Sen. Brian Kavanagh to chair NY Senate housing committee

Sen. Brian Kavanagh will lead the New York State Senate’s standing committee on housing, construction and community development, according to sources.

As committee chair, Kavanagh is likely to play a pivotal role in determining the fate of bills related to housing policy for the state and New York City. He assumes the role from Republican Sen. Betty Little.

Elected in 2017, Kavanagh told The Real Deal last month to “expect decisive action” on how the state’s new Democractic majority would approach a variety of housing issues in the upcoming session.

“Everyone can expect that we will have a very strong effort to strengthen the rent laws to protect tenants,” he said ahead of Democratic Conference Leader Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins’ appointment of the committee heads. The state’s rent stabilization laws are set to expire in June.

Long-standing member of the housing committee and a senator since 2002, Liz Krueger was appointed chair of the Senate Finance Committee. The finance committee could review bills including the so-called LLC loophole, which allows virtually unlimited donations to state lawmakers via the shell corporations.

Neither Kavanagh, who represents lower Manhattan and western Brooklyn, or Krueger were available for comment as of Tuesday morning.