Housing Justice
There are systems in place in the United States today that are designed to be, or produce outcomes that are, racist. Although mass incarceration, police brutality, and income inequality are among the most visible and painful markers of systemic racism, housing policies, and the segregation that come in tandem with them, are very much at the root of the problem. Decades of federal, New York State, and New York City housing policies have resulted in black and brown communities being excluded, displaced, or segregated. I recognize that housing justice is a racial justice issue. I am running for State Assembly to demand we invest in housing as a human right.
For decades, redlining was a system of legally mandated racial segregation. It was maintained by refusing mortgages in black neighborhoods. Not only did this make homeownership difficult for most black people, it also made credit easier for white people to access to purchase property. Studies have shown that the most reliable way to build wealth in this country is to own your home. People of color, and especially black people, were systematically denied this avenue to financial prosperity. According to the New Economy Project, even today, bank lenders are still likely to deny applications in communities of color in New York. Unable to own a home, most people of color are renters who have less housing security and are vulnerable to market changes and landlord abuse. It is no accident that 82% of New York City’s homeless population is black or Latinx.
We are also seeing that decades of failure to invest in public housing is leaving thousands of New Yorkers living in buildings with crumbling infrastructure. The majority of public housing residents are people of color. Rezonings and tax structures artificially constructed to benefit real estate developers have pushed waves of gentrification into communities of color. This results in communities becoming unaffordable to many people of color which fuels displacement and further exacerbates segregation.
Over and over again, we see that the systems put in place which fail communities of color, and black communities in particular. We know the police disportionately target communities of color, and according to the Prison Policy Initiative, “People who have been to prison just once experience homelessness at a rate nearly 7 times higher than the general public. But people who have been incarcerated more than once have rates 13 times higher than the general public.” We have policies that criminalize homelessness, only making it more likely for folks to become incarcerated again. Additionally, those who have been incarcerated are unable to live in public housing, preventing many folks who have been criminalized by racist policing policies from accessing truly affordable housing.
I have developed, with the input and leadership of housing justice advocates, a housing platform to combat racial injustice and to provide for greater affordability and community decision-making in policy making.
#CANCELRENT
First and foremost, the State must #CANCELRENT. Unemployment is at a record high, particularly in communities of color. Tenants can’t pay their rent now, and they won’t be able to pay when the eviction moratorium is over. We must cancel rent now.
HOUSE THE HOMELESS
New York City has the most billionaires of any city, yet there are nearly 70,000 homeless people. This homeless population is at extremely high risk of COVID-19 and often the targets of police harassment. There is no reason we cannot house every person in need of a home. We must tax the rich and repeal wasteful tax incentives 421a and 485a in order to invest $10 billion to guarantee homes for all and invest in at least $3 billion in public housing.
PROTECT RENTERS
Sixty-six percent of people in our district are renters, who continuously fear exorbitant rent hikes and evictions. After the historic rent reforms passed last year, we must go further to protect renters by:
Passing Good Cause Eviction (S2892A/A5030A). Landlords’ motivation for evicting tenants is more often about profit. We must keep renters in their homes and prevent landlords from being able to evict tenants without good cause.
Eliminate Major Capital Improvement (MCI) increases, which allow landlords to use repairs and renovations as a justification for raising the rent, while facing little burden to prove how much those repairs actually cost. Repairs and renovations are costs of business, not the responsibility of the tenant.
COMMUNITY-LED HOUSING
Give our communities control over their land and property by prioritizing Community Land Trusts, setting aside money in our State’s budget to allow communities to invest in their own housing.
Construct and fund supportive housing units for homeless New Yorkers, formerly incarcerated folks, and individuals struggling with mental illness.
Investigate opportunities for a social housing program at the state level.
When a building is to be sold, the tenants who live there should have a say in what happens to it. We must pass the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) and give tenants priority to buy their landlord’s building, turn it into a co-op, and center their community’s needs.
LGBTQIA+ seniors deserve to live in affordable and supportive housing with dignity, free from discrimination. I will advocate for investments in LGBTQ-welcoming senior housing that is affordable and accessible, with a percentage of occupancies set aside for those who were formerly homeless.
#HomesGuarantee
I am proud to support the #HomesGuarantee pledge and work alongside advocates at the frontline of housing justice. Every resident of Corona, East Elmhurst, Jackson Heights and Woodside deserves a dignified home where they could live, raise their family and contribute to the fabric of our diverse communities.