AFFORDABLE HOUSING
A Housing Future for Queens: Stability, Dignity, and Opportunity
In East Elmhurst, Corona, and Jackson Heights, housing is not theoretical. It is urgent. I speak with families in LeFrak City worried about maintenance increases. I meet seniors in Jackson Heights co-ops choosing between medication and rising monthly fees. I talk to immigrant tenants in Corona living one rent hike away from displacement. The anxiety is real, and it is growing. Meanwhile, even homeowners in neighborhoods like East Elmhurst, seeking to build generational wealth through home ownership, are struggling to make ends meet.
These neighborhoods carried New York City through the pandemic. Essential workers including nurses from East Elmhurst, grocery workers from Corona, delivery workers from Jackson Heights, risked their lives to keep this city running. Yet six years later, many are struggling just to remain in the communities they sustained.
Housing must be treated as infrastructure. It must be treated as a human right. And it must be treated with the urgency our families deserve. As your next State Senator, I am advancing a bold, five-point housing plan designed specifically for the realities of Queens, while protecting the advancements we made through the landmark Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act.
1. A 21st-Century Mitchell-Lama: Permanent Affordability for the Middle Class
The Mitchell-Lama Housing Program once transformed neighborhoods across Queens. It created stable co-ops and rentals for working families, from teachers to transit workers, who could finally build equity and stay rooted in their communities. Developments throughout Jackson Heights and surrounding areas were born from that vision.
But too many of those units have aged out of affordability, and we have not replaced them at scale. Meanwhile, new development often serves only the highest earners. Families earning between 40% and 120% of AMI, the backbone of Corona and East Elmhurst, are increasingly squeezed out.
My 21st-Century Mitchell-Lama plan would use public investment to create permanently affordable co-ops and rentals. Returns would be capped to prevent speculation. Developments would prioritize union labor and MWBE contractors from Queens. And affordability would be permanent; not expiring after 30 years. We can once again build housing that working families can afford not just today, but for generations.
2. Preserve and Strengthen Co-ops
Queens is home to millions of middle-class families. It represents the promise of stable housing in Corona. But aging infrastructure, rising insurance costs, and deferred repairs threaten that stability. The same pressures are facing co-ops across Jackson Heights and East Elmhurst.
When boilers fail or roofs need replacement, shareholders face steep assessments. Without access to affordable capital, maintenance fees skyrocket and seniors and fixed-income families are pushed to the brink.
I will fight to establish a State Co-op Preservation Fund that provides low-interest financing and grants for major capital repairs. We must also provide technical assistance to co-op boards navigating complex state oversight and energy retrofits. Preservation is prevention. When we stabilize co-ops early, we prevent displacement later.
3. Establish a Social Housing Authority
Senator Cordell Cleare and Assembly Member Emily Gallagher introduced legislation to create a statewide Social Housing Authority and I strongly support this transformative approach. We must create a state authority to build high-quality, permanently affordable social housing—both rentals and co-ops—while partnering with tenants to convert housing and rehabilitate distressed properties to preserve affordability and keep people in their homes.
In neighborhoods like East Elmhurst, where publicly controlled land exists near transportation corridors, we have opportunities to build mixed-income housing that remains permanently affordable. Social housing allows moderate-income rents to cross-subsidize deeper affordability, creating stable, diverse communities.
Instead of relying solely on private developers seeking maximum returns, this authority would treat housing as public infrastructure. Built at scale. Governed transparently. Affordable permanently. Queens deserves innovation equal to the scale of our crisis.
4. Fully Fund the Housing Access Voucher Program (HAVP)
The Housing Access Voucher Program pilot was funded at $50 million. But the full need is $250 million and in neighborhoods like Corona, that gap is felt every day.
Too many families are one unexpected medical bill away from eviction. Shelter placements from Queens continue to strain city resources. Children are forced to change schools. Small businesses lose customers when families are displaced.
Fully funding HAVP at $250 million would prevent evictions before they happen. It would move families from shelters into stable apartments. It would reduce homelessness costs and keep children in their neighborhood schools in Jackson Heights and East Elmhurst. This is compassionate policy and smart fiscal policy.
5. Safely Convert Basement and Cellar Apartments
In East Elmhurst and Corona, basement apartments are a reality of our housing market. They are often the only affordable option for newly arrived immigrant families and the only way small homeowners can keep up with rising mortgage payments.
But we learned during Hurricane Ida how dangerous unsafe basement units can be. We cannot ignore that risk.
I advocate for legislation that would allow homeowners to bring these units up to fire and safety code. I will fight for grants and low-interest loans to install egress windows, proper exits, and flood mitigation systems. Tenants must be protected during and after renovations to ensure their units remain affordable. Legalizing these units safely increases supply, supports small homeowners, and saves lives.
Housing is the foundation of public health. It is the foundation of education. It is the foundation of small business growth along Roosevelt Avenue and Northern Boulevard. Without stable housing, nothing else works.
East Elmhurst, Corona, and Jackson Heights deserve leadership that understands the texture of these blocks: the co-ops, the rent-stabilized buildings, the basement apartments, the multi-generational households. Our communities are resilient. They are hardworking. They are hopeful.
As your next State Senator, I will bring bold ideas and collaborative leadership to Albany. Together, we can build a housing system rooted in permanence, protection, and possibility and ensure that Queens families are not pushed out, but lifted up.