New York closing in on $237B state budget with plans on housing, migrants, bootleg pot shops

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York state lawmakers are on the verge of passing a $237 billion budget that includes sweeping plans to build housing, shutter unlicensed cannabis storefronts and help manage the city’s migrant crisis.

The raft of proposals is expected to pass through the Legislature late Friday and into the weekend, almost three weeks after the budget was due.

The governor and leaders of the state Senate and Assembly weighed countless political and business demands during their negotiations behind doors. They also contended with a cyberattack that temporarily shut down the statehouse’s bill-drafting office just as legislation started to flow.

The housing agreement, the budgetary crown jewel for Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, was the most contentious issue of the spending plan.

The goal is to tackle one of the state’s most pressing problems: a housing crisis in New York City, where supply is ever shrinking and prices are astronomical. To do so, Hochul turned to a familiar idea: a tax break for developers who agree to include below-market-rate apartments in new buildings.

New York first offered a tax incentive for developers to build in the 1970s, when the city was in dire financial shape, then more recently required buildings to offer some discounted apartments in order to qualify for the program, known as 421-a.

<bsp-list-loadmore data-module="" class=«PageListStandardB» data-gtm-region=«READ MORE» data-gtm-topic=«No Value» data-show-loadmore=«true» data-gtm-modulestyle=«List B»> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> READ MORE </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> Liquor sales in movie theaters, to-go sales of cocktails included in New York budget agreement </bsp-custom-headline>