An array of industry leaders met for a roundtable discussion on affordability with three New York state senators today/Wednesday.
Sitting around a table on Hudson Valley Community College’s Troy campus, eight individuals with experience in a range of fields met with Republican senators Dan Stec, Jake Ashby, and Jim Tedisco to discuss affordability in the state.
An increase in the cost of living was front of mind for many of the panelists. For Abbie Kovacik, executive director of Brightside Up, an organization dedicated to improving childcare options in the Capital Region, affordability manifests in the skyrocketing cost of childcare.
“It is more expensive for a toddler or an infant to go to childcare than it is to send your freshman to HVCC. So, that’s difficult for parents who are often at the beginning of their careers to afford childcare. In New York state we do have childcare assistance. Each of the county Department of Social Services distributes childcare assistance based on the family’s need. Currently, the qualifying benchmark is 85% of the state’s median income,” said Kovacik.
While assistance programs exist, Kovacik noted that much of those funds are already assigned.
“And so, we have many families who are seeking childcare assistance in order to afford childcare but are unable to get that. So, it’s very difficult to afford childcare. And if we had a group of families here, they would likely say that’s one of the biggest burdens they have. Families get through the first five years of their child’s life and then they breathe easy,” said Kovacik.
Another way the rising cost of living manifests is in local restaurants. Herbie’s Burger’s co-founder Aaron Wilson said local bureaucracies can often be big hurdles for small businesses.
“We tend to shoot for downtown areas because we don’t want to see the downtowns fail. But it seems like towns are begging people to open up downtown but when you say ‘ok, I’ll do that,’ they try to stop you every way. Like, well, you need to get this permit, you got to get this inspection, I don’t know your sign might be too big. Meanwhile a larger business who has a skyscraper of lawyers and architects and engineers can just get through, pay the fines, they have the ability to just show up and take care of this stuff,” said Wilson.
Wilson also linked escalating costs to worsening mental health and higher staff turnover for locally-owned restaurants.
“We are seeing homelessness on the rise, we are seeing crime on the rise, we are seeing the response times from police also going up. I’m seeing way more mental illness and drug addiction and, frankly, people who just can’t afford to go to our little fast-food restaurant anymore. And, on top of that, you have our staff who obviously want a livable wage, they would like insurance, they would like childcare, we would like to give them all those things, but then you’re not going to come into my spot and buy a $45 burger,” said Wilson.
Following the forum, Ashby, whose 43rd district encompasses portions of Albany, Rensselaer and Washington counties, said legislators from both sides of the political spectrum will have to work together to make New York more affordable.
“You talk about unlikely participants coming together. What do you think is driving that? That’s the unaffordability we’re facing in New York state and we as elected officials need to be able to come together and make those reforms. Time continues to slip away and we continue to see people leaving [New York] but that doesn’t have to be the case,” said Ashby.
