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Policy 01 · Healthcare
HEALTHCARE
Everyone in District 66 deserves the care they need to live a healthy life.
THE PROBLEM
Too many people in this district are one health crisis away from losing everything. Seniors are being forced to choose between prescriptions and rent. Home care is hard to get and harder to keep. And for too many LGBTQ+ New Yorkers, accessing healthcare still means fighting stigma or traveling outside the district to see an affirming provider.
Climate change is making all of this worse: extreme heat, flooding, and degraded air quality hit the most vulnerable residents hardest, and our healthcare infrastructure is not built to handle it.
Healthcare does not start in the emergency room. It starts with access, prevention, and the basic dignity of being seen. Our current system fails on all three.
WHAT I'VE SEEN
In 23 years of public service as an EMT, police officer, and firefighter, I responded to health crises across this city. Most of them were preventable. I have sat with people who could not afford their medications. I have seen what happens when people cannot access mental health support. I have watched families navigate a system that was not designed for them.
I have also responded to weather emergencies and seen how quickly a flood or a heat event overwhelms communities that were already stretched thin.
Since retiring from the FDNY, I have spent six months talking to people at senior centers, community health centers, and community organizations across the district. The same themes come up again and again: cost, access, and respect.
WHAT I'LL DO
Furhan's commitment: I will fight for healthcare that reaches people before a crisis hits, not after, and that holds up when climate events make those crises more frequent.
Protect Seniors from Rising Costs
Seniors in District 66 are being priced out of their own neighborhoods. Rent increases eat into the fixed incomes that should be covering medications and home care. Extreme heat and flooding add new risks for older adults who are among the most vulnerable to climate-related health emergencies.
I will fight to expand rent protections and Medicaid coverage so seniors can stay in their homes and afford the care they need.
- Expand Medicaid to cover home care and prescription drugs.
- Support pharmaceutical cost transparency and price cap legislation.
- Invest in the home care workforce to address critical shortages.
- Advocate for cooling centers, air quality monitoring, and climate health supports in senior facilities.
Protect and Expand Gender-Affirming Care
Every person in this community deserves healthcare that respects who they are. That means protecting access to gender-affirming care, defending providers and patients from political interference, and ensuring Medicaid covers the full range of affirming services.
- Support the Gender-Affirming Care Access Program (S7924-A / A8841-A).
- Support Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming care (S6377-A).
- Advocate for shield laws protecting patients and providers.
Modernize Outdated Laws
Science has moved forward. Our laws have not. The HIV Decriminalization Act would end the criminalization of people living with HIV under statutes rooted in stigma, not public health. This is long overdue.
- Support the HIV Decriminalization Act.
HOW I'LL SHOW UP FOR YOU
As your Assembly Member, my office will be a resource, not a bureaucratic dead end. We will help you navigate the systems that are supposed to serve you.
- Assist with Medicaid enrollment and renewal issues.
- Advocate for denied prescriptions and coverage appeals.
- Help families navigate home care access and placement.
- Connect residents to HIV testing, treatment, and legal support if affected by outdated laws.
- Connect residents to affirming providers and legal support for out-of-state protections.
- Help with insurance denials and appeals.
- Connect residents to climate health resources, including heat emergency support and air quality alerts.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Healthcare is not a privilege. Everyone in District 66 deserves access to care that is affordable, accessible, delivered with dignity, and resilient enough to hold up in the emergencies ahead. That is what I am running to build.
Policy 02 · Human Dignity and Quality of Life
HUMAN DIGNITY AND QUALITY OF LIFE
Safety. Dignity. Quality of Life. Real safety means addressing the root causes of crises, not just responding to them.
THE PROBLEM
District 66 is one of the most culturally significant communities in New York City. It is home to LGBTQ+ New Yorkers, artists, long-time residents, and independent businesses that define the character of this place. That identity is under pressure.
Mental health crises are being handled by police instead of clinicians. Commercial rents are squeezing out the businesses and cultural institutions that make this neighborhood what it is.
And climate change is adding a new layer of instability: flooding, extreme heat, and aging infrastructure disrupt daily life and fall hardest on the communities with the fewest resources to recover.
These are not separate problems. They compound each other, and the people who pay the price are the ones who can least afford it.
WHAT I'VE SEEN
I have spent my career responding to crises across this city. What I know from 23 years of frontline experience is that enforcement alone does not make communities safer. When people lack mental health support, stable housing, and economic security, everything else breaks down.
Climate emergencies accelerate that breakdown. I have responded to floods and storms and seen how fast a community's sense of safety can collapse when the infrastructure around them fails.
I have talked to business owners who watched their neighbors close after decades, not because they failed, but because their leases became unaffordable overnight. And I have heard from people across this district who still face stigma, neglect, or indifference from the systems that are supposed to protect them.
WHAT I'LL DO
Furhan's commitment: I will build a community where fewer things go wrong in the first place, and where we are prepared when they do.
Mental Health and Crisis Response
Mental health crises require mental health responses. Sending police to every crisis call is not working. I support expanding non-police mental health crisis response across the district and investing in the upstream supports that prevent crises before they happen.
Climate-related disasters create their own mental health toll, and our response systems need to be ready for that too.
- Support Daniels Law (S3670 / A4097) for non-police mental health crisis response.
- Advocate for state incentive funding to expand B-HEARD citywide.
- Support public health-based investments in community safety.
- Expand supportive housing as a core public safety strategy.
- Advocate for mental health support resources integrated into climate emergency response.
Public Safety and Justice
Public safety must be grounded in real-world experience, not political extremes. I have worked inside this system as an EMT, police officer, and firefighter. I know where it works, and I know where it breaks down.
We do not need to choose between safety and fairness. We need a system that delivers both, one that reflects what is actually happening in our communities and gives the people on the ground the tools to respond effectively.
- Get Bail Reform Right, including narrowing the scope of dangerousness standard.
- Raise the Age with real support.
- Fix Discovery so the system functions.
Substance Use Treatment and Public Health
Open-air drug use is a visible sign of deeper gaps in our mental health, housing, and addiction treatment systems. Treating it as an enforcement issue alone has not worked, and it does not make our neighborhoods safer.
Real quality of life means addressing substance use as a public health challenge, expanding access to treatment, and creating clear pathways to recovery while restoring public spaces for everyone in the community. This approach reduces harm, supports recovery, and improves safety for residents, families, and small businesses alike.
- Support expansion of substance use treatment services, including outpatient, inpatient, and medication-assisted treatment (MAT).
- Advocate for integration of addiction specialists into B-HEARD and other crisis response programs.
- Support funding for supportive housing models that include substance use treatment and recovery services.
- Advocate for harm reduction programs and community-based outreach to connect individuals directly to care.
- Support coordinated state funding to align mental health, housing, and substance use services into a unified response system.
Protect Small Businesses and Cultural Spaces
District 66 is defined by its independent businesses and cultural institutions. Protecting them means giving commercial tenants the same basic rights that residential tenants have fought for: rent stabilization, tax relief, and protections against arbitrary displacement.
It also means making sure small businesses can survive climate disruptions, not just economic ones.
- Support the Commercial Rent Stabilization Act (S8319 / A5568).
- Support Commercial Rent Tax relief expansion (S451).
- Support the STORE Act for commercial good cause eviction protections.
- Advocate for formula retail restrictions to preserve neighborhood character.
- Support climate resilience funding and infrastructure investment that protects small businesses from flooding and storm damage.
HOW I'LL SHOW UP FOR YOU
My office will be a direct connection to the resources and services this community needs.
- Help residents access mental health services and crisis response alternatives.
- Support families navigating substance use challenges and instability.
- Help small businesses navigate lease disputes, grants, and relief programs.
- Connect artists and cultural organizations to funding and space preservation programs.
- Help residents and businesses access climate resilience resources and recovery support after weather emergencies.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Safety is not just about enforcement. It is about stability, dignity, and trust, and it is about building a community that can withstand what is coming. District 66 has always been a place where people can live freely and authentically. I am running to make sure it stays that way.
Policy 03 · Housing
HOUSING
Housing. Stability. Home. Everyone in District 66 deserves a place to call home.
THE PROBLEM
Housing is the foundation of everything. When people do not have stable housing, every other problem gets harder: health outcomes worsen, economic mobility stalls, and community ties break down.
Climate change makes an already difficult situation more precarious. Flooding, extreme heat, and aging building infrastructure threaten the stability of homes across the district, and the cost of adapting falls on the residents least able to afford it.
Seniors who have lived here for decades are being displaced. LGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness need safe, affirming shelter options that do not currently exist in adequate numbers. Families at risk of eviction have nowhere to turn. And the affordable housing that does exist is disappearing faster than it is being replaced.
WHAT I'VE SEEN
I have seen firsthand what happens when people lose housing. I responded to those crises for years. A person sleeping on the street is not an abstraction. It is a policy failure, and it is preventable.
Climate emergencies make it more urgent: when a flood displaces a family that was already one month behind on rent, there is no backup plan.
In the six months since I retired from the FDNY, I have talked to seniors at community centers who are terrified of their next lease renewal. I have heard from LGBTQ+ young people with nowhere safe to go. I have spoken with families one lost job away from eviction. The common thread is the same: the system is not protecting the people who need it most.
WHAT I'LL DO
Furhan's commitment: I will fight for housing policy that keeps people in their homes, builds the stable communities they deserve, and prepares those communities for the climate realities already here.
Help Seniors Age in Place
Seniors built this community. They deserve to stay in it. That means strong rent protections, access to home modifications and care services, preservation of the affordable housing stock that makes aging in place possible, and buildings that are safe and functional during extreme heat and flooding.
- Expand SCRIE and DRIE to protect seniors from displacement.
- Support Mitchell-Lama preservation to keep long-term affordable housing in the district.
- Advocate for climate retrofits and weatherization in senior housing.
Invest in Supportive and Youth Housing
Safe housing for LGBTQ+ youth and people experiencing homelessness is not a luxury. It is a public safety investment. That housing also needs to be built and maintained with climate resilience in mind.
- Support LGBTQ+ youth housing funding and safe shelter mandates.
- Support state funding expansions under the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act.
- Support Supportive Housing Expansion Programs.
- Advocate for climate-resilient design standards in all new supportive housing.
Protect Tenants at Risk of Eviction
Good cause eviction protections and housing vouchers are two of the most effective tools we have to keep people housed. Climate displacement, whether from flooding or from the rising costs that follow it, makes this work more urgent, not less.
- Support Good Cause Eviction expansion.
- Support full funding for the Housing Access Voucher Program (HAVP), with a $250M funding goal.
- Advocate for tenant protections that explicitly cover climate-related displacement.
HOW I'LL SHOW UP FOR YOU
My office will be a resource for residents navigating housing challenges at every stage.
- Help seniors apply for rent protections, access home modifications, and connect to care services.
- Direct placement support into youth shelters and crisis housing, plus connections to counseling and legal support.
- Help residents avoid eviction, access vouchers, and transition into stable housing.
- Connect residents to weatherization programs, energy efficiency upgrades, and emergency resources after climate events.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Stable housing does not just change individual lives. It makes entire communities safer, healthier, and more resilient, including resilient to the climate shocks already hitting this city. Every person in District 66 deserves a place to call home. That is not a campaign slogan. It is a policy commitment.
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