Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York is promoting an aggressive housing plan that she says could create 800,000 new homes across the state over the next decade.

The plan, which would force cities, towns and villages to allow more housing to be built, mirrors what other states are already doing. If passed, it would be a first for New York, where home prices and rents have soared to among the highest in the United States and where more than half of all residents spend at least 30 percent of their income on housing.

Officials from the New York City suburbs in Westchester County and on Long Island are resisting the effort fiercely, saying it is heavy-handed and could strain local services.

Why is the governor focused on New York City’s suburbs?

The plan does not single out suburbs. It calls for each community in the state to make way for more residential development. But some of the most significant effects could be felt in towns and villages on Long Island and in Westchester County that have mass transit stations but have allowed relatively few homes to be built over the decades.

By one measure, Westchester County and Suffolk and Nassau Counties on Long Island have allowed fewer homes to be built per person in the past decade than the regions around nearly every other major U.S. city, including Boston, San Francisco and Washington.

The lack of building has contributed to a statewide housing shortage. A December report from the nonprofit Regional Plan Association estimated that New York needs to add more than 817,000 homes in the next decade to keep up with population growth and ease overcrowding.

The New Jersey suburbs offer a contrast and illustrate the potential economic cost of not building.

From 2000 to 2017, the number of people who commuted to New York City from the surrounding areas grew by around 190,000, according the Department of City Planning. About two-thirds of those people lived in northern New Jersey, where more housing was built than on Long Island and in the Hudson Valley combined.

In addition to easing the shortage, Ms. Hochul’s plan is meant to address a history of segregation in suburban communities, which in many cases were designed to exclude Black people.

What would her proposal actually do?

There are two major components.

One would force every city, town and village that regulates land use to expand its housing stock every three years by set percentages — 3 percent downstate and 1 percent upstate.

Another would force communities to allow more housing density near rail stations, including an average of at least 50 homes per acre within a half-mile of many Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North stations that are within 15 miles of New York City’s borders.

If a city or town rejected a development improperly or did not meet its percentage targets, a fast-track process that could override local opposition could be triggered. The provision, state officials say, is important because it essentially ensures that growth occurs.

The plan might have a modest effect in some places: Almost 80 percent of municipalities outside New York City would need to add fewer than 50 homes in the first three years to meet their growth targets.

Others, particularly communities near New York City that are dominated by single-family homes — Bronxville in Westchester, for instance, or Oyster Bay Cove in Nassau County — might experience significant changes.

What do suburban officials have to say?

Suburban officials from across the political spectrum are leading a fierce resistance to the proposal.

Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the Democratic leader of the State Senate, has rebuffed the plan. Ms. Stewart-Cousins, who represents part of Westchester County, has said the state should create incentives for building homes instead of requiring it, even though research and history show that such strategies rarely succeed.

In Westchester, more than two dozen mayors and town supervisors signed a letter last month criticizing Ms. Hochul’s plan. Republicans, particularly on Long Island, have united behind calls for “local control, not Hochul control.”

A few Democratic officials — like Steve Bellone, the Suffolk County executive, and Phil Ramos, a Long Island assemblyman — have come out in support of Ms. Hochul’s plan.

“It doesn’t matter what kind of incentive you give them — a wealthy community, before they allow Black and brown people in, they’ll walk away from any amount of money,” Mr. Ramos said at a recent rally.

Will the governor’s proposal pass?

It’s not clear.

Ms. Hochul included the initiatives in her executive budget, giving them a better chance of passing than if they were considered on their own.

But legislative leaders have so far not agreed to any version of the key elements of the governor’s plan.

Luis Ferré-Sadurní contributed reporting.