For decades, our government has touted free-market principles while regularly intervening to protect corporate interests. Intervention on behalf of corporations to stimulate the economy and then trickle down to the everyday person has not worked. Surging housing costs, higher electricity, utility, and medical care costs, plus mounting debt, stagnant wages, and a volatile job market, have made it difficult for anyone to maintain any semblance of financial stability. The affordability crisis and its symptoms are impacting everyone across the board: the millennial saddled with student loan debt, the person living check to check despite having a degree, our seniors, the middle class, the working class, and the small business trying to stay afloat.

We need strategic policies that give pathways toward financial stability rather than continued subsidies for the ultra-wealthy and corporations or continuing the social welfare trap that keeps people in a cycle of poverty.

1. Legislate guardrails on AI and automation to ensure they are used as tools rather than as replacements for the workforce.

2. Strengthen labor rights and broaden opportunities for collective bargaining the implementation of new technologies in the workplace.

3. Target workforce programs, including apprenticeship programs, to give pathways to higher-paying union jobs.

4. Improve and pass a property tax circuit breaker credit for homeowners and renters, to provide state refunds to those whose property tax payments go beyond a certain share of income, as well as for a predetermined amount for renters. To account for the high cost of living and high property taxes in NYC, income limits should be increased, and a mechanism for renters to apply should be established.

5. Advocate for economic justice for LGBTQ+ people, particularly for Transgender communities. Studies show Transgender people face significantly higher unemployment rates, workplace discrimination, and higher rates of poverty. We need to ensure workforce development is targeted but also include protections against workplace discrimination and ensure that non-profits and government are a model for safe, empowering, and inclusive workplaces for our Transgender community.

Tackling the Millennial Crisis and Investing in the Next Generation

1. Absent the federal government cancelling student debt, the state needs to create a student loan forgiveness or reduction program.

2. Increase education about New York State-based 529 college savings plans and make it more accessible for families to apply. Create an incentive to contribute by adding progressive matching features to the state-based 529 plan.

3. Support more cost-effective alternatives to four-year degree programs, such as community college, apprenticeships, vocational training, and other meaningful certificate programs.

4. Incentivize the adoption of employee stock ownership and profit-sharing plans.

5. Increase funding for programs that help first-time homebuyers to purchase co-ops, condos, shared equity housing, and multi-family homes.

Small businesses

1. Pass legislation for commercial rent stabilization, and establish an environment for fair negotiations in the commercial lease renewal process.

2. Build the capacity of MWBEs so they can secure contracts, qualify for capital, obtain bonding, and navigate procurement. Increase funding for free one-on-one support for MWBEs to build robust internal operating systems and compliant financial systems, so they are better equipped to secure contracts.

   1. Increase funding for capital access programs that help businesses acquire property, renovate and upgrade, purchase inventory, and refinance existing debt.

3. Use the bully pulpit to negotiate with developers to maintain existing commercial tenants at their current lease for a period of time for new commercial overlay developments.

4. Small businesses are over-regulated with about 300,000 regulations, burdensome regulatory fines, and numerous fees. The state and city must assess and reduce unnecessary fees and regulations placed on small businesses, without jeopardizing safety.

5. Expand the Business Incentive Rate, an existing energy savings program, to include small businesses that have been in a neighborhood for at least five years and have a minimum 30% of their staff from the neighborhood in which they operate.

   1. The current Business Incentive Rate applies to businesses that receive specific city and state incentives, reducing the delivery portion of their bills by 34 percent to 39 percent. That type of reduction for a small business is not only a lifeline but also a path to financial sustainability and continued contribution to support the local economy.

6. Revamp the Public Service Commission’s (PSC) rate design to deliver greater savings for everyday New Yorkers rather than lining the pockets of utility shareholders.

7. Fund one-time grants for small businesses to make accessibility upgrades, storefront renovations, electric and utility arrears, and support with overhead costs to bolster increases to wages.