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What type of housing do you live in? Own co-op, condo, or private home
Are you now, or have you ever been a landlord? Yes
If yes, how many units and briefly describe what your experience has been. We own two apartments out of state that houses family members.
Does your campaign accept contributions from real estate developers (including related individuals), corporate lobbyists, organizations that participate in the carceral system, and/or landlords? No
Have you ever worked in, or had another affiliation with, the Real Estate industry? No
Have any of your campaign or advisory staff held a position as a corporate lobbyist or an executive role with the Real Estate industry? No
If so, how can we be assured you will have tenants’ interests in mind?
Do you believe housing is a human right? Yes
If so, what does that mean to you, and if not, why not? Housing being a human right means it is imperative to promote and defend policies that give the people control of their land, and fully fund public and social housing to build a city where every last person can have a safe, quality, and dignified home.
What actions have you taken in the past to fight for housing justice? After deadly fires destroyed apartments across NYC, I fought for legislation that protects renters after devastating fires. The new law requires the Department of Housing Preservation and Development to work with the city’s Fire Department to make sure tenants know their rights when they are displaced by fires, and protect them from illegal evictions and delayed repairs.
I’ve also stood with the city’s rent-stabilized tenants and fought rent increases in these units. Nearly one million apartments in NYC are rent-stabilized, providing protection to renters from massive rent increases from landlords.Yet in the midst of the city’s housing crisis, Mayor Eric Adams oversaw major rent hikes to rent-stabilized tenants, allowing his Rent Guidelines Board appointees to increase rent for millions of New Yorkers. I fought the mayor’s rent hikes and protested the big landlords who raised the rent. Our activism showed tenants how the Rent Guidelines Board works and put pressure on the mayor for raising rents in the middle of a housing and homelessness crisis.
I also negotiated and supported significant investments in the City For All housing plan that included tenant protections, increased workforce needed to support tenants, and investment in programs that support affordable housing development.
What are the most pressing housing issues, and what would you do as an elected official to address them? While New Yorkers are experiencing record rates of homelessness and struggling to afford rent, we see more and more luxury homes being developed across the city. For decades, the city’s housing market has been rigged, with politicians underfunding public housing and allowing private developers to sweep in and build a city for the rich.
In my next term, I will fight to keep working-class New Yorkers in their homes. I will support funding for more code enforcement and champion legislation to take homes back from the city’s worst landlords who put more New Yorkers at risk of losing their homes. When a landlord consistently refuses to make repairs, harasses tenants, and doesn’t respond to complaints and violations, the City must escalate its code enforcement. I will also push for the Community Land Act package, which allows community land trusts and nonprofits to develop new and preserve existing permanently affordable housing. Last, I will also fight to expand the right to counsel to cover all renters citywide. Our city should fight to keep every New Yorker in their home, not evict them.
Have you or anyone close to you (family, friend, etc) been evicted or been threatened with eviction? Yes
Have you ever had to fight a landlord for repairs or faced harassment? Yes
Do you believe that housing should be decommodified (publicly owned and tenant-controlled)?
Yes
Please explain your answer. Because I believe that housing is a human right, I do believe that we should work towards a society where housing is decommodified, because no human right should be treated as a commodity for sale or ownership.
What is one rent and/or eviction protection you would enact if you had the opportunity?
I would expand funding for Right to Counsel so that all New Yorkers have access to free and competent legal counsel to fight their evictions. The right to defend one’s housing through the legal system should not be subjected to financial gatekeeping, and accessible legal counsel is a vital tool for tenants to stand up to landlords.
Do you agree that all evictions are violent? Yes
Why or why not? All evictions are ultimately backed by force or the threat of force. Therefore, all evictions are violent — whether such violence takes the form of an eviction letter at the beginning of the process, or a tenant being physically forced from their dwelling at the end of it.
Do you support the concept of universal rent control? Yes
For decades the Rent Guidelines Board has fueled the affordability crisis it was created to address. Most NYC tenants are rent-burdened, and hundreds of thousands of families, primarily Black and brown, are forced to deprive themselves of necessities to keep a roof over their heads, while owners’ profits hover near the 40% mark. Do you support freezing or even rolling back rents given these circumstances?
Yes
Do you support proposals to revise the RGB to make it more responsive to the needs of the tenants it was created to protect? Yes
Why or why not? Yes, I’ve fought as Mayor Adams’ appointees on the RGB have prioritized profits over people, and raised rents on millions during the city’s cost of living and housing crises. We should reform the RGB so tenants, not real estate, can determine the affordability of our city.
Do you support the NYCHA 2.0 Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) and other privatization schemes? No
Please explain why or why not: Public housing should remain public. Research shows that NYCHA properties that fall under private management have higher eviction rates and slower rates of fulfilling repairs.
NYCHA has suffered from chronic underfunding, neglect, and disrepair. What do you see as the best strategies to rectify these problems?
As former Chair of the Committee on Public Housing, I have advocated for deep investments in NYCHA. Since taking office, I fought and won significant investments to cover rental arrears for NYCHA residents left out during COVID, and also added hundreds of millions for repairs and restored the vacant unit readiness unit in the CIty of Yes negotiation with my colleagues in the city’s Progressive Caucus.
One bill I’m proud of fought to improve transparency for NYCHA management, specifically private companies that now manage certain NYCHA developments. More than 16,000 of the city’s public housing units are now managed by private companies. These privately managed NYCHA units are subject to less oversight than those under public control, and have higher eviction rates and slower response times to maintenance and repair requests. In 2024, I passed legislation that holds these private companies to account for their management of public housing, and requires companies to report their eviction rates, repair costs, and how long it takes companies to complete vital repairs. I also filed resolutions calling on the New York State Legislature and Governor to invest $3 billion annually to address capital needs.
How would you use your office to put pressure on landlords to make repairs and stop harassing tenants?
Since taking office, I’ve passed legislation that pressures landlords to make repairs and stop harassing tenants, including legislation that protects and educates tenants in the event of a devastating fire. When landlords refuse to make repairs after fires, tenants risk major health and safety issues — and must be protected in traumatic events like fires. I’ve pushed for initiatives meant to stop harassment of tenants, such as requiring landlords to provide tenants with documentation of damages when deducting money from a tenant’s security deposit.
Our office supports individual constituents in many ways, contacting city agencies on their behalf, making sure tenants know their rights, translating documents and making sure tenants get access to legal and other resources.
Do you support regulating the 300,000 deregulated rent-stabilized apartments? Yes
Do you support significant expansion of HPD’s emergency repair program, including adequate funding, with the city correcting hazardous violations when the landlord doesn’t act promptly, then bills the landlord for the repairs and takes title to the building if the landlord doesn’t pay, keeping it as social housing? Yes
Why or why not? Landlords have an obligation to provide adequate and dignified housing to their tenants. If a landlord demonstrates that they are unwilling or unable to fix hazardous living situations, HPD should have the ability to fix those repairs, charge landlords from them, and take the building’s title if they continue to neglect their responsibilities to keep homes in humane conditions.
Do you support stronger penalties against landlords that practice source of income discrimination? Yes
Despite the city’s commitment to a right to counsel for low income families facing eviction in housing court, currently fewer than half of eligible tenants are getting lawyers. Meanwhile, landlords have pressed the courts to speed up the eviction process so they can take advantage of record high rents, negating efforts to reduce homelessness. Do you support fully funded right to counsel and slowing down the housing court eviction mill?
Yes
What other ideas do you have to address the housing crisis, and what is your strategy for accomplishing them?
In my next term, I will help rebuild the Office of Tenant Protections. I will fight to restore the $25 million Mayor Adams cut from the office and make sure tenants have legal support when dealing with landlords who refuse to make basic repairs.