Effie’s Suburban Progress Agenda For NY17

BUILD—5 Million New Homes Across America over Ten Years, 66,000 Right Here in NY-17 

  • Establish a federal tax credit for new construction or rehabilitation of affordable housing in urban, suburban, and rural communities.
  • Cut Red Tape for Integrated Communities: Fast-track federal approvals and create tax breaks for builders if they mix incomes on new projects and implement project labor agreements (income tiers: <30% AMI, 30-80%, and 80-120%).
  • Transform Blight Into Community: Incentivize municipalities to snap up vacant lots and rehab foreclosures for permanently affordable homes.
  • Cap Rent Hikes: Limit annual rent increases on all federally or state-subsidized housing units to 2% or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower—protecting low-income tenants from price shocks and ensuring public dollars support long-term affordability.

FUND—First-Home Cash Assistance up to $50,000, giving families a shot at homeownership and generational wealth. 

  • Crack Down on Private Equity and Hedge Funds Buying Rental and Single-Family Homes: This is a major contributing factor to the housing affordability crisis in NY17 and beyond.
  • Expand Low-Income Housing Tax Credit: Create greater incentives for builders to create new affordable housing.

CARE— Family Care for Children from Birth to Kindergarten and Beyond

  • 12-Month Guaranteed Parental Leave: Six months fully paid, six months job-protected. Universal—covers teachers, nurses, and Uber drivers alike.
  • Universal Pre-K and Childcare (Age 1-K): Full-day, year-round, tuition-free centers in every district; care that follows the child, not the zip code.
  • Federal Funding Increase for Public Schools: Ensure public funds are used for public schools.

HEAL—Strengthen our Health System with Medicare as a Public Option

  • Medicare as a Public Option—keep your private plan if you love it, or choose a trusted public option with vision, dental, and mental health included.
  • Automatic enrollment for the uninsured with sliding-scale premiums. No deductibles. Low copays. Health care as a right, not a privilege.
  • Add Long-Term Care to Medicare – As the population ages, long-term care and elder care are more vital than ever.

FAIRNESS—Everyone Contributes Their Fair Share

  • Repeal the Big Ugly Bill: Restore cuts to Medicaid and SNAP and eliminate the Trump giveaways to the ultra-rich.
    • $3.3T over ten years
  • Ultra-Millionaire Wealth Tax: 3% over $50M, 6% over $1B.
    • $3.75T over 10 years, impacting only 75,000 households across America
  • Wall Street Micro-Transaction Tax: A dime on every $100 trade.
    • $777B of new revenue over 10 years
  • Housing for All: Luxury-only and corporate-heavy projects pay capital-gains -assets.

WELCOME—A Path to Citizenship and Opportunity

  • A Beacon of Hope: Guaranteed Green Cards after 10 years of residency for those who have worked, paid taxes, and built a life here—you belong. 
  • Citizenship for Dreamers: No more limbo, no more waiting.
  • End the Cruelty: Demilitarize ICE and CBP, end detention centers, stop deportation flights, and hold agents accountable with bans on masking and requirements to display ID information for agents.
  • Keep Families Together, Always: Ban family separation under any circumstances—no child should ever be taken from their parent by the U.S. government.

What the Suburban Progress Agenda Means for NY-17

  • More Homes You Can Afford: Tens of thousands of mixed-income units each year, especially near Metro-North stops—so teachers, cops, and nurses can live where they serve, and young families can once again afford to raise their families in the Hudson Valley.
  • Rooting Young Families: Cash assistance turns renters into owners, stabilizing school enrollments and strengthening tax bases.
  • Family Security: Paid leave and universal childcare let parents stay, work, and thrive instead of moving away for affordable care.
  • Health & Savings: A Medicare public option lowers premiums and guarantees the basic human right of healthcare to all, without restricting Americans who prefer to receive insurance on the private market or through their employers.
  • A fair, equitable tax system that lessens the burden on lower- and middle-class taxpayers. 
  • Lower Rents: Capping rent increases would impact more than 30,000 households in NY-17 alone (Westchester: 23,879, Putnam: 726, Rockland: 6,714, Dutchess: 4,844).