ALBANY—The New York State Senate Independent Democratic Conference, led by State Senate co-Majority Leader Jeffrey Klein, was expected to announce on Friday a $750-million plan to revive the state's Mitchell Lama middle-income housing program.

The members of the Independent Democratic Conference are proposing the construction of several thousand middle-income housing units over the next five years in New York City, Yonkers, Rochester, Buffalo and Syracuse, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Known as Mitchell Lama 2020, the plan wasfirst proposed this past December as part of a legislative package called Affordable New York. It would require the state to spend approximately $150 million a year to finance more affordable mortgages for developers and create a new tax credit for the developments.

One of the more notable Mitchell Lama developments in New York City is Co-Op City in the Bronx and Clinton Plaza in downtown Syracuse. The Mitchell-Lama program, created in 1955, resulting in the development of more than 100,000 apartments statewide. Of 169 state-supervised Mitchell-Lama buildings, 93 have voluntarily left the program. See story in the Wall Street Journal.