The Platform

Housing Justice for All

In the last three years, the People’s Slate has achieved great victories in the fight to secure safe, affordable housing for everyone who makes Rochester their home. Just last year, we collaborated with tenants and advocates to pass strong Good Cause Eviction protections, ensuring that renters in Rochester cannot be evicted simply because a landlord wants to raise rent, or because they reported an issue with the property; we also passed a resolution to fund an updated vacancy study—the first step towards enacting rent stabilization in our city.
We know there is much more to be done.
Rochester is facing a housing crisis. On any given night over 800 of our neighbors are unhoused, leaving them unsafe and at risk of harm. Further, though the City lacks infrastructure to house all residents, City Administration regularly engages in violent encampment sweeps that further displaces already vulnerable people.
People’s Slate candidates all believe housing is a human right, and are committed to fighting to ensure that all Rochester residents have a safe place to call home. Further, the People’s Slate candidates will fight to end the practice of encampment sweeps and will instead invest in frontline organizations to assist with outreach and connection to safe housing.

The safest communities have the most resources. Reliance on policing as the only solution to social problems has failed to end violence and harm in our city. It is high time we took a different approach.
True community safety happens when people's material needs are met. To that end, we must invest in schools and youth services, so that young people in Rochester learn important skills like conflict resolution, gain emotional and mental wellness, and graduate with the academic foundation necessary to thrive.
We must treat substance use disorders with a public health approach, not criminalization and punishment. Recognizing that substance use disorders are a disease, we must invest in resources necessary for harm-reduction, and a variety of options for peer support and voluntary treatment
We must provide free and affordable culturally-inclusive physical and mental health care to everyone in our community, regardless of their economic status, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any other factor.
The People’s Slate candidates understand that safety happens when people have the tools they need to thrive. They know that the only way to make Rochester truly safe for everyone is to provide life-affirming services that allow everyone in our community to live full, prosperous lives.

For decades, the City Budget has been created undemocratically—it does not represent the will or needs of the people. While life-affirming services like our public schools, mental health services, affordable housing initiatives, libraries, violence prevention programs, and crisis response teams are operating on shoestring budgets, the Rochester Police Department enjoys a budget of over $110 million—by far the largest allocation of any department, and more than human & recreational services, emergency communication, neighborhoods, jobs & housing, combined.

This budget is not what our community wants, and we believe we can—and must—do better.
We know there is much more to be done.
What if we paid our teachers, librarians, rec center workers and mental health counselors like we pay police officers? What if our schools and libraries had the kind of financial support police precincts enjoy? What if people in crisis were met with trained mental health workers and peers with lived experience, rather than armed police officers?
The People’s Slate candidates are all dedicated to delivering Rochesterians the budget they deserve, one that will fund the essential community services we need and pay all City workers equitably to ensure that all residents and City workers have the resources necessary to thrive.

To achieve housing justice in our city, we must ensure everyone has an affordable utility bill each month. We can’t do that when the only utility provider in the region is a for-profit company that rakes in over $100 million each year.

The solution: make RG&E a publicly-owned utility. This will lower energy bills for Rochesterians and reduce shutoffs while simultaneously unlocking millions of dollars in funding that can be reinvested into the region to provide quality, union jobs in the green energy sector.
While securing short-term energy security for Rochesterians is important, it is also crucial that we urgently enact a clear climate action plan that puts us on a path towards a future in which we not only weather the storm of climate change, but work to reverse the damage that has already been done.
The People’s Slate knows providing reliable heat, running water, and electricity to our neighbors is more important than corporate profits, and will work to secure an affordable public utility in our region.

When our first People’s Slate Councilmembers Stanley Martin and Kim Smith began their first terms in 2021, Rochester’s City Council was a very different governing body: only the Council President could introduce legislation and Speak to Council sessions occurred on the same day as the Council vote, making it impossible for community members to have an impact on decision making.
In collaboration with community members, Council Member Martin, Smith, and Lupien worked tirelessly to make Rochester’s City Council more democratic and transparent. Now, any sitting Council Member can introduce legislation, Speak to Council occurs the week prior to Council voting on legislation, therefore allowing time for Council to critically weigh public input.
Still, the work of City government remains unclear to the average citizen, and key decisions are largely made behind closed doors, without community input. True transparency can only be achieved with the direct involvement of community members Council is elected to serve. We have to build new mechanisms for hearing from the public and implementing changes to meet their needs. This includes allowing more time for citizens to speak at Council meetings, hiring separate legal Counsel from the Mayor to eliminate conflicts of interest, and meeting residents outside of City Hall to ensure that Council members are accessible to the community.