ALBANY – New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo gave his State of the State address and unveiled his 2016 spending plan on Wednesday, calling on the legislature to invest billions of dollars to fight homelessness, rebuild infrastructure, and enhance public education.

“Crumbling infrastructure, a slow economic recovery, the unambiguous reality that climate change threatens the very way of life, a growing specter of terrorism, homelessness, an ever widening gap between the wealthy and everyone else, political polarization and government gridlock ... These problems may have confounded other states and the federal government, but I know New York must and can address them,” said Cuomo.

The Democratic governor’s $145.3 billon budget proposes drastic investment of $20 billion over five years for massive expansion of housing and homelessness. This covers construction of 100,000 affordable housing units across the state, along with creating 6,000 new supportive housing beds, 1,000 emergency beds, and expanding homelessness services.

“This is New York. And we are New Yorkers, and we will not allow people to dwell in the gutter like garbage,” Cuomo said.

Cuomo also pitched a plan for more than $54 billion in infrastructure projects, which includes $250 million for water and wastewater projects, a $22 billion multi-year capital plan to upgrade roads and bridges, and continued investment in broadband Internet access throughout the state.

Cuomo also called for a $2.1 billion increase in school aid over the next two years, bringing total aid up to $24.2 billion by 2017. Initiatives include ending the Gap Elimination Adjustment (GEA) over two years, expanding pre-K programs to three-year-olds, getting continued advisement from the newly established Common Core Task Force, and investing an additional $470 million in resources for SUNY and CUNY colleges.

“For generations of New Yorkers, education has been the ladder to climb out of poverty,” Cuomo said. “Today, the need for that ladder is greater than it has ever been.”

The governor also called for $300 million for small business tax cuts, incentives for local government consolidation, and a minimum wage increase to $15 an hour which would be phased in in New York City over four years, and in the rest of the state by 2021.

Many of the proposals outlined in the governor’s speech have been introduced by Cuomo since the start of the year.