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By Michael Hill

The Associated Press

For decades, the middle-class towns of single-family homes that ring many American cities have used zoning laws to ensure they stay much like they looked in the suburban boom after World War II.

Apartment buildings in many places are simply not allowed, and that exclusion 鈥� intentionally or not 鈥� has historically also kept out people of color.

Facing housing shortages, several states and the U.S. government have tried to break through those barriers with methods such as giving municipalities homebuilding goals or overriding certain local zoning restrictions.

In New York, one such proposal from Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul has run into howls of opposition in one of the birthplaces of the American suburb. Critics on Long Island, a sprawling expanse of communities totaling 2.9 million people, are denouncing provisions that would set growth targets, drive denser development near train stations and sometimes let state officials override local zoning decisions.

鈥淗er plan would flood YOUR neighborhood with THOUSANDS of new apartments鈥� reads one opposition mailing. Others warn that Long Island would become New York City’s 鈥渟ixth borough.鈥� Critics, many of them Republican officials, claim Hochul’s proposal would strip away local control.

鈥淲e’re already a densely populated area; where are you going to build?鈥� asked Republican state Sen. Jack Martins, who noted his past support for affordable housing as a local mayor. 鈥淎re we going to start tearing down single-family homes to put up apartment buildings?鈥�

Hochul’s wide-ranging plan to spur creation of 800,000 new homes statewide has been mischaracterized, she said. It was a sticking point in New York state budget talks last week, with Hochul’s fellow Democrats in control of the Legislature seeking a plan with fewer mandates and more incentives.

New York is following the lead of other states trying to alleviate housing crunches by chipping away at local restrictions on building.

Connecticut, amid there over whether 鈥渆xclusionary zoning鈥� rules聽worsen racial segregation, has begun requiring cities and towns to allow in-law apartments unless they follow an opt-out process.聽听补苍诲听聽have passed laws to dramatically curtail single-family zoning, and both states have targets for new housing.

The accusations of government overreach in New York echo claims in some of those other states.

The state of California last month filed a lawsuit against Huntington Beach, accusing the coastal community of disregarding state laws requiring it to approve more affordable housing and build more than 13,000 homes over eight years. Huntington Beach filed its own lawsuit, claiming the state would override local control 鈥渋n order to eliminate the suburban character of the city and replace it with a high-density mecca.鈥�

After Donald Trump became president, his administration聽聽adopted during the Obama administration that required places receiving certain types of federal funding to analyze housing stock and come up with plans to combat patterns of segregation and discrimination. Trump characterized it as an attempt to abolish suburbs.

President Joe Biden’s adminstration has聽聽requiring house lots to be of a certain size, have ceilings a certain height, and be only for a single family, as tools abused in some places to discriminate against people who aren’t white.

Hochul has cast her plan for New York as an effort to help the state thrive, rather than as a tool of desegregation. It would give towns multiple paths to meet housing targets. It would have a larger impact in New York City’s suburbs, where three-year home creation targets would be 3 percent, compared to 1 percent for upstate areas. The higher goals would apply to Long Island.

If municipalities don’t meet targets, developers could pursue a process in which the state could allow projects to go forward. Another provision would require localities to rezone areas within a half-mile of commuter rail stations unless the area already meets density requirements.

Hochul said too many restrictions on new construction have contributed to sky-high home prices that are shutting out both low-income and middle-class workers.

In Nassau County, the part of the island closest to New York City, home prices rose 31 percent between 2018 and last year, according to the New York State Association of Realtors. The average home price there is now $679,000. One-bedroom apartments can go for $3,000 per month.

鈥淚 just settled on the fact that I’m going to be living at home with my parents until I move off Long Island because there’s nobody I know who lives outside of their parent’s home on Long Island,鈥� said Erin Curley, 25, of Massapequa Park.

Long Island is the home of Levittown, famous as a model for the modern suburb of affordable houses separated by tidy yards. It also had an early covenant that barred homeowners from renting or selling to people who weren’t Caucasians. Advocates see the legacy of such practices today.

The president of Long Island-based ERASE Racism, Laura Harding, said while some localities have taken steps to build affordable housing, others maintain the sort of exclusionary zoning practices behind racial segregation. They can be 鈥渟ubtle things,鈥� like a predominantly white town giving preferences to local residents for housing programs, she said.

鈥淭his isn’t just about poor, low-income Black people and Latino people, which is what the prevailing stereotype is when you hear 鈥榓ffordability,’鈥� Harding said. 鈥淭his is about everyone who is literally struggling to afford to stay in the communities that they know, or into a new home.鈥�

Housing advocates blame local officials for too often rejecting plans for multifamily housing that would ease that pressure. One prime example is the 146-unit affordable housing development Matinecock Court on an East Northport site that was cleared earlier this year. Ground is expected to be broken later in 2023.

The project was first proposed in 1978.

鈥淚t has taken 44 years and many lawsuits,鈥� said Pilar Moya-Mancera, executive director of not-for-profit Housing Help Inc. 鈥淭hat’s what it takes for Long Island to build multifamily, affordable housing in a white neighborhood.鈥�