eryckamontoya.com
@eryckamontoya
What type of housing do you live in? Regulated rental apartment
Are you now, or have you ever been a landlord? No
If yes, how many units and briefly describe what your experience has been.
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 as a human right to me means that everybody should be able to live in affordable, decent, and dignified housing. My firm conviction is that Street homelessness is a policy choice and failure of government, that every eviction needs to be prevented, that NYCHA needs to remain Section 9 and be fully funded, and that we desperately need widespread increase in affordable and social housing. Housing is a multidimensional issue, but if we approach it from a rights perspective instead of just as an economic one, we can work towards solving New York’s housing crisis.
What actions have you taken in the past to fight for housing justice? The fight for stronger tenant protections and housing justice has always been deeply personal. As a lifelong renter, I understand many families’ challenges when dealing with housing issues and concerns. This is why I’ve been actively involved in various ways to support and educate others about housing rights and to help resolve housing-related problems. I’ve done rent freeze canvassing, joined tenant rights meetings with the Met Council on Housing, supported candidates who advocate for housing as a human right, and distributed information about the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) during the pandemic.
In my professional role, I have several years of experience assisting with housing cases involving state and city agencies, and I have connected tenants with pro bono legal counsel through nonprofit organizations. I have also worked on shelter cases, particularly those involving migrants arriving in New York City. Housing is a human right!
What are the most pressing housing issues, and what would you do as an elected official to address them? Having lived my entire life in LeFrak City, I believe eviction prevention is our most pressing housing issue. Landlords are pushing hard to return eviction rates to pre-pandemic levels, while tenants are still grappling with the ongoing effects of COVID. We must fully fund the Right to Counsel program to ensure tenants have a fair chance in court, especially since represented tenants have an 80% success rate. It’s crucial that tenants have a level playing field when facing abusive and predatory landlords. Additionally, we must invest in and support the Human Resources Administration (HRA) and the Department of Social Services (DSS) to improve the efficiency of approvals for programs like One Shot Deals, Cash Assistance, and others that help struggling tenants avoid eviction.
The affordability crisis is another urgent housing issue in District 21 and across the city. Rent prices are rising to unsustainable levels for New York families. We need to ensure that any new housing developments are truly affordable to the average working New Yorker. This means fighting for more affordable units and factoring in local cost-of-living and neighborhood-specific income levels when planning new developments.
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. The commodification of housing has led us to the crisis we are in today. We have seen in decades past what happened when landlords abandoned buildings across the city because they couldn’t profit from them. Now, landlords are making money hand over fist on inflated land values and cannot wait to evict working-class Black and Brown tenants for new tenants who will pay three times the current rent. By decommodifying housing, we can reintroduce stability to New York’s neighborhoods that we haven’t seen in half a century. While striving to reach that point, we must do everything possible to protect and empower tenants by increasing tenant support, legal representation, the right to first refusal, and housing affordability. Housing is a human right.
What is one rent and/or eviction protection you would enact if you had the opportunity?
I would dramatically increase Right to Counsel funding to ensure tenants can advocate for themselves in housing court. We deserve to be represented to fight unfair treatment and protect the places we call home. While the Right to Counsel has changed the lives of many tenants, it remains inaccessible to some due to a lack of language access, the economic inability to afford a housing attorney, unawareness of housing rights, and falling victim to illegal, predatory, and intimidating tactics by unscrupulous landlords. If tenants are successful in this process through access to counsel, they can keep their homes and avoid overburdening the shelter system, which is ultimately far more expensive for the city to maintain.
Do you agree that all evictions are violent? Yes
Why or why not? Evictions exist as a legal tool but are too easily and often abused by landlords to turn a profit, while simultaneously stripping tenants of their humanity. Often, these proceedings cause emotional, psychological, and physical pain, and therefore, by definition, they are violent. Many evictions leave individuals or families vulnerable to homelessness, putting them at the mercy of an uncertain future and diseases of despair. In the richest city and the wealthiest country in the history of the world, violent acts, especially those involving housing, should not be tolerated. This is why we must advocate for stronger tenant protections and alternatives to evictions, acknowledging the immense harm this process can cause. Evictions should be a measure of last resort, not a convenient, everyday tactic for boosting profit at the expense of vulnerable tenants.
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? Since its inception, the RGB has been providing a veneer of honesty and openness to ensure that landlords maintain profits at a consistent level. I would support establishing advice and consent over RBG nominations, taking an immense concentration of power away from the Mayor, and decentralizing the control to ensure that tenants are properly represented and protected.
Do you support the NYCHA 2.0 Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) and other privatization schemes? Yes
Please explain why or why not: While there are no NYCHA developments in my district, I recognize the great social good NYCHA has provided and continues to provide to the city and the danger that privatizing it brings. Privatized NYCHA developments have seen a spike in evictions, leaving tenants who cannot pay rent in subsidized housing at the mercy of homeless shelters and the administrative backlog of applying to other vouchers like CityFHEPS. As such, I absolutely commit to fighting for more funding to meet NYCHA’s needs at both the city and state levels, as we know there will be little help from Washington this time around. Additionally, I want tenants to have the resources and policy education to feel empowered to make the right decision for themselves when it comes to Trust vs. Section 9. It is critical that NYCHA residents have more ownership and agency over the future of their homes.
NYCHA has suffered from chronic underfunding, neglect, and disrepair. What do you see as the best strategies to rectify these problems?
As mentioned above, federal support for NYCHA and its tenants will not be likely. It will be critical to fight for more funding at the city and state level, including pushing the state for real estate tax reform to secure more money for public and social housing.
We must give tenants more agency in deciding their futures and priorities. They should be involved in all processes, ensuring the quality of their living experiences and any repairs or services they receive.
We must leverage every available resource and strategy to address the urgent need for repairs and renovations at NYCHA. The NYCHA Preservation Trust Plan presents a viable solution, combining public funding and private investment, but its success hinges on thoughtful execution and strong oversight. Above all, we must urge the federal government to fulfill its role in this plan and other NYCHA repair program tools to help resolve this critical housing issue.
How would you use your office to put pressure on landlords to make repairs and stop harassing tenants?
My office will be deeply engaged with our communities and will build strong relationships of trust in the district. We can serve as a connection point between tenants and service organizations, partner with organizations to provide training and clinics, and help empower tenants. When there are larger landlords with great resources, I will gladly use the soapbox of my office to loudly call out and publicize abusive landlords. As a highly experienced legislative and city council staffer, I will leverage my many relationships to push HPD, DOB, and other agencies to enforce regulations and address issues quickly.
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? The ERP is much more effective than the Alternative Enforcement Program (AEP), which Housing Chair Sanchez and other elected officials have expressed skepticism about. The ERP represents government enforcement at its best, addressing issues that too many landlords ignore. Many landlords let their properties deteriorate rather than invest in necessary upkeep.
These landlords are unfit to own their properties, clearly showing their neglect and lack of compassion for such a critical human right. Tenants affected by this situation should have clear avenues and opportunities to advocate for government intervention, with the potential to establish social housing or a similar solution. I would strongly support initiatives such as granting tenants or qualified entities the opportunity to own the buildings they live in. Legislation like the state’s ‘Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act’ and the city’s ‘Community Opportunity to Purchase Act’ could enable tenants who truly care about their living conditions to take ownership and improve the quality of their homes.
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?
I am wholeheartedly in support of the Progressive Caucus’ Homes Now, Homes for Generations push for the FY25 budget. While they were ultimately unsuccessful, the programs they advocated for, the Open Door and Neighborhood Pillars programs, are inventive ways to fight the housing crisis that just need the funding to make a real change. I would be happy to work with the Caucus to begin another push for the programs to be funded, and hopefully, the prospect of a new mayor will make that push easier.