With the State budget now passed, the bill designed to override local landmark and zoning protections is back on the front burner again in Albany, and could have incredibly damaging long-term consequences for neighborhood and historic preservation. The misleadingly named “Faith-Based Affordable Housing Act” has little to do with affordable housing, and certainly doesn’t inspire much faith. It would nullify all future landmark designations to allow oversized developments on any religious site, and would override local zoning regulations to allow out-of-scale buildings and towers on residential side streets and other low-scale areas. The bill’s unclear language even threatens current landmark designations, and the bill’s sponsors have refused to address any of these concerns.

Read more about what the “Faith-Based Affordable Housing Act” would do here.

The bill has plenty of sponsors in the Senate and Assembly, and they, along with the anti-preservation, pro-deregulation group behind the bill, are waging an aggressive campaign to secure its passage in this legislative session. If passed, the legislation would clearly be the nose of the camel — a first step toward stripping away landmark and zoning protections for neighborhoods and historic sites to enable more, and more oversized, developments. Read our joint letter to bill sponsors here, and our letter to local State Senators Brad Hoylman-Sigal and Brian Kavanaugh, who are sponsors of the bill, here.

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