ALBANY COUNTY — On Monday, the county legislature passed a bill that will create a revolving loan fund to connect housing developers with financial, advisory, or educational assistance.

It needs to be signed by the county executive, Daniel McCoy, who supports the bill, to become law.

The initial investment of $1.6 million will include the legislature’s $1 million commitment to address housing in the 2025 county budget.

The law also defines how Albany County will add more resources from its annual undesignated, unappropriated fund balance over the next decade. The county is seeking to partner with private financial institutions as well.

Known as the “Affordable Housing Initiatives Act,” the bill says developers struggle to secure investment for affordable housing in rural and urban areas where it is most needed.

In suburban Guilderland, the Industrial Development Agency has recently defined “workforce housing” that would be eligible for tax breaks in an effort to encourage developers to build it in town.

The county bill says a long-standing guideline for housing budgeting is that people should pay no more than 30 percent of the area’s median income for housing, which is $116,100 for a family of four in Albany County. But 41 percent of Albany County renters are spending over 30 percent of their income on housing.

Annually, renters’ purchasing power fails to keep up with increasing rents, the bill says, stating that, from 2022 to 2023, renters’ wages increased by an average of 3.3 percent, while apartment rents increased by an average of 8.8 percent.

“As rents and housing prices continue to rise, this crisis persists,” the act says.

The act sets up a five-member Affordable Housing Committee that is to develop a plan by Feb. 28, 2027 to address the crisis that will include building new housing as well as repurposing existing buildings.

The committee members, who will serve three-year terms, are to be chosen for their “experience, success, and expertise in the banking, finance, construction, legal, and/or housing development fields.” Two of them will be appointed by the legislature’s chair; two by the county executive, and one by the legislature’s majority leader.

The legislature is predominantly Democratic; McCoy is also a Democrat.

Once a revolving fund is established, applications will be accepted on a rolling basis and will be reviewed by the staff of the Advance Albany County Alliance Local Development Corporation.

All loan applications must demonstrate a minimum 5:1 private sector investment match such that a project awarded $100,000 must include at least $500,000 in private-sector investment.

Last year, the county adopted two initiatives to ease the housing shortage — one to help first-time homebuyers navigate their purchase and the other to provide incentives to county residents building accessory dwelling units.

“This is creating an economic environment where developers who are passionate about uplifting neighborhoods and creating workforce housing options for county residents and their families to turn into homes,” said Joanne Cunningham, who chairs the legislature, in a release this week announcing passage of the Affordable Housing Initiatives Act. “Stable workforce housing creates thriving communities, lowers crime rates, creates generational wealth, and builds civic pride.”

Cunningham spearheaded the bill along with Deputy Chairwoman Wanda Willingham.

“Stable housing,” said Willingham in the release, “saves lives, prevents crime, and builds public pride, plain and simple.”