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: Medicare for All guarantees the basic human right of healthcare.
  • 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).