Housing

This bill extends temporary provisions allowing the New York State Housing Finance Agency to issue bonds and provide financing for multi-family housing and mortgage programs until July 23, 2027. It maintains existing bond limits ($10.92 billion total, with $2.4 billion for mortgage programs) and sets income eligibility limits for borrowers at 125%-150% of federal standards. The agency can continue administering current housing programs, including neighborhood revitalization, under these extended terms. The changes directly affect the agency, housing developers, and low-to-moderate income residents seeking financed housing.

The "Private Activity Bond Allocation Act of 2025" establishes a new formula for distributing the statewide volume ceiling for certain tax-exempt private activity bonds. These bonds are used by state and local agencies, as well as other entities, for purposes such as housing, economic development, and job creation. The act divides the statewide ceiling into three main portions: a local agency set-aside based on population, a state agency set-aside, and a statewide bond reserve. This structure aims to provide an orderly and efficient process for allocating these bonds, which require an allocation to maintain their federal tax-exempt status.

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.