Follow The Money Behind The Faith Based Affordable Housing Act

Who's giving money to the guys peddling New York State's proposed Faith Based Affordable Housing Act?

The Baby Boomers among us may remember the famous line from “All The President’s Men,” which was “Follow the money.”

The line was an invention by a screenwriter everyone should read about, William Goldman, who also coined the phrase, “Nobody knows anything.”

That phrase by Goldman, by the way, has been horribly misused in the 21st Century. but when Goldman said it, he was talking specifically about the movie business and why some movies are hits and other movies are flops.

For those of you unfamiliar with the film, or the book it was based on, “All The President's Men" by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, here’s what you need to know:

In the book, Washington Post Reporter, Bob Woodward, said, “The key was the secret campaign cash, and it should all be traced.” Woodward said this in a conversation with then United States Senator Senator, Sam Ervin. Ervin was the chair of what has become referred to historically as the Watergate Committee. The two of them were discussing Woodward and Carl Bernstein’s investigation and how it was connected to former President Nixon.

Goldman simplified that statement Woodward made to “follow the money.”

Decades later, in 2017, Carl Bernstein would resurrect Goldman’s “Follow the Money” line in reference to former President Trump’s numerous reported conflicts of interest.

“Follow the money” has since, unfortunately, become a political truism. If you want to understand why a particular politician is doing something, or why something isn’t being done to a certain politician, you can often find the answer by following the money.

So that’s what we’re going to do today with New York State Assemblyman, Brian Cunningham, who is the sponsor of the Faith-Based Affordable Housing Act. And New York State Senator Andrew Gounardes.

This bill, if signed by Governor Kathy Hochul, would allow hanhallah to run wild all over Sullivan, Orange, Rockland, and parts of Long Island.

Sadly, “follow the money” is a line that applies to all level of local politics. Even right here in Monroe.

Let me give you a quick example

I’ve often wondered why the Town of Monroe Ethics Committee has repeatedly failed to rule against Monroe Town Supervisor Tony Cardone despite literally all of this.

The answer is simple: The Chairman of the Monroe Ethics Committee, Thomas P. Sullivan, recently donated $300 to Cardone Croney, Highway Superintendent James Patterson’s re-election campaign.

This donation, made on September 19th, 2023, came despite a sexual harassment claim being made against Patterson that the Ethics Board probably should have looked into.

Michael Egan, Michael McGinn, and Paul Phelan, all members of the Town of Monroe Ethics Committee, are former United Monroe members and donors.

United Monroe was the voting bloc that elected Supervisor Tony Cardone to the Town Board, and then later, to Town Supervisor.

United Monroe also helped Michael Mcginn win election to the Town of Monroe Board, before he was appointed to the ethics board by Supervisor Cardone in January of 2024.

In the case of Michael Egan, he also recently made a $250 donation to Councilwoman Dorey Houle’s New York State Senate campaign on January 20th, 2024.

So, you can see why our Ethics Committee in Monroe is basically useless.

You just need to follow the money.

That brings us to Mr. Brian Cunningham, Mr. Gounardes, and the Faith Based Affordable Housing Act.

Here’s a summary of what this bill, in the Assembly numbered 2023-A8386 and in the Senate numbered S7791 says:

Enacts the "faith-based affordable housing act" for development on residential land; defines terms; provides that each village, town, and city shall allow the construction and occupation of residential buildings on any covered site up to the specified densities; provides that all residential buildings constructed pursuant to this section in a town, village, or city with fewer than one million inhabitants shall set aside twenty percent of the residential floor area for households earning an average of eighty percent of area median income (The full bill can be found here.)

That doesn’t sound so bad, right?

But that’s just the summary. When you get into the actual text of the legislation, it paints a less rosy picture.

Because what the law actually does is allow religious organizations, for example Vaad Hakiyrah, to override local zoning rules and regulations concerning height, size, and number of housing units on land that it owns.

Vaad Hakiyrah, for those of you just joining us, is the land owning arm of Rebbe Aaron Teitelbaum’s dominant religious faction within the Town of Palm Tree. And hanhallah (Teitelbaum, his brother Zalman Teitelbaum, and friends) own a whole lot of land across New York State.

In Orange County, you’re most likely to encounter hanhallah (leadership) representing Aaron Teitelbaum. In Sullivan County, Zalman.

I’m not entirely sure who owns what on Long Island. I was born on Long Island, but I also haven’t spent much time there since the family moved to Monroe in the ‘80s.

So, this can’t be dismissed as a simple, well intentioned bill designed to build affordable housing.

It’s easy to look at this bill and go, “Oh. That’s nice. The mosque wants to build affordable housing for the homeless on land that it owns, and the town can’t stop them.”

You’re right. That does sound nice. But again, that’s not the only thing this bill does.

This bill, intentionally or unintentionally, empowers very wealthy real estate owners, of various religious affiliations, to build and develop land however they’d like and make it available to whomever they choose.

It’s that last part where I have a problem.

The United States, and New York State in particular, have a housing crisis. We will not solve it by building only single family homes. But we also need to make sure than when new housing is built, that it’s made available to everyone equally.

As we’ve already covered extensively at The Monroe Gazette, when it comes to hanhallah, the “affordable” housing often advertised is anything but, and it’s only made available to members of that specific group.

For example, Clovewood in South Blooming Grove is being pushed as an affordable housing solution, but of the 600 units, only 94 of them are reserved for affordable housing.

And as mentioned, the Rebbe and hanhallah decide who gets to live there.

So if you’re Bnei Yoel, or another group of dissidents living in Kiryas Joel, you’re out of luck on getting access to that supposedly affordable housing.

It also means the rest of us are out of luck as well, since renting to people entirely based on their religious preference is a violation of the federal Fair Housing Act.

In this post, I’m not going to get into the weeds of the bill itself. We’ll save that for another time. What I want to do today is just show you who’s funding the people who are pushing this bill in the Assembly and Senate.

Brian Cunningham - New York State Assembly Member - District 43 - Bill Sponsor

This Faith-Based Affordable Housing Act first appeared in December of 2023. So we’re going to take a look at donations received by the assembly member introducing the bill, from November 2023 to the present.

We’re also only going to look at select donors who made a contribution to Mr. Cunningham of $500 or above. I didn’t list everyone. I’m only interested in those with verifiable real estate industry connections.

I will go back and do some background research on the individuals who have donated over $1,000 to Mr. Cunningham soon.

I am stating this because Mr. Cunningham has received some big, recent donations from Haredi donors.

That by itself is totally cool. No problem there.

But my concern, and the reason I mention this at all, is because I don’t want someone to look at those recent Haredi donation and accuse them of donating because of this Faith-Based Affordable Housing Act.

Maybe they are. Maybe they’re not.

I’m not interested in assumptions, just fact.

So, even though they made donations over $1,000 I didn’t list them because I can’t connect them to the Real Estate business at this time.

Fair? Remember: Haredi or not, we are all on the same side here. We all want affordable housing that’s accessible to everyone.

What we don’t want is housing built by religious organizations who are going to pick and choose who gets to live there based on the religion of proposed tenants.

That’s already a problem in Orange, Sullivan, and Rockland County. Just ask the dissident faction members in the Town of Palm Tree.

Donors

The Business Council, a Pro-Business PAC - $500

The New York State Association of Realtors - $500

Real Estate Board Pac - $500

NYS Building and Construction Trades - $500

Building & Construction Trades Council - $500

Palm Tree Partners, 2 Prag Blvd Monroe NY 10950 United States - $2,000

There are two things worth noting about Palm Tree Partners.

First: The address goes back to Kiryas Joel and Joel Oberlander. There is a Shabse Oberlander who donated $1,500 to Assemblyman Cunningham on December 4th, 2023; however, I cannot verify that these two parties are connected beyond the last name, and that Mr. Shabe Oberlander is also a resident of Kiryas Joel. According to BeenVerified.com, Joel Oberlander may be Shabse’s son.

In the case of Shabse, aside from $500 he gave Cunningham in May of 2023, this $1,500 is the only political contribution he has made since 2008.

Second: Thus far, this is the only campaign contribution Palm Tree Partners have ever made. So it was set up specifically to pay the Assemblyman.

New York Real Estate Chamber - $3,000

Alexander Rovt (billionaire real estate investor) $3,000

So, we don’t have what we have with Senator Skoufis, where we can verifiably demonstrate that he received $70,000 in a single day from hanhallah, with $30,000 coming from people involved with Keen Equities LLC.

But we do have some big donations from businesses, pacs, and individuals who will directly benefit from all this new construction.

New York State Senator Andrew Gounardes - District 26 - Bill Sponsor

Now let’s take a look at the State Senator. Again, we’re looking from when the bill was first introduced to the present.

Donors

Jeffrey Gural - GFP Real Estate - $5,000

2291 LLC and Grassi Union Street LLC - $5,000 ←- Used a hotel for its address

Gowanus Owner LLC - $5,000

Midwood Management Corp. - $5,000

All of the above came within a week from each other in January of 2024 (the 2nd-11th), after the bill appeared in the Senate.

In addition there is: Moshe Gross - $5,000 (via CRE MANAGEMENT CORP. a property management company) who donated on November 8th, 2023.

$25,000 in 3 months. Not a bad haul for the senator.

$11,500 in 3 months for the Assemblyman. Also not a bad haul.

I think everyone should keep an eye on future donations received by these two.

The senator in particular, has received some questionable donations recently. That’s something to flag for when this bill comes up for a vote.

You can use this tool, courtesy of the New York State Board of Elections, and follow the money for yourself. It’s pretty easy to use.

I’ll have more on this bill, its donors, and the local impact it’ll have on us if passed real soon.

Consider this post just the start of the investigative process, not the end.