tiffany4nyc7.com
tiffany4nyc7
What type of housing do you live in? Limited Equity Co-Op / HFDC / Mitchell-Lama
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?
What actions have you taken in the past to fight for housing justice? Many! Besides actions I have taken with the Met Council, 2 that I have fought on my own with my own resources that stand out are the fight for the HSTPA. I went from church to church in my neighborhood with printed copies of what were then 9 bills to speak with pastors, reverends and other church leaders about the bills and asked them to allow me to speak to their congregations about the bills with a call to action by lobbying their elected officials in Albany. I was also pregnant and quite ill when I made that and the trips to Albany, but that didn’t stop me!
I have lobbied city and state officials on my own (gave a presentation to Linda Rosenthal at her office with her staff present and Dorca Reynoso and Dennis Osorio on Zoom) about fire evictions.
Most recently I have been focused on working with different groups at NYCHA like RPPH, Save Section 9 and Concerned Tenants at Jacob Riis.
What are the most pressing housing issues, and what would you do as an elected official to address them? In a word: Neoliberalism!! This affects public housing, Mitchell Lamas, HDFCs and even single family homes. But it’s a pervasive problem that also affects public schools/education and healthcare.
But as you will frequently hear, I would focus on warehousing, starting with city-owned property! We can end homelessness in our lifetime by so doing.
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. I have been a tenant in both rent-regulated and “free market” apartments for my entire adult life (barring dorm & overseas life). 19 months ago I was able to buy into a limited equity coop (also thanks to a grant program, which I wrote a resolution about). I am proud of the older residents in this building who were tenants that fought to have the building converted. There is no greater way to stabilize a neighborhood, allow intergenerational communities, beautify a block among other things then when we give people power to own their spaces.
What is one rent and/or eviction protection you would enact if you had the opportunity?
Here are 3: RTC needs greater funding; fire evictions should be criminalized; negligent arson should be severely criminalized.
Do you agree that all evictions are violent? No
Why or why not? When I was in about the third grade, my then10 year-old brother came within inches of a bullet from our upstairs neighbor’s boyfriend who we then discovered was a drug leader. We then spent what felt like an eternity staying in hotels in other boroughs in a witness protection program. My family and I were happy to move back. He wasn’t evicted, rather incarcerated. I wonder, in that situation, if he had had a better lawyer and was able to avoid prison what our lives would have been like.
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? And RGB members should be elected with prerequisite community board service!
Do you support the NYCHA 2.0 Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) and other privatization schemes? No
Please explain why or why not: Again, neoliberalism is a trojan horse! The defunding of our public institutions (not only housing) was deliberate!
NYCHA has suffered from chronic underfunding, neglect, and disrepair. What do you see as the best strategies to rectify these problems?
Most of the funding comes from the federal government, but with #47, we will have to turn to and press our congress members and senators for adequate funding. We also need major reforms to the City of Yes e.g., bar NYCHA infills. My district has 3 NYCHA projects. I would use the CBA to fund repairs for those complexes. That in turn, allows more city and state funds to be directed to complexes across the city.
How would you use your office to put pressure on landlords to make repairs and stop harassing tenants?
I think the problem starts with corruption at the DOB & HPD. Before my old building had a major fire in 2014, it had had many violations. When a fire spreads in ANY building with that many violations, city and state officials need to scrutinize it much more carefully. That landlord should be in prison today. Instead he was able to deregulate the entire building thanks to his negligent maintenance of the building. And it was not the only time!!
He took advantage of the fact that most of the tenants could not speak English and coerced some to signing surrender agreements. I sought help with the attorney general’s office among others, on my neighbor’s behalf to no avail. The TPU at DHCR is a joke. But the problem is lack of adequate elected leadership. Hence why I’m running!
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? DEFINITELY YES! I wish this form allowed uploads, so you could see photos of my last apartment that had a flood from an upstairs neighbor in March 2023. We had NO ceiling in the kitchen at all and half the ceiling missing in the bathroom for 5 months! My child had just turned 3 when it happened and I have major allergies. The landlord refused to repair it and I eventually took him to court. Unfortunately housing court designates certain violations as class A, B, C with durations that vary. That one was not considered a C violation so he took his time. I spent the first 5 years of my life in a so-called third world country and another 6 years living in other “third world countries” as an adult — NEVER had I experienced such squalor as compared to many apartments here.
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?
Warehousing of rent regulated buildings should be penalized and that includes NYCHA! NYCHA has ~7000 vacant apartments. I believe this is largely fueling the manufactured housing crisis we’re experiencing. NYCHA used to provide emergency housing vouchers to unhoused families, but stopped accepting applications in September 2022. That was before Trump!! Something as simple as restoring that program could reduce the number of families in shelters. And then there are buildings like Dorca’s…. How is it that Black home owners pay $17 million more in property taxes? https://furmancenter.org/thestoop/entry/racial-inequities-in-new-york-citys-property-tax-system. This exacerbates a different type of housing crisis while also perpetuating historic racial inequities.