The mayor of a rich New York suburb says wealthy communities 'are losing their minds' over Gov. Kathy Hochul's plan to increase housing

• Gov. Kathy Hochul wants to address New York's severe housing shortage by building more housing.
• Affluent suburban communities around New York City are denouncing the proposal.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul wants to address her state's severe housing shortage by building more housing.

But many of the wealthiest suburban communities around New York City aren't having it. Leaders and activists in towns and villages from Westchester to the Hamptons are denouncing Hochul's plan to boost the housing supply in New York City and its suburbs by 3% over the next decade.

Hochul's New York Housing Compact would start to address the state's skyrocketing home prices and rents, aiming to build 800,000 new units and creating density, particularly near train stations, over the next 10 years.

The mayor of Bronxville Village, an affluent town just north of New York City in Westchester County, recently told Bloomberg News that she's been communicating with 30 mayors of other small suburban communities in the state who oppose Hochul's plan.

She said communities on the Gold Coast of Long Island and in the ritzy Hamptons are freaking out about the potential for more housing.

"People in Nassau and Suffolk are losing their minds," Mayor Mary Marvin told Bloomberg. "They call me up all the time, and by comparison I seem calm."

Critics say it's a top-down approach that doesn't give local communities enough control. Some argue increasing density would overcrowd schools, burden infrastructure, and reduce tree canopy. Proponents say it's the only way to begin to meet demand and create more affordable housing options.

In Bronxville, Hochul has proposed allowing up to 7,000 new units — three times the village's current housing stock of 2,500 homes — around its commuter rail station.

Marvin told Bloomberg that Hochul wouldn't have been elected last fall if she'd campaigned on her housing plan. About 43% of Bronxville residents voted for Hochul's Republican opponent, Lee Zeldin, slightly below the 47% of New Yorkers who supported Zeldin statewide. Both Suffolk and Nassau counties went for Zeldin by wide margins.

Lawmakers in Albany are currently negotiating the state's budget and Democrats are fighting each other over the housing proposal, with some advocating for providing incentives rather than mandates to communities.

The housing crisis isn't limited to New York — cities and states across the country are grappling with an increasingly dire shortage of homes and sharply rising rent and mortgage costs. Wealthier, lower density suburbs — even those with left-leaning politics — are often opposed to increasing housing in their communities.

This fight is playing out on a smaller scale just outside Washington, DC, in the affluent suburb of Arlington, Virginia, where county officials just voted to upzone its single-family neighborhoods, following a deeply contentious years-long debate. The so-called "missing middle" policy will allow developers to build multi-family homes up to six units on lots that previously only allowed single-family homes.