Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, the Republican candidate for governor, has positioned himself strongly against effort to allow more housing construction, multi-family or otherwise. He did so again on Tuesday when the two pols met for their first and only head-to-head debate on NY1/Spectrum News.

After Hochul expressed remorse that she hadn’t fought harder for more housing construction when she first took office, and criticized Nassau County’s resistance to it, Blakeman actually bragged that his opposition to Hochul’s reforms had driven up the cost of housing in his county.

“If you bought a house four years ago in Nassau County for $600,000, it’s now worth $850,000 because of my policies. I have created a quarter of a million dollars in wealth for you and your families,” Blakeman retorted — framing the high cost of housing as a plus.

A new poll from pro-housing group Open New York shows New Yorkers may not agree: Nearly four-in-five New York voters support building more multi-family housing near rail stations, according to the poll — including large majorities in both parties.

Read the full story over at Streetsblog Empire.

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