By Celia Bernhardt | cbernhardt@queensledger.com
State Senator Julia Salazar held a State of the District event in Bushwick last Thursday, explaining her recent legislative work to a sizable crowd of local residents and community organization representatives before giving the mic to a group of multiple organizations to inform attendees about their services. Her recap of the legislative session was wide ranging, but housing was a main focus of the discussion.
Salazar kicked off the talk with a sample list of bills that she said was based on what issues the district was most interested in. Two of them — the End Toxic Home Flipping Act and Foreclosure Notices Act — addressed issues of homeownership.
“We want to make sure that people can continue to afford to live here, tenants, homeowners, all of us should be able to continue in our communities,” Salazar said. “A lot of young people say, ‘I grew up here, and I can’t even imagine being able to ever afford a home here. And that’s really sad. And it shouldn’t be that way.”
Tenant rights got plenty of air time as well — the state’s basement apartment legalization pilot, worked into this year’s budget, was another initiative Salazar spoke about. Basement apartments are often more affordable for tenants, Salazar said, but are often “not up to code, to say the least.” Salazar pointed out, though, that the governor only included certain community districts in the pilot.
“So Community District 4 is included — that’s right here in Bushwick — however, Brooklyn Community District 5 was excluded. This is ridiculous. It’s really outrageous,” Salazar said. “Community District 5 demonstrated in the first place to the state that we needed state action in order to bring these apartments legally up to code and make them habitable.”
Salazar told the crowd she introduced a bill to specifically incorporate CD5, which includes East New York, and other districts into the pilot program.
Good Cause Eviction, which protects some tenants from rent increases beyond a certain percentage and from unjustified evictions, was another highlight of Salazar’s talk. “This was the first bill that I ever introduced as a new senator. It is what I’ve been most passionate about for the past six years,” she said.
Long championed by progressive representatives and tenants rights groups, Good Cause was ultimately watered down in the state’s budget — its protections don’t extend to as many tenants and are not as extensive as advocates intended. Salazar acknowledged the changes, but emphasized that the law was still a “game changer.”
“While it is a partial victory, it absolutely is a victory that is going to make a profound impact in the lives of people across our district and across our state,” Salazar said.
After Salazar’s talk, community organizations including the CCRB, Communities Resist, Make the Road NY, and more took turns introducing themselves to the audience and explaining what services they offer. One group offering breakdance classes for local youth demonstrated their skills with a performance. When the program concluded, the senator spoke one-by-one with a long line of constituents who had questions for her.
