Amid a housing crisis in Binghamton, Mayor Jared Kraham announced last Thursday zoning reforms to promote the construction of affordable housing.

The reforms include reducing parking requirements and restrictions on affordable housing development while modernizing construction regulations. Aiming to fast-track construction while keeping housing costs low, the changes come in response to a lingering shortage of affordable housing in the city. Kraham, a Republican, addressed the challenges facing residents and how the reforms will work to eliminate problems.

“[There is] a shortage of safe, quality, affordable housing, [which] manifests in a couple of different ways,” Kraham said. “First and foremost, you have families that are living in substandard housing, that is not up to code, that is potentially dangerous because it is the only type of housing that they can afford. You have families who are ‘rent-burdened,’ which means that they are spending too high of a portion of their monthly income on housing, which means that they can’t have the disposable income for things that they need to improve their lives.”

A primary objective for the reforms is to eliminate parking requirements for seniors and promote affordable housing, which would lower the cost of construction and make more land available to developers. The city aims to reduce all parking requirements by up to 75 percent to support the development of businesses and facilitate construction.

Reducing restrictions on townhouse and condo development, as well as easing building regulations, are among other planned initiatives aiming to increase housing density, provide housing for young professionals and the elderly and expedite construction.

The announcement follows Binghamton’s designation as a pro-housing community in February, which allows the city the opportunity to receive discretionary state funding. Certain programs for funding economic development throughout the state, like the Downtown Revitalization Initiative and the Restore New York Communities Initiative, are exclusively available to pro-housing communities. Gov. Kathy Hochul established the Pro-Housing Community Program to encourage municipalities to “unlock their housing potential.”

“I think [the certification] is also a symbol of the City Hall taking proactive action to become a pro-housing community, a place where development can happen quickly [and] more efficiently than maybe in other places,” Kraham said. “But overall it’s just about doing whatever we can to attract new housing development and investment.”

Along with improving housing, the reforms would also shift Binghamton’s layout from “car-first” to “person-first,” according to Kraham. By reducing parking requirements, he hopes residents will be more inclined to walk, bike or use public transportation, all to achieve the goal of creating a walkable and sustainable community. Rather than creating parking lots for cars, the space can be used to build houses and other community-friendly spaces.

The city’s initiative marks the most recent effort to address the local housing crisis. In recent years, Binghamton has spent about $11 million on affordable housing projects, specifically for families and seniors.

“This proposal balances preserving the character and walkability of our neighborhoods with the realities of construction and financing in 2024,” Binghamton City Councilman Robert Cavanaugh II, a Democrat, said in a press release. “Implementing these reforms will broaden housing options for residents, make use of viable land, reduce costs for builders, and is a good step forward in Binghamton’s effort to address the housing crisis.”