For nearly a year, Monroe County residents have been pressing the Legislature to pass affordable and supportive housing legislation, and we are still here asking for the same basic thing: fund what keeps people alive. At the Full Legislature Meeting, I spoke in support of Seneca Park Zoo funding, but I said clearly that we need to show that same level of commitment to housing and anti-poverty needs. As Coretta Scott King wrote, neglecting children, punishing families, and ignoring poverty and housing need are forms of violence. That truth is exactly why this delay matters.

This is not abstract. Families in the 19th Ward, Beechwood, and East Rochester are living with the consequences when government treats housing as optional. When people cannot find safe, stable, affordable housing, everything else becomes harder: keeping kids in school, holding onto work, staying healthy, and remaining connected to community. We cannot keep telling struggling families to wait while public investment moves faster for capital projects than for the conditions people need to survive.

I am calling on the Monroe County Legislature to pass the affordable and supportive housing Add-on Shelter Allowance (ASA) Legislation it has been pressed to pass for nearly a year, and to fully fund it in a way that meets the scale of the need. That means real county investment in affordable housing, supportive services, and anti-poverty resources in the communities that have been carrying this burden the longest. If Monroe County can rally around major projects, it can also choose to protect children, support families, and confront poverty with urgency.

If you believe housing is not a luxury, that housing is a human right and that ignoring poverty is a policy choice, please sign this petition. Help tell the Monroe County Legislature that our communities cannot wait another year for action. We need them to pass this legislation now and fund our neighbors like their lives matter, because they do.