There was a time in New York when the phrase “starter home” meant exactly that, a modest house, a manageable mortgage and the first step toward putting down roots in your own community.

I remember my first home in Latham, a small fixer-upper that was far from perfect but exactly right for us just starting out. It represented possibility. Today, for too many young people across upstate New York, that phrase sounds more like a punchline than a plan.

The numbers tell a sobering story. Since 2019, home prices in New York have climbed by roughly 60%. The statewide average sale price now hovers well above half a million dollars, while inventory has tightened to historic lows.

This strain is particularly clear in the Capital Region. According to the region’s 2025 Housing Affordability Study a single-person household earning 70% of the Area Median Income cannot afford a median-priced home in any of the four Capital Region counties (Albany, Schenectady, Saratoga, Rensselaer). For young residents locally, the math simply does not work.

The result? Bidding wars, waived inspections, escalation clauses and young people wondering how they are supposed to compete when they are already juggling student loans, car payments, childcare and rising grocery bills.

A December 2025 report from the New York State Comptroller’s Office underscores what most of us at that age, or with kids, or grandkids at that age already know: Generation Z (born 1997-2012) and younger Millennials (born 1981-1996) in New York face mounting economic and affordability challenges.

The report points to a shrinking pool of entry-level jobs, rising unemployment pressures tied in part to automation and artificial intelligence, higher housing costs and growing student debt burdens. In short, the very generation poised to become first-time homebuyers is facing structural headwinds at every turn.

But statistics alone do not capture the deeper issue. The real problem is that New York has made it increasingly difficult, and increasingly expensive, to build or own a home in the first place.

In Albany, we often hear talk about affordability.

Yet at the same time, new mandates and regulatory layers continue to drive up construction costs. All-electric building requirements, complex permitting processes, lengthy environmental reviews and restrictive zoning rules have added uncertainty and expense to projects that were already challenging. Each added mandate may be well-intentioned in isolation, but collectively they raise the cost of entry for builders and developers.

When the cost of building rises, developers build less. When less is built, supply shrinks. And when supply shrinks, prices climb. It is basic economics, but it has very real human consequences.

Over the past year, several prominent local builders say they are moving operations elsewhere or exiting the industry entirely, citing rising costs and regulatory hurdles. When the pipeline shrinks, young New Yorkers are the ones left paying the price.

The rental market tells a similar story. More than one-third of young renters now spend over 30 percent of their income on rent and utilities, a threshold widely considered financially burdensome. For many that percentage is much higher. When so much of a paycheck goes toward keeping a roof overhead, there is little leftover to save for a down payment, pay student loans, invest in a child’s future or plan for retirement.

The traditional path from renting to owning becomes a loop rather than a ladder.

Recent changes to landlord-tenant laws have also produced unintended consequences. Protecting tenants from bad actors is important, but we must also recognize that many landlords in our communities are not large corporations, rather small local property owners, retirees, working families and individuals who rely on rental income to cover their own mortgages and expenses.

When the legal process to address nonpayment or lease violations becomes prolonged and costly, some of these property owners simply exit the market, resulting in higher rents for units that remain.

The truth is: we cannot regulate our way into affordability. We must build our way there.

That means reassessing policies that increase costs without increasing supply. It means streamlining approvals when appropriate, so projects are not tied up for years. It means encouraging responsible development where infrastructure can support it, and restoring balance so that housing is a viable investment again. It also means acknowledging that our upstate and suburban communities have different infrastructure realities than New York City, and our policies must reflect that diversity.

New York’s strength has always been its communities: families who want to stay close to grandparents, young professionals eager to invest in neighborhoods where they grew up, veterans returning home to start the next chapter of their lives. If we fail to make housing attainable, we risk losing that next generation to states where opportunity is more abundant, not because they want to leave, but because they feel they have no other choice.

Affordable housing is not an abstract policy debate. It’s about whether our children can afford to live near us. It’s about whether a teacher, a nurse or a small-business owner can purchase a home in the community they serve. And it’s about whether New York remains a place where hard work still leads to stability and ownership.

We owe it to New York’s young people to get this right, not with slogans, but with serious reform. Reform that restores balance, encourages growth and makes the dream of homeownership not a relic of the past, but a realistic future once again.

Assemblywoman Walsh represents the 112th Assembly District, encompassing parts of Saratoga, Schenectady, and Fulton Counties. For more information on Assemblywoman Walsh, please follow her on Facebook.

© The Saratogian