Friends -

You may have heard news from last week that, as of November next year, New York state will have one fewer representative in Congress.

You may have also heard that, if the U.S. Census had counted just 89 more individuals, New York would have retained all 27 of its house seats. Yes, you read that correctly - 89.

I’d like to take a moment to explain what happened, and how this could have gone differently under more adept leadership from our governor.

Okay, here goes. Every ten years, based on information from the U.S. Census, the House of Representatives goes through reapportionment — the reallocation of House seats due to changes in population.

It’s the job of the governor to make sure that our state engages in aggressive Census outreach to gather the most accurate data possible about New York’s population. (This information is used to determine how much federal aid our state gets, as well as deciding the size of our congressional delegation.)

But last year, Governor Cuomo waited until the last possible second to release funding for Census outreach, denying community organizations sufficient time to ensure responses. That, coupled with a pandemic, of course, led to undercounting, particularly in Upstate New York which, unlike New York City, is entirely dependent on state funding for Census outreach. I must add that I am nonetheless proud of the extensive outreach done by members of our community to help ensure New Yorkers responded to the Census, despite the Governor’s lack of action.

And truthfully, the relative lack of population growth New York experienced over the past ten years would not have happened if not for our housing crisis.

Housing in our state is simply too expensive, and zoning laws make it too difficult to build new homes. In our district, over one-fourth of renters spend over half their income on rent each year.

I am working hard to advance policies that will ensure housing justice for all. In 2019, we passed the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019, which helped to provide critical protections for renters.

But our state will need a comprehensive overhaul of housing policy in order to prevent mass exodus of residents. Regulation and subsidies alone cannot get the job done — we need more homes, particularly close to transit. And, of course, we need a governor who does his job, and does it in a timely manner.

All my best,

Alessandra Biaggi

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