We are very pleased to report that the so-called “Faith Based Affordable Housing Act” — which would override local zoning and landmarks regulations to allow destruction of historic sites and out-of-scale construction in their place — did not even make it to the floor of the State Legislature for a vote this session, which just ended. This in spite of a well-funded campaign spearheaded by real estate interests and land use deregulation groups, and surprisingly broad support from state legislators, including local State Senators Brian Kavanagh and Brad Hoylman-Sigal.

But Village Preservation reached out to every member of the State Legislature to point out the dangers of the bill, which has been misleadingly packaged as promoting housing affordability and helping religious institutions. And we led a campaign that generated thousands of letters from the public to state legislators calling out the deep problems with the bill as currently drafted.

While this is an important victory, it’s not necessarily a permanent one. We’ll have to remain vigilant as well-funded real estate and de-regulation forces will no doubt seek to advance this bill again in future sessions.