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.
Bill S 7320 prohibits discriminatory practices by real estate appraisers based on protected characteristics like race, gender identity, or familial status. It defines "real estate appraisal" broadly to include all residential appraisals and supporting documents, applying to both licensed and unlicensed individuals. The bill makes it an unlawful practice to base an appraisal on these characteristics of current or prospective property owners or those in the vicinity. It allows for sanctions, license suspension, revocation, or fines up to $2,000 for violations, with half of these fines allocated to a fund supporting fair housing compliance programs and addressing appraisal discrimination.
Bill S 7526, known as the "private activity bond allocation act of 2025," establishes a new formula for distributing the state's annual volume ceiling for certain tax-exempt private activity bonds. This bill directly affects state and local government agencies, as well as other entities that issue these bonds for projects such as housing, economic development, and job creation.
The bill divides the statewide bond volume ceiling into three equal portions. One-third is set aside for local agencies based on population, another third for state agencies, and the final third forms a statewide bond reserve for additional allocations to either state or local entities. This system aims to create an orderly and efficient process for allocating these bonds, which require an allocation to qualify for federal tax exemption.
This bill allows any town in New York with a 2020 census population between 69,000 and 69,500 to create a homestead exemption for real property taxes. It enables qualifying towns to offer an exemption similar to the existing STAR school tax relief program, capping the exemption at $50,000 in property value. Property owners must apply annually using a standard form, and the exemption applies only to eligible homes meeting the same criteria as STAR. This directly affects homeowners in qualifying towns by potentially reducing their local property tax burden.
This bill increases the New York State Housing Finance Agency's borrowing limit to $36.28 billion for housing-related bonds. It directly affects the agency and future housing finance programs, allowing it to issue more bonds to fund affordable housing developments, renovations, and related projects. The key provision raises the existing cap from $31 billion to $36.28 billion, expanding the agency's capacity to finance housing without changing the types of projects it supports. This is a straightforward funding authorization, not a new program or policy change.
This bill raises the New York State Housing Finance Agency's (HFA) borrowing limit for bonds from $31 billion to $36.28 billion. It directly affects the HFA by allowing it to issue more bonds for housing programs, including affordable housing, health facilities, and senior services projects. The increase applies to bonds issued for these purposes, excluding those used to refinance existing debt. This change enables the agency to expand housing financing without requiring new legislative approval for each project.
