Housing

Senate Resolution R 1238 amends a prior resolution to establish a required process for allocating $200,000 in state funds for housing initiatives during the 2024-25 fiscal year. It mandates that funds be distributed only after an itemized list of grantees (including specific organizations like Ali Forney Center and Broadway Housing Communities Inc.) and their allocated amounts is approved by the Senate's temporary president, budget director, and a majority vote of all elected senators. This procedural resolution directly affects the listed organizations by confirming their receipt of designated funding amounts, with no new policy changes to housing programs.

Relates to actions and proceedings seeking an abatement of rent based on violations of the housing maintenance code, applicable housing standards, the building code, or the health code; relates to the number of housing judges assigned to certain actions.

Authorizes New Hour for Women and Children LI, Inc. to receive a real property tax exemption for the 2022-2023, 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 assessment rolls.

Prohibits landlords from including incorrect information relating to rent decontrol in certain leases and renewals thereof; imposes a violation punishable by a fine of $1000 for a violation by a landlord; requires the standardization of certain notices pertaining to units subject to the Affordable New York Housing Program.

This bill sets a maximum 16% annual interest rate and a minimum 2% annual interest rate on late payments for residential property taxes, replacing higher local rates. It applies to residential properties including condos and co-ops, but excludes vacant and abandoned properties listed on a statewide registry. The interest rate will be tied to the prime rate (as defined by the commissioner), with the initial rate based on 2026 data and updated every five years. This limits how much interest homeowners can be charged on overdue residential tax bills, ensuring rates stay within the 2%-16% range.

This bill creates the Vacant Rental Improvement Program, providing grants of up to $75,000 per unit to owners of small rental buildings (five or fewer units) located outside New York City. It requires renovated units to be leased at affordable rates - defined as 80% of area median income - for a 10-year period, with new owners inheriting the affordability requirement. The program prioritizes vacant units or those with code violations and establishes a dedicated "rental improvement fund" for financing. Owners who violate the lease terms risk full repayment of grants.

Establishes the block by block homeownership program to provide capital subsidies for the purpose of constructing, preserving, and rehabilitating one- to two- family dwellings throughout the state, outside of NYC.

S 7798 makes technical adjustments to New York State's 2025-26 aid to localities budget, specifically reallocating $90 million from the General Fund to the "Underserved Communities and Civic Engagement Program." The bill directs funding to seven specific nonprofit organizations, including the Asian American Foundation, New York Urban League, and Catholic Charities Community Services, for services like housing assistance, workforce training, and healthcare in underserved areas. This is a procedural budget modification with no new policy changes, simply adjusting existing allocations. The bill became law on May 23, 2025, and applies immediately to the 2025-26 fiscal year.

Standardizes the language across the relevant court acts to allow tenants statewide to sue in the county where the real property at issue is located in matters relating to a tenancy or lease; requires the Office of Court Administration to develop necessary forms, procedures and deliver a report.

Enacts into law major components of legislation necessary to implement the state education, labor, housing and family assistance budget for the 2025-2026 state fiscal year; relates to contracts for excellence; relates to calculation of state aid to school districts; relates to a statewide dual enrollment policy; extends workforce education; relates to maximum class sizes for special education; extends chapter 82 of the laws of 1995; relates to foundation aid; provides for special apportionment for salary expenses; provides for special apportionment for public pension accruals; establishes a dual enrollment program; relates to universal pre-kindergarten and the Statewide universal full-day pre-kindergarten; extends provisions relating to paperwork reduction; relates to funding a program for work force education; extends provisions for monitors in the Hempstead union free school district, the Wyandanch union free school district and the Rochester city school district; relates to supplementary funding for the East Ramapo central school district; extends provisions authorizing the Roosevelt union free school district to finance deficits by the issuance of serial bonds; relates to requirements for zero emissions school buses; relates to certain instructional requirements for nonpublic schools (Part A); establishes a universal free school meals program; repeals provisions relating to the community eligibility provision state subsidy (Part B); relates to school policies regarding the use of internet-enabled devices during the school day (Part C); relates to scholarships awarded to part-time students by the New York state higher education services corporation; makes conforming changes; repeals provisions relating to tuition awards for part-time undergraduate students; relates to the New York state part-time scholarship award program (Part D); relates to authorizing the excelsior scholarship cover the cost of tuition in the state university of New York system (Part E); creates a New York opportunity promise scholarship for certain students who matriculated at a SUNY or CUNY community college, are over 25 years of age, have applied for certain tuition assistance programs, are eligible for resident tuition rates, and have not already obtained a postsecondary degree (Part F); provides for reduction of taxes pursuant to shelter rent (Part L); utilizes reserves in the mortgage insurance fund for the neighborhood preservation program, the rural preservation program, the rural rental assistance program, and the New York state supportive housing program (Part N); extends certain provisions relating to restructuring financing for residential school placements (Part O); authorizes child care support centers which are certified by the office of children and family services to place individuals as substitute caregivers at licensed and registered child care programs (Part P); relates to the provision of public assistance allowances to public assistance recipients upon the birth of a new child (Part Q); relates to increasing the standards of monthly need for aged, blind and disabled persons living in the community (Part R); relates to the effectiveness of provisions of law relating to the powers and duties of the commissioner of social services relating to the appointment of a temporary operator (Part S); relates to the healthy terminals act; amends certain definitions relating to covered airport location and covered airport workers; provides for the applicable standard rate as meaning the wage and benefit rates designated by the commissioner of labor (Part T); limits the amount of liquidated damages for certain frequency of pay violations (Part U); relates to civil penalties for violations of certain wage payment provisions (Part V); increases the civil penalties for violations of child labor laws (Part W); establishes a database for the employment of minors; allows for registration of minors and employers in such database; digitizes the process for minors to apply for employment (Part X); expands certain payments previously made to parents of deceased service members to spouses and minor children of such service members; authorizes the commissioner of veterans' affairs to conduct an outreach program for the purpose of informing the public and persons who may be eligible to receive an annuity (Part Y); requires submission of an annual report on the New York state museum (Part AA); decreases the length of the suspension period applicable to certain individuals who lose their jobs due to a labor dispute, such as a strike, and who seek to obtain unemployment insurance benefits (Part BB); requires social services for a city of a population of a million or more shall spend a certain amount of local funds for child care block grants (Part CC); establishes the crime of evading arrest by concealment of identity (Part DD); expands the merit time allowance and limited credit time allowance programs (Part EE); authorizes the commissioner of education to appoint a monitor to oversee the Mount Vernon city school district; requires such monitor to schedule three public hearings; requires the monitor and board of education to develop a proposed financial plan for the 2025--2026 school year and the four subsequent school years (Part FF); relates to the conversion to condominium ownership for the preservation of expiring affordable housing in the city of New York; provides expanded homeownership opportunities from the conversion of certain residential rental buildings to condominium status by property owners that commit to preserve the inventory of expiring affordable housing in the city of New York (Part GG); establishes the housing access voucher pilot program (Part HH); amends section 2 of chapter 868 of the laws of 1975 constituting the New York state financial emergency act for the city of New York, in relation to the effectiveness thereof (Part II); establishes the city of Buffalo parking authority; provides for its powers, duties and obligations (Part JJ); increases the maximum benefit rate for unemployment insurance (Part KK); amends provisions relating to discovery reform (Part LL); provides for the administration of certain funds and accounts related to the 2025-2026 budget; authorizes certain payments and transfers; relates to the administration of certain funds and accounts (Part MM).