Housing is a human right; no one should struggle to find a safe, stable place to call home.

Boston is facing a serious housing crisis, with soaring rents and a shortage of affordable housing options. Too many of our District 8 neighbors–families, residents with low or moderate incomes, seniors, and more–are being forced out of their homes and pushed out of the city.

We must create and preserve affordable housing opportunities, and ensure that everyone has access to a safe and stable place to live.

Whether traveling by foot, bike, bus, subway or car, Bostonians should be able to access all parts of our city safely and reliably. Our district is home to some of the city’s most walkable and bikeable neighborhoods. Yet our crosswalks, intersections, paths, and protected bike lanes are not safe and accessible for people of all ages and abilities.

As your City Councilor, I will prioritize Boston’s infrastructure to ensure our neighbors can get where they need to go safely, comfortably, and accessibly.

Our local public transit is unreliable at its best and deadly at its worst. With more MBTA stops than any other Massachusetts municipality, Boston needs a seat on MBTA’s Fiscal Management and Control Board to ensure better representation and effective oversight.

Our city’s overlapping crises of mental illness, substance use disorder, and poverty affects all of us. For me, this is personal: My family’s story of mental illness drives me to push for accessible, affordable, stigma-free mental health care for all.

From MGH to Longwood, District 8 is home to world-class hospitals and medical centers. But too many Bostonians face barriers to compassionate, comprehensive mental health care.

We need to break down barriers to care by investing in treatment for substance use disorder, mental and behavioral health services, and supportive housing; recruiting and retaining behavioral health care workers; and ensuring culturally appropriate care.

The climate crisis poses a serious threat to Boston’s people, communities, people, and infrastructure. We must protect our city and our planet for future generations.

Our public parks and open spaces are a treasured part of District 8–and they make our neighborhoods more resilient by buffering increasingly severe storms and absorbing stormwater run-off. We must ensure District 8’s open spaces continue to serve both the people and the environment.

For Boston to reach our climate goals, we need to retrofit existing building stock to reduce energy use, and run on clean energy. We need to especially prioritize clean energy retrofits for our affordable housing stock because everyone deserves healthy housing regardless of income.