Housing is a human right

 I have dedicated the last decade of my life to educating and advocating for tenants and their right to a safe, affordable home. In 2006, a new owner bought the large rent stabilized apartment building where my family and I had lived for over 30 years. Within 6 months, he pushed out half of the families in my building-- and I was evicted.  

That experience taught me that the way to win was to fight together with my neighbors, and I began focusing on organizing with my community. I have now worked for over a decade as a tenant and community organizer, and as a leader in the tenant movement that won historic tenant protections in 2019.

While our tenant movement won big in 2019, there is still a lot of work to be done to make the promise of housing as a human right a reality for all New Yorkers.  As your Assemblymember, I will continue to fight for:

 

Tax Relief For Low-Income Homeowners

As Brooklyn gentrifies and property values are skyrocketing, low income homeowners are struggling to keep up with their tax bills. We must enact equitable property tax reforms to protect low income homeowners.  

Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act

I will fight for the passage of my bill TOPA (S221/A3353), that would give tenants the first right and opportunity to purchase their homes if their buildings come up for sale. TOPA would allow tenants to form a tenant association to bid on a building and democratically run it as a co-operative, limiting displacement and speculation. Versions of TOPA have existed in multiple states and cities for many years now. In DC, where it has been law since 1980, it has been shown that TOPA preserved a large amount of affordable housing for significantly less than building new units.

 

Strengthening Rent Stabilization

We must eliminate MCI increases, which allow landlords to pass the cost of building repairs and renovations on to renters-- rather than paying for it out of the rent money they are already collecting. Also, to ensure that our hard-fought tenant protections are actually enforced, we must also fully fund the Office of Rent Administration (ORA, aka HCR or DHCR).

 

Investing In Truly Affordable Housing

New York State once led the nation in innovative affordable housing programs. However, as the real estate lobby invested more and more into funding the campaigns of Albany politicians, our affordable housing programs turned into subsidies for rich developers. New York must once again prioritize its people’s needs over profit. As your Assemblymember, I will continue to work to:

 

  • End Subsidies For Luxury Developments

Decades of tax discounts for development of new housing have created thousands of vacant government subsidized luxury apartments, while thousands of New Yorkers are homeless or on the brink of eviction. We must end tax subsidies for luxury developments, and instead refocus on investing in truly and permanently affordable housing.

 

  • Developing New Truly and Permanently Affordable Housing

We must invest in developing new affordable housing units with common sense requirements, like no “opting out” to become market rate, no flipping subsidized coops for a profit, requiring democratic ownership (like a community land trust or a cooperative), and guaranteeing tenants the right to buy the building before it can be sold to someone else.  

 

  • Fully Fund Public Housing

Our public housing buildings are falling apart.  Where the federal government fails us, New York State must act to protect its people. We must raise revenue, and invest in preserving our crumbling public housing and giving back democratic control to public housing residents.  

 

  • Provide Rental Assistance to Low Income New Yorkers

Helping New Yorkers pay their rent is better, and cheaper, than paying for shelter after they are evicted. This is why I support passing Home Stability Support (HSS), a proposal for the state to pay the difference between public assistance and market rent, to make New York rents affordable for low income households who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. 

 

  • Develop Thousands of New Permanent Supportive Housing Units

We don’t have enough supportive housing in New York. Because of this any mentally ill individuals, including many veterans, end up bouncing between jails and shelter instead of getting the support they need. We must expedite the creation of the 20,000 units promised in 2016, and fund a plan to create thousands more until there is supportive housing for each person who needs it.  

 

  • Legalize Safe Basement Apartments

Across New York, countless families are living in illegal basement apartments. We must work to modernize illegal basement laws state-wide, bring basement units up to safety standards, and expand legal protections to basement tenants. We cannot turn a blind eye to this widespread problem.

 

 

Putting Communities Over Profit in Rezonings

For decades, our elected officials have given away rezonings to private developers under the guise of “economic development”-- while making our neighborhoods unaffordable for us to stay in and raise our families in. In our district, the most recent example is the millionaire owners of Industry City applying for a rezoning to expand their luxury “industrial chic” mall by a million square feet, without any regard to the devastating effect the rezoning will have on our local businesses and working class neighbors, and without listening to what our community says that it needs. As your Assemblymember, I will fight to make community planning and city planning accountable to our communities, not to millionaire developers.