New York Assembly Bill A06135

New York 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 2/26/25
• Refer: 2/26/25
• Refer: 1/7/26

Caption

Relates to creating a new acquisition fund for community land trusts located in New York state; provides that moneys of the fund shall be expended solely to carry out the affordable home ownership development program exclusively for community land trusts; defines community land trusts.

Summary

This bill would amend New York’s private housing finance law to recognize community land trusts as eligible applicants for certain housing programs and to define what qualifies as a community land trust. Under the bill, a community land trust must be a 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose primary purpose is creating and preserving permanently affordable housing, that sells homes to qualified owner-occupants or rents units to low-income households, and that leases the underlying land to the occupant under a 99-year initial lease with renewal rights. The bill also creates a new New York State Community Land Trust Acquisition Fund within the Affordable Housing Corporation. Money deposited into the fund, from state appropriations or other sources, would be used solely for community land trusts and only to support the affordable home ownership development program under article 19 of the private housing finance law. The act would take effect immediately.

Impact

The bill would expand the private housing finance law’s eligible applicant categories to include community land trusts and would add a new statutory definition for that entity. It would also create a dedicated acquisition fund, changing how state housing resources can be allocated by restricting those funds to community land trust projects only. In practical terms, the measure would support acquisition of property and long-term affordability preservation for nonprofit land trust models, affecting the Affordable Housing Corporation, participating nonprofits, municipalities, and low-income or first-time homebuyers served by community land trusts.

Sentiment

The available record shows no committee transcript or vote history, so there is no documented floor or committee debate to gauge broad sentiment. Based on the bill’s structure and purpose, it appears to be a pro-affordable-housing measure aimed at strengthening a specific nonprofit homeownership model. The absence of recorded opposition or amendments in the provided materials suggests the bill was introduced as a targeted housing policy proposal rather than a controversial measure.

Contention

No specific points of contention are documented in the provided materials. Potential areas of debate, if the bill were considered further, could include whether dedicating a separate acquisition fund to community land trusts is the best use of state housing dollars, how narrowly the definition of community land trust should be drawn, and whether the 99-year land lease model is sufficiently flexible for local housing needs. Any such concerns are not attributed to any named legislator or stakeholder in the record provided.