Albany housing deal falls apart as Heastie, Stewart-Cousins say they can’t reach agreement with Hochul

By Ben Brachfeld

Posted on June 8, 2023

Any hope of substantive housing policy coming out of Albany this year is all but dead, after Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins announced that they had reached a deal themselves but couldn’t get Governor Kathy Hochul on board.

Heastie and Stewart-Cousins, who each control Democratic supermajorities in their respective chambers, said on Thursday — officially the final day of the state legislative session — that they had reached a consensus of sorts on a broad housing program that would enact, among other things: