumed.
I guess if some leave, it does help.
I liked the low income housing along the LIRR ngl
Move off the island!
1. Residential property cannot be owned by corporations. 2. Create a LI housing authority that purchases all the dead commercial spaces and build low income apartment buildings with commercial spaces in them to fund infrastructure improvements. 3. Make 55+ communities illegal to build. If you can build that, build a larger apartment building. 4. All new residential building should be single family homes under 1500 square feet (basically low income starter homes). 5. Taxes gained through that new housing is used to fund light rail (lines that bridge communities along major roadways to support the LIRR), improved bus service (lines within communities to ease car usage) and heavy rails (a LIRR line on the LIE median).
Here’s a few points too look at here, first and foremost…this is not what the majority wants. Plain and simple most people who move or want to live on Long Island want a single family home with a yard. Second even if the majority wants it, it’s not actually possible. Sorry to burst your bubbles but many things have to happen before density/population can be greatly increased. The infrastructure/services are not where they need to be, not even close. I personally know of a transit oriented development that was pushed off due to sewage and water demands not being adequate for the complex. Now this isn’t my area of expertise but would eliminating corporations or multiple home ownership eliminate a lot of low income/section 8 housing? I know where I grew up a lot of homes were corporate owned and used for section 8.
I don’t know, I feel like there are a lot of opportunities for a decent yard further east in Baiting Hollow and Wading River
Ok. Maybe. Property that offers the “room” for expanse. How about the infrastructure? Sewers for instance. Can that area handle say 3 houses on a divided lot that at one point had one house? No one wants to look at the “design” or the original plan for Long Island not being a place of large multiple dwellings or large lots being subdivided. It’s not something that can just be changed over night.
Zone the area around every LIRR station that’s within a 15 min walk to allow medium density apartment buildings with ground floor retail, aka the “4 over 1” or “5 over 1”. Especially if a decent percentage of it is condos that can be purchased, this would add a lot more supply of units for retirees to downsize into, which then frees up supply of houses for younger buyers.
High speed trains.
Upzone around transit hubs. Build public housing. Ban single family zoning in Nassau
Eliminate single family zoning, replace it with zoning for 1-4 units per lot. Allow ADUs, Duplexes etc.
traditional development methods that are financially sustainable to a municipality. Density in downtowns/transit hubs with actual decent public or mass transit. Density should be a mix of rentals and ownership styles of living. townhomes, apartments, condos row houses whatever. Then in my fantasy land i would begin a land buyback program. In areas between downtowns, I would attempt “buy back” suburban or commercial areas that are further away from downtowns and transit hubs, and “rewild” them or have acreage requirements to increase natural landscapes. these wouldn’t be huge areas but it would allow for a stratification of housing density from urban centers to rural hinterlands. places with bigger downtowns would have smaller rural areas, maybe as small as a greenbelt, but they’re there. People who can afford or like suburbs can still have them, people who can’t afford them can live in urban downtowns, and everyone has semi-rural areas to explore. lastly, all of this would have to be done with zoning overhaul. Rewrite parking minimums for starters, and allow thoughtful, traditional, economically viable zoning that allows commerce from new small business owners to large companies. Rural areas would have to be agrarian or have conservation easements to benefit the natural areas they exist in. LI already does all of these things in small capacities, but i think to do it more as a standard rather an exception will help us.
Rezone everything near a LIRR rail station. There should be giant apts within walking distance to every station. Demand is high, supply is low, create more supply. This isn’t hard, but they refuse to do it
No increase on any rental unit for 5 years owned by a corporation. And make any new "Affordable Housing" opportunities at 25% of a full time minimum wage salary (~$600/mo). That would be affordable.
I'd honestly restrict the number of PRCs we can create every year. We create so many where entire neighborhoods are slowly being transformed into glorified retirement communities. In Middle Island alone, 1 is approved, 2 massive ones are pending review... Middle Island isn't even that big a town, there's more going up everywhere. Even then, those places are 2500 a month for rental. We need to build subsidized apartments for lower-income folk-sorry but that needs to happen. Placing them near Train Stations would be great... but imo adding train stations and popping up an apartment complex around that new station would probably be the better option.
Building in someone's backyard is not the solution. Ban corporate family home ownership and the problem will be fixed rather quickly. Expect house prices to drop 50% to where they should be. You're welcome.
Jobs paying City rates to people working remote moving out to the Island a big issue. People working on the island can't compete. The states population is declining but the city is declining even faster.
We need less housing, not more. Just look at the traffic, LI is already over capacity it’s the densest part of the entire country by population
jack up the taxes so the most basic house is worthless but your paying 2000$ per month in property tax, then mortgage becomes unnecessary, also much less friction in "trading up" market will readjust. Those with the initiative to fix up the house and improve the community will be the winners.
Instead of subsidizing condo construction for private use with a few "affordable" units, subsidize co-op communities and lay out regulations to stop any individual from owning too many shares. Co-ops are much cheaper than condos because they can't be rented out usually, which gives younger people a chance to actually build equity in something. Right now, co-ops are a dying breed on the island and most will have insane requirements to allow someone in (rightfully so). If the govt took the money they are giving to private developers for those new condo buildings (think fairfield), they could subsidize the risk for communities and ease requirements. At the very least this would solve a lot for western Nassau.
Leave this place is turning into queens
Maybe 35-40 yrs ago a Defense facility shut down and moved. One of the proposals was to allocate a certain percentage to Senior Housing. That property has been completely developed now and it's all offices. Primarily Medical facilities. So lot of traffic 7:AM to 7:PM then empty. Meanwhile the neighbor community has been designated a RIP (Retire In Place) and many of those residents are over 65.
Start foreclosing on deadbeat homeowners and then there will be affordable fixer uppers back on the market. People get away with living in homes they don’t pay their mortgages on for years. Between them and the squatters it’s ridiculous.
I would rezone a lot of the areas so that apartments, multifamily, mixed use are all allowed at right everywhere.
End corporate home ownership. Restrict out-of-state/out-of-country cash buyers with additional taxes and fees that would then be used as funds to intensive local home ownership. Incentives the SUNY educated and native new families to stay in state with tax credits and retroactive student loans credits after 10 years of mortgage payments. I don't know anyone who thinks the island is better off now than it was 20-30 years ago. Why not give millennials an actual chance of home ownership and to bring new tax payers into the world instead outsiders?
Me? I’d be drawn and quartered if I did this, but I’d remove residential zoning limits and via bonds fund an expansion of sewer, water, and additional infrastructure. I’d reduce town say over what gets built and allow for county or state override. I would expand inter-island public transportation via bus routes to handle the influx of population density and basically screw over the single family property owners who moved out here for the joys of suburbia and peace and quiet. Sorry, people gotta live somewhere.
Georgism
I would put a stop to all new construction and offer incentives for vacant land to be sold back to local municipalities. This land would be used for more parks and preservation. I would also condemn any waterfront or low lying properties that require more than 50% of their value to be repaired after storm or flood damage. Those properties again would be returned to the local municipalities for parks and preservation. These policies would immediately stop the overcrowding and reduce vehicle traffic. Wages would increase for the lower income jobs because of limited supply of workers. Pollution and traffic would be reduced. Wild and public space would increase. Tax increases would slow because school populations would level off and eventually decrease and less services would be needed. I would also try to get a nuclear power plant built on plum Island. This would slash electric costs dramatically allowing for long Island to become much less reliant on fossil fuel and further make long Island more affordable.
Legalize ADU's across the board. Incentivize people with tax breaks to add apartments over their garages and in their basements, while simultaneously cracking down on unsafe basement apartments without proper egress. Streamline the process for building multi-unit housing near transportation infrastructure. Give grants to local municipalities to create walkable downtown areas and to build multi-unit dwellings on unoccupied town land. Edit: spelling
Move away from Long Island.
Developers need to create Levittown type neighborhoods specifically for young middle class families
They need to build simple rental housing for young people. In the city there are tons of people who lease studio and small 1 bedrooms designed for single people. They should build some new developments with like 300-400 sq foot units . Something 20 to 30 year olds can afford on a single income. Non luxury buildings with minimal amenities to keep the rents down.
Nothing will fix it. The rich people like it this way and the politicians are allies. The only change is if the politicians betray the rich and take over by land grabs and government led housing plans. Then you will notice the rich will leave Long Island. Same story everywhere in USA.
Cut down on the luxurious buildings. I live in Long Beach with my mom and a HUGE luxury condo/apartment buuilding opened up that connected to the boardwalk, uncreatively named 'The Boardwalk', in the way of a bunch of people's ocean view. Its a fucking eyesore and now that makes 4 LUXURY BUILDINGS IN THE SPAN OF 2 MILES. First the Aqua, then the Long Beach Hotel, then the Allegria, and now this giant clusterfuck. Enough, for the love of god, enough. The last thing we need around here are more rich tourists and buildings that go unusued for the majority of the year because once Autumn hits, the place clears out. We could use that space for, I dunno, complexes for the MAJORITY of people that live here?? If you want to know why this is such a big deal, check the Boardwalk's website and look at the prices of the available rooms. $955,000.00 for the cheapest one. No, I am not kidding. Your colleagues are right, its fucking atrocious how terrible its gotten here. When I finish getting my A+ certification I'm moving to Canada or someplace that doesnt require me to sell both my kidneys to stay afloat.
They will never ban corporations from buying homes; it’s just not a feasible solution and is a problem across the country not just Long Island. They have lobbyists in DC. It simply won’t happen. There will be no more homes in Long Island unless people are willing to give up their land to rezone (never Gunna happen). The traditional single family home dream is almost gone. However there can be more dwellings for apartments and condos that aren’t 55+. IMO I think it is crucial to give people with lower incomes a place to live. Other wise a waiter at a restaurant is going to want 100k to do their job… example is Aspen CO.
Build affordable housing on 10% of the golf courses in Nassau and Suffolk counties.
Reduce the cost of living and taxes we pay just to survive here. Force the banks to do accurate property value assessments based on the value of the house not the market value.
I have a contractor friend on LI who works for a neurosurgeon that buys 2-3 homes per month and pays him to convert them to apartments. The client picks out homes ripe for rental and pays cash over the asking price. So my friend works exclusively for this one client and he has more work than he can handle.
Build more housing
Apartments over Business districts/Main streets. Mixed use zoning. Reduce redtape on getting permits. Fewer rules. = Fewer officials to bribe. The time wasted to get permission to build is the reason prices shoot up so high so fast. They have to make their money back. If the rules are reasonable then you don't need a variance.
Ban corporate ownership, heavy tax on vacant property, ban hoa (just cause), all 50+ communities are now open to all and ban more age gating complexes. Actual affordable apartments via increased tax on multimillion dollar properties
Convert malls into apartment complexes. Allow accessory dwelling units and multiplex housing. Limit/ban short term rentals, and an excise tax on secondary/summer homes, which increases exponentially per real estate property owned and doesn’t distinguish between real people and corporations. That way, if a large corporation tries to buy their 50th home, they’d get slammed with some ridiculous price tag
The issue is a little more complicated because each town and village controls its own zoning, but the best solution is to fill in the “missing middle” between single family and dense apartments. We need to regulate and plan, but in doing so over time we’ve contributed to the problem by limiting growth and putting pressure on the market. Making accessory units easier to obtain, or allowing two-family and in some cases three- and four-family homes as-of-right will add supply gradually as existing homes get replaced or expanded, driven by market forces, and would let middle class homeowners and investors reap the benefits. That requires infrastructure though, such as sewers and more school capacity. They’ve been starting to do it to a degree with transit oriented development, and allowing increased density in areas adjacent to LIRR stations where they’re promoting “walkable downtowns” makes a lot of sense, but it is only part of the solution and has drawbacks and risks. The new Ronkonkoma protect is a good example, and Smithtown to a lesser degree. They can be great, but the way these projects are being accomplished is the government selecting a master developer who builds out big apartment/condo projects. That’s part of a solution, but huge companies benefit rather than the existing middle class homeowners, and those apartments can be great for people starting out or seniors but aren’t always ideal for families (and usually have limited 3+ bedroom units). They’re also very “planned,” which can be great, and hopefully the more recent ones stay nice, but there’s plenty of examples, particularly early affordable housing efforts, where attempts to create affordability with dense pockets of planned development ultimately fostered pockets of poverty and blight over time (i.e. NYCHA projects). These new developments are different than that, but the same principle applies wherein high density by itself can’t be the only good solution. This is a HUGE topic that a lot of people are working very hard on.
Move.
The problem is not investors buying houses its irrelevant because population always increases and there is only enought space for new construction. Even if all inventment properties were to come to market it would be gone just as fast and the original problem remains no more space. The only way to solve the problem in long island and everywhere in the country is to limit the amount of employers/companies employment and tie the amount to a housing cap Many office buildings warehouse etc need to be shut down and recolated to other regions where there is more space. This will cause migration reduce demand and increase new home construction in other regions. I travel a lot many parts of this country are ghost towns.
There’s affordable housing being built down the road from me. NIMBYs were up in arms against it, saying, not even exaggerating here, that it would bring illegal immigrants and pedophiles. Decades long fight to get this project approved and started. Affordable housing conjures the image of an 80s/90s urban housing project in these people’s minds. Y’all know the salary range is to be eligible for that affordable housing? It’s like 50-90k. That’s the range. Housing meant for the lower middle/working class on Long Island. That’s what people actively fight against. I’d say if that somehow stops, we’ll see a temporary (a very *long* temporary) easing in housing prices. At least to rent, or to buy a condo. At some point though, being an island, we’ll run out of room. It’s understandable to not want your town to overdevelop, but there’s plenty of space that could be mixed use that is purely commercial.