A three-year effort to spur housing growth in the Hudson Valley with state grant money has just culminated in the final distribution of funds from a $150 million program.
State officials announced recently they had awarded $22 million to support three housing development plans in Peekskill, Haverstraw and Newburgh, exhausting what was left in the Mid-Hudson Momentum Fund created in 2023 as part of a statewide housing push by Gov. Kathy Hochul.
The latest awards were:
- $10 million for the Haverstraw Chair Factory Project, a $300 million plan to turn a vacant industrial site next to the Hudson River into a 450-unit apartment complex priced for mixed incomes, along with a hotel and retail and community space
- $8.75 million for One Lafayette, a five-story building with 144 affordably priced apartments in the city of Newburgh
- $3.25 million for the SoLo Project, a 231-unit complex in the city of Peekskill that will include 100 affordable units
Why NY awarded the housing grants
The Mid-Hudson grant fund was a regionally targeted piece of Hochul's housing strategy that focused on a suburban area with stifling home costs and pent-up demand. One purpose of the state aid was to defray expensive infrastructure costs that could delay or derail housing plans.
Several
projects boosted by the first two grant rounds in 2024 and 2025 are now coming to fruition. Just last month, state and local leaders celebrated the completion of a Mount Vernon apartment complex that was awarded a $5 million Mid-Hudson Momentum grant last year. The two-building QWest Towers offer 228 affordable apartments, as well as ground-floor commercial space and rooftop recreation.
Elsewhere in Westchester County, a huge project is under construction at an abandoned hospital site in Port Chester, aided by a $10 million Mid-Hudson Momentum grant awarded last year. The Westchester Crossing development is set to feature roughly 1,000 apartments, along with a hotel and stores at the former United Hospital property.
In Rockland County, a developer broke ground in June on a 81-unit affordable apartment building in the village of Haverstraw, the recipient of a $2.5 million Mid-Hudson Momentum grant in the first funding round in 2024. Units in the 30 West project will be priced for tenants earning up to 60% of the area's median income, or around $68,000 for a single person.
In announcing the final grant awards, Hochul said the Mid-Hudson Momentum Fund has "helped communities across the region tackle housing shortages, strengthen critical infrastructure and move ambitious development plans forward."
Which communities were eligible for housing grants?
The grant funding was tied to another part of Hochul's housing strategy: a commitment by local leaders to welcome more housing. Grants were offered only to communities that had met state-prescribed growth targets or pledged to adopt policies that would allow more homes to be built. Those that declined to become "Pro-Housing Communities" were ineligible for Mid-Hudson Momentum grants and other types of state funding.
“By prioritizing Pro-Housing Communities that are growing or taking steps to show they support expanding housing opportunities, streamlining development, and removing barriers to responsible growth, Governor Hochul is helping turn ambitious local plans into real results," RuthAnne Visnauskas, commissioner of the state Homes and Community Renewal office, said in a statement.
State officials project more than 11,000 homes in all ultimately could be built through projects benefiting from the $150 million Mid-Hudson Momentum Fund.
Dangling state money to encourage growth was the most politically palatable part of a carrot-and-stick approach Hochul presented in 2023 to tackle New York's high housing costs. The "stick" side — mandatory growth targets and dense zoning around commuter rail stations — caused so much resistance in the Hudson Valley and Long Island that lawmakers dropped those proposals from that year's state budget.
Chris McKenna covers government and politics for The Journal News and USA TODAY Network. Reach him at CMcKenna@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: NY reveals $22M in housing grants for Mid-Hudson region. See where
