Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Visits Carter Burden Senior Center to Discuss Mansion Tax

March 23, 2017

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Thank you. Thank you so much.

Well, everyone it is such a pleasure to be here with you. And I’m going to talk for a few minutes and then I look forward to going around and getting a chance to say hello to everyone. But first of all, I want to thank [inaudible] for warmly welcoming me and thank you for all you do for this great center. And I want to thank Abigail for the great work she does; give her a big round of applause.

Now look, I want to just talk to you for a few minutes and I want to tell you what I hear when I go in all five boroughs, every kind of neighborhood. I talk to people, I say what’s the number one thing on their mind; they say cost of housing and the cost of living here in New York City. This is what I hear from everyone is the most pressing concern – that it is so expensive to live I this city, right?

And that affects everyone, but it affects no one more than senior citizens because so many – I’m sure people in this room and hundreds of thousands of seniors around this city, we all know what the reality is. Some people have a pension, but in many cases it is not a lot. Too many people don’t even have a pension at all. Social Security is great, but Social Security doesn’t pay that much. And meanwhile, we’re one of the most expensive cities in the country. So the reality is that for the first time in our history really in New York City there are more and more people who are finding it so difficult to live here. This wasn’t true 20 or 30 years ago. There was always affordable housing somewhere in New York City back then, but now there is an affordable housing crisis. 

So we have to do somethings differently. And I am here to ask for your help so we can make some changes. I want you to know we already have put in place the biggest affordable housing plan in the history of New York City. We are building enough affordable housing and subsidizing enough affordable housing over the next ten years for half-a-million people. So half-a-million people who do not have affordable housing now will be getting it over the next ten years. For people –

[Applause]

Please.

[Applause]

For people who are in rent-stabilized housing – who here is in rent-stabilized housing? Okay. For the last two years you have seen we have had a rent freeze in place; first time in the history of New York City we had a rent freeze to lighten the burden on people.

[Applause]

For folks – and there have been too many in New York City – who have been pressured by their landlords to leave their buildings. I have seen this all over the City. There have been people illegally evicted; there have been people who are not being given heat and hot water and repairs. For the first time in history, working with the City Council, we have a plan now that anyone who is threatened with eviction or harassed by their landlord and makes up to $50,000 a year annually has a right to a lawyer for free paid for by the City of New York to  protect your interest.

[Applause]

So these are all new things. The affordable housing plan, the rent freeze, the lawyers being given to people for free to protect them, these are all new but it is still not enough. We need more and we particularly need more for senior citizens. One of the biggest parts of our city in terms of our population is all of you and all your fellow seniors. It is a growing part of our population as people are healthy and living longer and that is a blessing. But we want people to be able to live well and not struggle to make ends meet.

[Applause]

So I have talked to so many seniors who tell me, that what happens every month is they have to choose between rent and medicine and doctor’s appointments and food and they cannot do all of them each month; that they have to make a tough choice every month. And I don’t think that is fair. I think everyone in this room worked hard throughout your life. Everyone in this room contributed to this community and this city. We have gotten to lighten that burden. 

So, today I’m talking to you about another way we can do something different and better for our seniors. It is called the mansion tax. Now, we call it the mansion tax for a good reason. It says simply that anyone who buys a home in New York City worth $2 million or more pays a little more in their taxes so that we can provide affordable housing for senior citizens. This plan would produce $330 million a year. It would all go to senior affordable housing. That would allow us to provide enough new affordable housing for 25,000 senior citizens in New York City.

[Applause]

So, think about it for a moment. People who can afford a $2 million home – by the way, under this tax the average home cost that it would affect is a $4.5 million home. Okay, now can I just take a survey of the room? Would you agree if someone can afford a $4.5 million home that they are doing very well? Would you agree?

And don’t you think someone doing that well can afford to give a little more to help 25,000 senior citizens? So the logic is clear and let me tell you we have gotten great support from your representatives in Albany. This has to be passed by the Legislature in Albany. And your State Senator Liz Kruger has been a strong supporter of this idea. And your Assembly member Becky Seawright has been a strong supporter of this idea. So the folks who represent this center have been outstanding in their support for the mansion tax. Now, I know people come here from different places so what I want to make sure you do is you’re going to get this flyer passed around and it is very, very clear we need people to call their State Senator and the phone number is here. Wherever you live you can call this number and they will connect you to the office of your State Senator. We need people to call the Governor and say we need this mansion tax now. This vote is scheduled to happen in Albany on April 1st. And we need everyone to raise their voices because if we can get this mansion tax passed 25,000 more seniors will not only have affordable housing now they will have it for the long haul. It will be something they can depend on. And then that is going to help us reach more and more people. We get this done we can go farther the next time. But it is time to do things differently. Look, I’m sick of a situation where people are struggling to make ends meet and I am sick of a situation where politicians pay lip service to senior citizens but don’t do enough to actually serve senior citizens. Here’s how we change things: ask the wealthy to pay their fair share, so senior citizens can live a decent life. It is as simple as that. But we need your voices to be raised.

So, are you going to help me get this done?

[Applause]

I’m going to ask you again; you’re going to help me get this done?

[Applause]

Excellent, excellent – let me just say in conclusion I want to thank you again for the chance to be with you. I want to thank you for all you have to make this city great. I need your help so we can get this done and if we can get this done we can do even more after that because this is about changing the rules of the game in favor of the people who have done all of the hard work for so many years.

We can do that together.

Thank you, and God bless you all.