Moses has spent most of his career life serving people, the everyday people and he takes this responsibility seriously. Moses developed his policy platform after attending and participating in rallies and listening to the loud voices coming from the people across the entire state of New York calling for fairness and equitable economy. The pandemic devasted many communities especially the black and brown communities Moses is committed to advocating for a recovery that radically takes all New Yorkers forward. Great thanks to all of those voices for co-building an agenda that builds upon a foundation of dignity for all and economic fairness to everyone for stronger communities and prosperity.

Each of these issues are interconnected; they build off each other and co-exist with the same purpose of undoing normalized policies that destroy opportunity and reduce the quality of life for millions of New Yorkers.

Low Income and Affordable Housing – with a path to homeownership

Moses will advocate for policies to address housing as a right. In the midst of an unprecedented health crisis, high unemployment and our country’s failure to address chronic homelessness, it is imperative to our collective safety and security that every New Yorker has a place to call home that is dignified, peaceful and without harm. But having a roof over one’s head is not where the crisis ends. New York State has been in the middle of a housing and rent affordability crisis for decades. The current status quo favors and prioritizes speculation and powerful private interests and has led to displacement, homelessness and exorbitantly high burdens on renters and the struggling working families. The history of redlining, blockbusting, gentrification, government neglect and big bank predatory practices, as well as private subsidies and other market gimmicks, have perpetuated a legacy of racial, gender, and class inequality, cruelty and injustice. It’s time we change that – we the people have all the power

The state of housing stability is in all ways interconnected to the quality of one’s education, environment, safety, health and food security.

Will advocate for community programs focused on disrupting poverty from a root cause lens, prioritizing physiological needs, including the development of social housing, expansion of cooperative housing, increasing affordable housing and eradicating homelessness.

Advocate to extend rent moratorium and rollback rent to pre-pandemic rates, accounting for the hardship millions are still enduring and halting the punishing of renters by landlords and big real estate firms.

Work to advance measures to increase the rental assistance and monetary support system as well as expand eligibility criteria.

Partner with community-trusted organizations that have proven track records in responding to the needs of housing insecure communities, as well as elevate the voices of unhoused New Yorkers front and center — especially in healthcare and economic empowerment.

A Dignified Housing

Affordable Housing – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) designates housing as affordable if the gross costs to live in that housing unit, including utilities, do not exceed 30 percent of the gross income of the resident(s).

The housing affordability crisis is affecting counties and residents across the country. In rural, suburban and urban areas, the time is now to advocate and fund programs, handle the overwhelming demand of housing before it becomes a pandemic and Moses is very committed to this issue and will work hard and fight like hell to see that there is increased Federal funding of housing programs below.

HOME – this is a block grant provided by federal government directly to large cities, towns or counties to assists in providing affordable housing opportunities for low-income families. HOME funds for a variety of housing activities include tenant-based rental assistance; housing rehabilitation; assistance to homebuyers; and new construction of housing. HOME funding may also be used for site acquisition, site improvements, demolition, relocation, and other necessary and reasonable activities related to the development of non-luxury housing.

CDBG – Community Development Block Grant: Counties can use the flexibility of CDBG funds to support projects addressing community and economic development priorities, including housing, water, infrastructure and human service needs.

Homelessness Assistance Grants: Another HUD program serving families in need of affordable housing is the Homeless Assistance Grants.

Housing Choice Vouchers: Section 8 vouchers help low income families obtain safe, decent affordable privately-owned housing by reimbursing landlord the difference in what a family can afford and the actual rent, known as a housing assistance payment.

Public housing: Public housing provides decent and safe rental housing for eligible low-income families, the elderly and persons with disability. Public housing can vary from single family houses to high rise apartment buildings.

National Housing Trust Fund (HTF): Enacted under the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, HTF is a formula grant program administered by states to increase and preserve the supply affordable housing, primarily for extremely low-income and very low-income households. It is funded through assessments from the government sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

Moses will work with the New York State and local administration to eliminate bureaucratic-ridden Public Housing Agency, centering residents and fostering a democratic process where residents lead the decision-making of their property, and beginning the radical shift of dignity and autonomy for New York residents;

Moses as a U.S. Representative will work with local partners to:

Reject Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) projects aimed at privatizing section 8 housing and advance an aggressive campaign calling on the federal authority to increase funding

Work with local authorities and partnerships with nonprofit and mission-driven organizations, Community Development Corporations and supportive housing, tenants groups and alliances to advance housing matters

Will advocate for a broad cooperative ownership agenda to put increasing control of social housing and existing developments in the hands of tenants. This involves desegregating, preserving and expanding new cooperative housing ownership as well as Mitchell-Lama and Housing Development Fund Corporation (HDFC) Cooperatives as permanently affordable homeownership alternatives for present and future New Yorkers.

Moses as a U.S. Representative, will work with local and state leaders to advocate for a community planning approach where zoning will reflect a balance between neighborhood and city-wide needs, and involve participatory processes to accommodate a democratic and inclusionary community-centered goals

Will work and support initiatives put forward to accommodate the growing demographic of our senior citizens such as expanding and strengthening the Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE), and investing in rental assistance and retrofits

Moses will work with local leaders and organization to support policies/programs that improve our schools to empower parents and our children.

New York State, home to the largest education system in the nation, is also home to the most segregated public-school system. Politicians in campaign seasons have used this as a talking point yet have failed to make equity a reality for the millions of young people in our state.

It’s widely known about the disparities we have faced for centuries and systemic racism which persists today. Moses strongly advocates and calls for removing barriers to accessible and quality education; equipping teachers to understand this history and meet the needs of our rising leaders; and standing in solidarity with parents, students and activists who have been leading this fight for far too long.

PRIORITIZE COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT, INPUT AND POWER

Moses strongly believes in a version of community-centered governance focused on parents, educators and students that has not existed in New York State schools. Those directly impacted by our school systems should have power in the decision-making process and he will throw his support behind them to ensure a more democratic, transparent and just way of managing our schools

Will work to support programs that are focused on implementing spaces for real parental, youth, community and advocacy participation in driving holistic education, including decisions concerning curriculum, restorative justice, workforce opportunities and special education

Will advocate for programs such as adult learning hubs to connect adult learners who have been impacted by inequitable education to re-engage with critical skills to support an increase quality of life

Will advocate and work with partnerships and stakeholders including students, teachers and parents as drivers of decision-making in community governance, including co-creating budget, program and development priorities

Will support and work with local authorities for programs such as -Deepen teacher diversity pipelines early by launching Peer Educator Summer Programs for high schoolers interested in teaching, and offer applicable CUNY college credits to pursue a career in teaching

Will advocate for serious evaluation of school funding programs and rectify disparities in funding, resources and services in relation to demographics and socioeconomic status

SAFETY IN OUR COMMUNITIES

The response from police in light of mental or emotional distress often leads to accelerated danger and preventable harm.

Moses Mugulusi believes every New Yorker deserves safety. The time is now to create solutions that actually keep us safe — from housing to work and with a better pay. It is imperative that we finally address the root causes of violence and move from the myth that we will police our way to safety.

Moses will advocate for creation and funding community programs to provided opportunities and prevent crime and also address crises with dignity and empower communities to create solutions that decrease the likelihood of police intervention.

Will support and work with local leadership to create a Community First Responders staffed with trained personnel with backgrounds in trauma-informed intervention to respond to mental health, wellness and social issues.

Invest in restorative alternatives to disrupt violence within communities and fund local groups in leading transformative programs around addressing hate and violence and interrupting and addressing gun violence. Support the creation of Overdose Prevention Centers with resources to help with recovery.

COVID-19 RECOVERY

Moses as a U.S. Representative will advance legislations to provide resources to underserved communities, including expanding interpreter and translator services to ensure connection to COVID-19 vaccine information, workforce opportunities and small business support

STRENGTHENING WORKERS RIGHTS

Labor rights are human rights. As New York state and the whole country pushes toward recovery, we also must contend with the hard truth that our working communities were struggling before the pandemic. Standing in solidarity with our communities means ensuring that those working, entering the workforce and returning to work are able to make a living wage to support themselves, families and communities. From the freelancer to the union member. Moses is committed to making sure the needs of the People are a priority.

Will support public employment programs working toward a green municipal jobs guarantee that provides employment and apprenticeship opportunities, including work for low-income, disabled, LGBTQ+/TGNCNB and marginalized New Yorkers

DEMOCRATIZING HEALTH AND CARE – MEDICARE FOR ALL

We Need a Robust Universal Healthcare System

COVID-19 provided clarity on the state of inequality in the social determinants of health. Factors such as access to insurance, employment, language access and culturally relevant intervention strategies all revealed our nations’ generational indifference, there is great need to shrinking the gap in accessible health and addressing the inequities that reduce the quality of life within communities. It is these “pre-existing conditions” that fundamentally impact the health of Black and Brown communities.

Black women in New York State are still six to eight times more likely to die from preventable complications compared to white women

Many New Yorkers lost job-based coverage as a result of COVID-19 — the majority of whom are Black and Brown, and disproportionately women; African Americans in New York State reported losing health insurance twice as often as white New Yorkers

Our healthcare system’s failure to focus on adequate wellness and preventative primary care for low-income New Yorkers, communities of color, residents with special needs and those in culturally and linguistically isolated communities, calls for our immediate attention and effort to build a robust healthcare system to provide the healthcare needs our communities need. According to the available data 34 million people in this country have diabetes and they depend on a lifesaving drug – Insulin, however, the cost of insulin has skyrocketed over the years and most of these people cannot afford the daily recommended doses. So, what they do is to ration the Insulin /Drugs, they either take half of the recommended dose or skip some days in order to make their medication to last, simply because they cannot afford the cost. How in America – the richest country on earth can this be allowed to go on and on for decades. We can do better, and we need to do better for our people.

Medicare for All is the most conservative approach to the biggest problem in the American domestic policy, and it’s the cheapest way to address the comprehensive medical needs of our people. Medicare for All will enable millions of Americans to pursue Life Liberty and Happiness. We can afford it don’t buy into what the Washington bought politicians in Congress tell you that we cannot afford it, yes, we can afford it. We the people need to put our feet on the ground and demand it, the biggest obstacle between the American people and Medicare for all is the Washington politicians who have been bought by big corp./big pharma, but remember we the everyday Americans are the majority and lets make 2022 count Medicare for All.

A working Economy

As a public servant with many years of experience serving the needs of New Yorkers, Moses is prepared to work with Federal and State entities to secure the necessary resources to empower our communities

Will work with local and community organizations in identifying and responding to gaps between human services and the communities in need, including those most impacted by COVID-19

Bank overdraft / insufficient funds fees – banks collect billions of dollars every year from poor people as insufficient funds fees, some banks even target poor neighborhoods and open up branches with their main focus to open up accounts so they can put more burden to the poor by charging them these fees  – Moses as a U.S. Representative will advance a legislation to curb insufficient funds fee to $5 maximum and will end the ATM fees as well.

Work with federal and the state agencies to create a network of integrated community health clinics across the state to provide preventative primary care

Facilitate access to affordable and quality childcare, early childhood education, homecare, disability and long-term care, as well as elder care, and other areas comprising the care economy

Expanding career training opportunities and financial support for primary caregivers

Public Infrastructure Investment

From transit access to free internet for every New Yorker, Moses advocates and strongly understands that bridging the socioeconomic divide between the rich and the rest of us requires significant reimagining of the spaces around us (public space & our communities). Through investment, engagement and transparency and recognizing the people’s right to participate in decisions that impact our public space and communities in allocating resources should be the best way forward.

Begin modernizing and updating public buildings like schools, hospitals, libraries, cultural institutions etc.

Free Public College and University

Higher education, once a doorway to opportunity, has become both increasingly necessary and unattainable, with costs skyrocketing and more Americans buried under a mountain of debt because higher education

New York State attempted to improve our inequitable higher-education system with the Excelsior Scholarship, which pays CUNY and SUNY tuition for some New York residents, but the scholarship isn’t enough. Too many students slip through the cracks due to its stringent requirements, like enrolling in 30 credit hours per year and staying “on track” to graduate on a prescribed timeline — neither of which are reasonable for lower-income or non-traditional students who may be trying to hold down a job or take care of their families while attending.

The Excelsior Scholarship also inadequately addresses other barriers to entry, like living expenses, making it more difficult for lower-income students to attend even with financial aid. CUNY’s current full-time tuition for New York residents is over $5,000/year at community colleges and close to $7,000/year at 4-year colleges, but the real cost of getting an education is significantly higher once you factor in books, supplies, room and board, student fees and transportation. Furthermore, programs like the state’s Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) do not extend to part-time students and need serious reforms in light of increases to tuition and cost of living.

Fully funding public colleges & Universities – is our moral obligation

I will be Supporting and advocating of cutting wasteful spending from our current budget in areas that aren’t serving our communities

By collect the fair share of tax revenue from those who find loopholes in the tax system and end up with zero tax obligations while leaving the everyday people holding the bag.

Call on the financial hub of the world which is New York to Invest in Our New York, by creating a financial grant every year to go to our schools, it’s our New York communities that support this financial hub of the world, our community is there’s as well, an educated community is a productive community.

Land and Development Accountability

Millions of New Yorkers know that the current land process is not helping, prioritized rezoning that have encouraged gentrification and benefited developers and private landlords instead of communities. This has left neighborhoods traumatized as many New Yorkers are in a constant fight against displacement.

Moses believes housing is a human right. he also believes that it’s important to ensure our communities have livable neighborhoods and that the state has a vested interest in the well-being of our people over profits. Moses as a U.S. Representative will partner with state and communities implement land use process that functions to benefit communities, encourages community participation, investing in truly meaningful social and supportive housing and also ensuring New Yorkers can stay in their homes