New Yorkers are packing up and leaving because they simply can’t afford to stay. Taylor Rivers, a 24-year-old home health aide in East New York, is one of them. She earns $34,000 a year and lives in her grandfather’s basement because she can’t find a place that fits her $1,200 monthly budget. She told Gothamist she is considering moving to New Jersey or Texas just to get some peace of mind.
This isn’t just one person’s struggle. Between 2020 and 2025, New York’s population fell by approximately 200,000 individuals according to U.S. Census data. For the first time, more people are leaving the state than moving in. A Quinnipiac poll released earlier this month confirms that the cost of living is now the number one worry for voters heading into Election Day.
The Candidates’ Plans
Gov. Kathy Hochul and her Republican challenger, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, have very different takes on how to fix this mess. Hochul has shifted her strategy away from strict mandates and is now pushing to loosen regulations to encourage more development. She told Gothamist in an interview earlier this year, “I want to build more housing.” She added that the state has “lacked the ambition to do this in our state for decades and decades.”
Blakeman, on the other hand, has focused his pitch on upstate cities like Syracuse rather than just the five boroughs. He told Gothamist in August that his goal is to revitalize those areas. “We’ve got to get these cities back up on their feet and make sure that they become economic areas where people will want to live,” Blakeman said. During the candidates’ lone debate earlier this month, he highlighted rising home prices in Long Island as a sign of success, noting median prices jumped from $750,000 to over $960,000 since October 2020.
A Reality Check for Voters
Blakeman used those rising numbers to brag about wealth creation. “I’m proud of the fact that I created that wealth for your family,” he said at the debate. But for people like Rivers, that wealth is locked behind a door they can’t afford to open. The governor’s plan relies on getting cities to say yes to more apartments, while the challenger wants to spread the population out to less expensive areas.
Neither plan has stopped the exodus yet. Rivers summed up the feeling of millions of residents who feel priced out of the city they grew up in. She said she just wants to know she can “afford the day off to sit in bed and do nothing because I know there’s food in my fridge.” That basic security is what’s “Whether it’s in New York, or not,” she noted, highlighting the real risk that the state might lose its workforce entirely.
What Comes Next
The next concrete event is Election Day on Wednesday, November 4, 2026. New Yorkers will cast their ballots to decide who gets to lead the state through this housing crisis. The results will determine whether the state continues its current regulatory approach or shifts toward Blakeman’s strategy of regional economic development. This vote will define whether families like Rivers can stay or if they will have to keep looking elsewhere.
This is opinion and commentary from the RapForMayor team.
