State Assembly 68 Tamika Mapp

Website: www.mapp.nyc

Social media: www.twitter.com/friendsoftamika www.instagram.com/friendsoftamika

What type of housing do you currently live in?
Own a co-op, condo or private home
Are you, or have you ever been, a landlord?
No
1. If yes, where & how many apts. do/did you own?
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
1. If so, how can we be assured you will have tenants’ interests in mind? (250 characters)

Values and Vision

Do you believe housing is a human right?
Yes
- If so, what does that mean to you? (500 characters)
  It means that everyone deserves a home that is safe and spending no more than 30% of their income to housed themselves and their families.
What type of action have you taken in the past around issues of housing justice? (500 characters)
Lobbied at the State Office building, protest downtown and in Albany, tweeted, email and made phone calls.
What do you think are the most pressing Housing issues & what action would you take to address them as a state representative? (1000 characters)
The word affordable, removing section 9 from NYCHA, real estate tax abatements. The actions I will take is to strengthen Community Land Trust programs, Give NYCHA money for those who have a resident management corporation in their development, keep the real estate tax abatement for co-op and condo owners who makes less than $100K a year.
Have you or anyone close to you (relation, 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 de-commodified?
Yes
- Please explain your answer (500 characters)
  Everyone deserves to have a house that they can afford. We must do everything in our power to stop greedy corporations take all of our properties and then hoard them so no one else can get them. If we de-commodified housing we can remove the get rich system for real estate and incorporated more community land trust programs, permanent real estate cooperatives. We can have nonprofit organizations that truly offer programs to help community can own the land and leases the land of which that house is on. This will also help Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act as well.
Do you believe in publicly owned and controlled housing?
Yes
What is one rent and/or eviction protection you would enact if you had the opportunity? (500 characters)
The one rent protection I would enact is one that my community gave me is the rent control, which will protect tenants (especially low-income) against any unreasonable rent increases and give penalties to landlords who breaks this law. Stop the advance rent and credit checks to get an apartment and if the landlord decides they want to sell, the new owner can’t evict the tenants.
Do you agree that all evictions are bad?
Yes
- If no, why not? (500 characters)
Do you support the concept of universal rent control?
Yes

Overview on Housing

Do you support the NYCHA 2.0 Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) and other privatization schemes?
No
1. Please explain why or why not (250 characters)
  I don’t support this because it will remove the Section 9 protections, displace a lot of residents because income will not be 30% of their income.
NYCHA has suffered from chronic underfunding, neglect, and disrepair. What do you see as the best strategies to rectify these problems? (500 characters)
In my opinion the best strategy to rectify this problem will to ask the State Controller to do a Forensic Audit to see where is the waste is happening. Allow our Tenant President to create Resident Management Corporations to pickup some of the work that NYCHA waste money on. We can also dedicate some of the cannabis taxes to help fund NYCHA buildings.
Do you support setting aside 15% of all units created in new state-subsidized affordable housing projects for homeless families and individuals?
Yes
How would you use your office to put pressure on landlords to make repairs and stop harassing tenants? (500 characters)
I would use my office is to educate, provide resources to help the landlord to make repairs and institute a harassment training that all landlords have to go through every two years. Help the tenants organize to be able to take over their buildings.
Do you support regulating the 300,000 deregulated rent-stabilized apartments?
Yes
Will you support increased funding and oversight hearings of DHCR’s Office of Rent Administration to ensure timely responses?
Yes
How will you ensure people who owe back rent due to COVID are not evicted and do not continue to owe money? (500 characters)
I’m hoping that good cause is passed before I become the next State Assemblymember, but if it’s not it will be one of my issues that I will sign on in 2023.
Would you support financial and criminal penalties against landlords and brokers that deny a prospective tenant housing based on using a tenant blacklist?
Yes

Current Bills and Campaigns

Do you support Good Cause Eviction Protections?
Yes
If Good Cause is not passed this session, what will you do to ensure it gets passed in 2023? (500 characters)
I will work with other elected officials and organizations let MET Council, VOCAL to apply pressure for those who haven’t signed on yet.
Will you support ending MCIs?
Yes
Will you commit to fully funding the Housing Access Voucher Program?
Yes
Do you support the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA)?
Yes
How will you support tenants in your district opting into TOPA? (500 characters)
I will provide quarterly workshops on how to opt-in their building for TOPA. My office will help them with any paperwork they need and help them understand their rights and responsibilities that goes with TOPA.
Do you support the move to legalize basement apartments and ADUs?
Yes
Do you support tenants’ right to collective bargaining?
Yes
Do you support 421a or Gov Hochul’s proposed 485w?
Yes
Do you support fully funding the Excluded Workers fund?
Yes
Do you support the “Excluded No More” bill?
Yes
Are you committed to making sure every tenant in the state has free access to counsel in Housing Court?
Yes
Will you commit to fully funding statewide Right to Counsel in 2023’s budget?
Yes