People in our district struggle to find affordable housing. The percentage of our income spent on a place to live is one of the highest in the nation, and climate disasters are making it worse. Government serves to solve collective problems, and there is none so critical as where a family will sleep at night.

I am dedicated to creating Housing for All, ensuring every resident can afford a safe, dignified home. Federal funds have long subsidized affordable housing, and it is critical to strengthen programs in favor of people, and not simply to turn a profit. Specifically, I will fight for:

• Renters Bill of Rights: Engage with national organizations who support tenants rights and address rent spikes, evictions, and maintenance of the property.

• Short Term Rentals (STR): Develop a federal framework for STRs that (1) follows local ordinances (including outright bans), and (2) stopping STR internet platforms from listing illegal units.

Housing Access for All

• Ban the Box: Enact federal legislation that prohibits housing providers from excluding people based solely on a criminal conviction;

• Demand transparency on the criteria a provider uses in housing admission;

• Stop excessive fees in housing applications;

• Expand housing voucher programs for low income, veterans, and people with disabilities;

• Build-out pilot programs that provide housing vouchers for people leaving incarceration.

• Increase federal funding for non-profit organizations that provide legal services to tenants facing evictions or landlord disputes.

Preventing Homelessness

Preventive federal funding to keep people in homes:

• Emergency Assistance for rent and utilities;

• Early Interventions offering counseling, financial planning, and job support;

• Eviction Mediation Programs to resolve disputes between landlords and tenants without resorting to eviction;

• Transitional Programs for people leaving jails and prisons

Support the Homes for All Act (H.R. 7191)

• Federal Land for Housing: Direct federal agencies to identify underutilized properties and land that can be converted into affordable housing developments.

• Modular Housing Development: Fund research and development in modular housing technologies/ tiny homes and pilot projects in cities with high homelessness rates.

• Community Land Trusts (CLTs): Support the formation of CLTs with federal grants and tax incentives, allowing communities to own and manage affordable housing developments, keeping them affordable long-term.

• Enhanced Local Participation: Provide matching funds and technical assistance to local governments that propose unique solutions to housing challenges in their communities.

Protect the Rights of people experiencing homelessness

• Anti-Discrimination Protections: Strengthen federal laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), to ensure people experiencing homelessness have access to public services, healthcare, employment, or housing.

• Right to Essential Services: Oppose criminalization statutes and guarantee the right to access essential services without discrimination, including voting rights, mail services, and emergency medical care.

• Federal Oversight: Establish a federal oversight committee within the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to monitor the implementation of HRDA, compliance with anti-discrimination protections, and the effectiveness of training programs.

• Public Health Programming: Develop federal funding for community health workers and supportive services addressing mental health and addiction.

Louisiana elected a slate of new politicians as a homeowner insurance crisis has hit us like a hurricane. This impacts people’s ability to pay their mortgage, and for rents to remain stable. We have yet to see a comprehensive plan that will keep people from abandoning the state. We need big ideas and big decisions, not little discounts off predatory insurers who can cut and run at any time. In congress, I will fight for:

• Establish a federal insurance option for homeowners in areas prone to natural disasters. Rather than waiting on FEMA, and hoping for the best, take a proactive approach to connect people with resources when they need them.

• Mandatory Risk Mitigation Requirements:

  • Federal Building Codes: Implement nationwide codes that require disaster-resistant construction practices specifically tailored to regional risks like hurricanes, floods, or earthquakes.

  • Compliance Incentives: Offer federal funding or tax breaks to homeowners and developers to retrofit existing buildings to meet these new standards.

• Hold insurance companies accountable: on price-hikes or cutting coverage;

  • Exit Fees: Implement substantial fees for insurers that choose to withdraw from a market. These fees would be proportionate to the size and suddenness of the withdrawal.

  • Re-Entry Regulations: Once an insurer exits a market, strict criteria and potential penalties would apply should they choose to return, preventing insurers from fluctuating their presence based on short-term profitability assessments.

  • Transitional Support: Require insurers that withdraw to provide support to affected policyholders, such as helping them find new coverage or offering extended coverage during the transition period

• Hold Bad-Actor Landlords accountable: federal dollars provided to repair homes need to be monitored, ensuring no renter is left with a tarp on their roof as a landlord pockets the repair money.

From grandparents on the porch to kids in the street, public safety is important to all of us. Similar to hurricanes, we can’t sit idly by until the storm comes before we tackle the problem. There are well-known root causes of crime, and as they say “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Many politicians continually promise more police and more prisons, even in the state of Louisiana that leads the world in these categories while we still don’t feel safe.

In Congress, I will ensure Greater New Orleans receives investments directed at the causes of crime, based on facts not hyperbole, and helping people when they stumble, not a lifetime punishment after they fall.

Prioritize investing in prevention community mental health services, supporting restorative justice practices, and dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline. I’ll work to ban private prisons, end mandatory minimum sentencing, and shift our focus from incarceration to rehabilitation. This includes enhancing community-led mentorship programs, providing transitional housing, and increasing support for those reintegrating into society after incarceration.

Over the past 40 years, states have been able to expand their prison systems through federal funding of prisons, prosecutors, and policing, but never having any deliverables in exchange for the funding… other than extending prison sentences by limiting parole. In 2024, we have decades of experience in 50 states yet still an unspoken debate continues: whether we want a prison system that doles out brutal punishments (believing that people will avoid that pain again at all costs) or a system that rehabilitates people through personal growth and vocational development, and assimilates people back into community.

• Community mental health:

  • Restore the federal focus on mental health that the nation has not seen since the Carter Administration’s commission on mental health spawned the Mental Health Systems Act (repealed after Reagan took office). Since that time, jails and prisons have been overwhelmed by people in need of professional treatment.

    • Increase Funding for Mental Health Clinics: Whereas over $110 million was allocated to build a ‘mental health jail’ in New Orleans, with millions in expected annual operations costs for just a few dozen pretrial patient/prisoners… we will prioritize similar, non-carceral, investments that can prevent people from devolving under their diagnoses.

    • Expand Mobile and Telehealth Services: Support the deployment of mobile clinics, community health workers, and expand telehealth services to effectively reach remote or underserved populations.

    • Integrate Services: Foster integration of mental health services with other community services such as schools, homeless outreach, EMT, police departments, and social services to ensure a coordinated approach to mental health.

• Support Community-led mentorship programs

  • Fund and expand community-led mentorship programs that connect at-risk youth and adults with positive role models, particularly those who can relate to the adverse circumstances our young people face. Focus on career counseling, educational support, and conflict resolution.

  • Develop peer support systems, particularly amongst men impacted by incarceration who are working to restore themselves as positive members of the community.

  • Enhance Educational and Recreational Facilities: Invest in modern, well-equipped schools and community centers that serve as hubs for educational, cultural, and recreational activities.

• Disrupt the School-to-Prison Pipeline

  • In Louisiana, 17-year olds are “adults” only when arrested, and an arrest is enough to be publicized even when charges are dismissed. Policing in schools, and referrals to court rather than internal discipline, create counter-productive results. Much of school policy is driven by federal funding, such as cops in schools, “zero tolerance” for drugs, special education services, breakfast and lunch programs.

    • Reform Disciplinary Policies: Advocate for federal guidelines that limit the use of suspensions and expulsions and promote alternative disciplinary measures.

    • Invest in Counselors and Social Workers: Shift funding for schools away from police and towards additional counselors, social workers, and mental health professionals.

    • Educational Equity Programs: Develop and fund programs aimed at increasing educational opportunities for marginalized and at-risk youth.

• Supporting Restorative Justice Practices

  • An overwhelming number of people who have been victims of crime, whether property loss or physical harm, want their perpetrator to learn from their mistakes and grow into a positive member of the community. Restorative justice takes the approach that those who have been harmed, and those who caused harm, can both heal through the accountability process. It focuses on rehabilitation and reconciliation, and where there is no individual person harmed, the reconciliation is with the community at large, and assimilation back into the community is essential.

    • Fund training programs for law enforcement, judiciary, and community organizations to implement mediation and restorative justice programs that can serve as alternatives to traditional punitive measures. These practices are shown to significantly reduce repeat offending by addressing the root causes of criminal behavior and helping people reintegrate into society.

• Incentivize States for Reduced Recidivism Rates

  • Work with directly impacted community groups, BJS experts, law enforcement groups, and other experts to settle on specific metrics for success.

  • Amend the JAG-Byrne (and other) federal funding so that states are rewarded for successfully rehabilitating and assimilating people back into the community.

  • Elevate and fund successful programming that incorporates formerly incarcerated people;

  • Elevate and fund successful alternatives to confinement and probation programs;

  • Work directly with “violence interrupters” who are on the front lines of our most challenging circumstances in the district.

• End All Mandatory Minimum Sentencing

  • Mandatory minimums remove judicial discretion and lead to disproportionately harsh penalties in many situations. In Congress, I will work with the U.S. Sentencing Commission and others to restore sentencing discretion to judges, ensuring that sentences are fair, proportionate, and conducive to rehabilitation rather than purely punitive.

• Invest in Reentry Housing and Supportive Initiatives

  • The federal system requires a halfway house as part of the transition from incarceration, yet only impacts less than 10% of people released. The housing ends when the sentence is complete, and much more must be done.

    • Expand Transitional Housing Programs: Increase federal investment in transitional housing facilities and associated supportive services.

    • Comprehensive Reentry Services: Provide funding for comprehensive reentry services, including peer mentorship, that address employment, education, health, and personal development.

    • Partnerships for Employment: Develop partnerships with private and public sector employers to facilitate job opportunities for returning individuals.

• Reduce Barriers to Assimilation

  • When a sentence is complete, a second chance requires a clean slate to realistically expect someone to climb up from the bottom.

    • Strengthen the Federal Trade Commission’s enforcement of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA): Digital databases are the basis for perpetual background checks. These are often inaccurate, conflate individuals, include arrests that did not lead to convictions, and fail to remove expungements or exonerations;

    • Require consumer transparency in background checks: Job and housing applicants, IF facing a background check, should be made aware of the specific lookback period and criminal history that will result in denial;

    • Exclude people only where there is a rational relationship between a criminal history and an occupation;

    • Create an inalienable federal right to vote for American citizens

Our district is America’s frontline of a rapidly changing climate. In some areas, our community is inches above the waterline, while others need a levee wall to stay dry. Years of drilling in the bayou has worn away our coastal protections as sea levels continue to rise. The sustainable solutions we create in Southern Louisiana will serve the nation, as we need a full bipartisan commitment to protecting the families and industries across the region. I plan to bring in federal funding and experts of the field to overcome any unnecessary resistance to science and reality.

Together, we will lead the charge in innovative climate solutions and ensure a thriving, resilient district.

• 21st Century Marshall Plan for Equitable Redevelopment

  • Modeled after the post-World War II Marshall Plan, our district must rebuild infrastructure, enhance public health facilities, and promote sustainable local businesses within low-income communities of our industrial corridor.

    • Infrastructure Overhaul: Upgrade and modernize infrastructure to enhance resilience against climate impacts, including improved drainage systems, flood barriers, roads, rail, bridges, and green buildings.

    • Community Involvement: Ensure democratic participation through local councils, groups, and public meetings.

    • Health and Environmental Remediation: Invest in public health infrastructure improvements and environmental cleanup projects to address legacy pollution issues.

    • Economic Development Initiatives: Establish grants and incentives for local businesses that prioritize sustainable practices and provide substantial employment opportunities to local residents.

    • Solar for All: Build upon federal tax incentives and grants to allow every resident the capacity to create whole-home power, or neighborhood micro-grids, also capable of charging EV vehicles.

• Just Transition for Fossil Fuel Workers

  • Recognizing the shift towards a carbon-neutral economy, this policy focuses on supporting fossil fuel workers through educational programs, retraining initiatives, and financial assistance. The transition plan includes partnerships with local industries and educational institutions to provide new career opportunities in emerging fields such as renewable energy, coastal restoration, and sustainable manufacturing.

    • Job Training and Education: Offer retraining programs that provide new skills related to renewable energy, environmental management, and other sustainable industries.

    • Economic Assistance: Provide financial assistance during transition periods, including unemployment benefits, job placement services, and relocation grants if necessary.

    • Alternative Employment Opportunities: Develop and promote employment in emerging industries, particularly within the renewable energy sector, to absorb displaced workers.

• Innovative Approaches to Coastal Restoration

  • Research and deploy global cutting-edge techniques and technologies for coastal restoration to protect and enhance Louisiana's vulnerable coastlines.

    • Advanced Research and Implementation: Support innovative coastal restoration projects such as barrier island restoration, mangrove reforestation, and the creation of artificial reefs.

    • Community and Ecosystem Focus: Ensure that restoration projects benefit both local communities and ecological systems, enhancing resilience and biodiversity.

    • Sustainable Practices: Use environmentally sustainable materials and methods in all coastal restoration efforts to prevent further ecological disruption.

• National Transition to a 100% Carbon-Neutral Grid and Transit Network by 2040

  • Establish a nationwide mandate to achieve complete carbon neutrality in all electric power generation and public transportation systems across the United States by 2040, leveraging renewable energy, advanced grid modernization, and comprehensive electrification of transit systems.

    • National Renewable Energy Initiatives: Direct substantial federal investments towards scaling up renewable energy projects nationwide. This includes offering tax incentives, competitive grants, and technical support to accelerate the deployment of large-scale solar arrays, wind farms, and sustainable bioenergy.

    • Advanced Grid Modernization Programs: Launch a national initiative to upgrade the U.S. electrical grid, making it smarter, more resilient, and capable of integrating high levels of renewable sources. Investments will focus on enhancing grid storage capabilities, deploying smart grid technologies, and improving grid management systems to handle variability and ensure consistent energy supply.

    • Nationwide Electrification of Public Transit: Implement a comprehensive program to replace fossil fuel-based public transit vehicles with electric alternatives and expand electric transit solutions across urban and rural areas. This will include significant funding for the development of necessary charging infrastructure, including solar-powered commuter rail.

• Reparations for Cancer Alley communities

  • The petrochemical industrial corridor along the river parishes is known as “Cancer Alley” for obvious reasons. Over the past century, historically Black sharecropping communities have had toxin-producing companies built amongst their homes, churches, and schools. The state and federal government facilitated those developments without any programs designed to mitigate the negative health impacts.

    • Healthcare and Compensation Fund: Expand Medicaid coverage to provide comprehensive healthcare services and Social Security Disability Insurance to individuals and families who have lived in Cancer Alley and suffered from health conditions linked to toxic pollution.

    • Environmental Restoration and Monitoring: Launch a large-scale environmental clean-up initiative to remove toxic substances from soil, water, and air. Implement continuous monitoring of air and water quality to ensure ongoing compliance with safety standards.

    • Establish and Expand Public Health Research: Investigate social determinants of health, including educational outcomes, mental health, addiction and incarceration data through long-term studies and community-driven research.

    • Community Development: Invest in the economic revitalization of Cancer Alley through grants and loans supporting local businesses, infrastructure projects, educational programs, and workforce development that prioritize sustainability and public health.

The War on Drugs officially began in 1973, under the premise that all drugs are lethal and people are not free to decide what they ingest in their bodies. This multi-trillion-dollar investment has hollowed out our communities through policing, prosecuting, and imprisoning people without any legitimate impact on addiction, overdose, or casual usage. Intergenerational incarceration has increased poverty, trauma, and taken parents from children.

• Declare Addiction a Public Health Crisis: Cancer, HIV, polio, and COVID-19 were addressed through the public health system, not law enforcement. We must reorient the federal government to invest in solutions that fit the problem. Many of us have family and friends struggling with drug usage, who seek interventions that do not exist, as our governments have sought to temporarily “lock up” the problem rather than treat it.

  • Demand equity amongst communities and substances: The criminal legal system has long struggled to be consistent across race and ethnicity. We must hold accountable those who take a punitive approach to one group while encouraging treatment for another.

  • Support the Orleans Parish Sheriff, District Attorney, Judiciary, and NOPD: New Orleans is our largest city, and feels the greatest impacts of addiction in urban areas. This agencies need the partnerships, tools, interventions, and treatment facilities to transform the frontline of addiction away from a “War” on our residents. This includes federally funded crisis-intervention teams of mental health and addiction specialists, along with Medication Assisted Treatement (MAT) such as naltrexone available for all.

• End Prohibition of Cannabis

  • The experts who convened to develop the Controlled Substances Act did not recommend cannabis to be classified as a “Schedule I” drug. They were ignored by politicians, however, and this drug became a gateway to arresting millions of people, incarcerating them, including violating probation or parole sentences to this day. In May 2024, the Department of Justice took steps towards moving the drug to Schedule III, allowing for federal medical use and widespread research.

    • Federally legalize the recreational and medical use: Establish a regulatory framework similar to alcohol. Account for industry development of agriculture, distribution, finance, and sales that encourage and support small businesses.

    • Targeted Tax Revenue: Allocate federal cannabis taxes towards community reinvestment, public education, and healthcare initiatives.

    • Equity Programs: Develop programs to ensure that minorities and residents from communities historically harmed by drug policies have access to business opportunities in the cannabis industry.

    • Support FIP entrepreneurs: Develop a federal initiative to support formerly incarcerated persons (FIPs) in the legalized cannabis industry.

      • Business Training and Education: Offer courses and workshops on business management, regulatory compliance, and industry-specific skills.

      • Access to Capital: Provide low-interest loans, business incubators, and grants to help FIPs start cannabis businesses.

• Expungement of non violent drug offenses

  • Implement a nationwide program to automatically expunge all non-violent drug offenses from individuals’ records, facilitating reintegration into society.

  • Incentivize states through grants and technical assistance to implement similar programs.

As your Congressman, I will not shy away from addressing gun violence, while remain a staunch supporter of the Second Amendment. Louisiana’s current approach, to arm everyone without even a permit, has obvious repercussions in an urban environment where strangers often congregate in close proximity. Furthermore, 20 million visitors come to New Orleans, many who are intoxicated and crowded in the French Quarter. I will work with Congress, ATF, and the Department of Justice to champion sensible regulations on products that can cause significant harm, as we do with every other potentially dangerous substance or product. In response to the slogan “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people,” I am committed to disrupting the pattern of people who kill others with guns, particularly the very American problem of school shootings.

• Prohibit High-Capacity Ammunition Magazines

  • Enact federal legislation to limit the sale and possession of high-capacity ammunition magazines to reduce the potential for mass shootings and limit the lethality of gun violence.

• Ban and/or Regulate Firearm Kits and 3-D Printing of Firearms

  • Prohibit the unregulated creation and possession of 3D-printed firearms, which are often undetectable by standard security systems and lack serial numbers, making them invisible to background check systems.

    • Legislation to Ban Production and Possession: Enact federal laws to ban the production, sale, distribution, and possession of 3D-printed guns.

    • Regulate Blueprints Online: Implement strict regulations to control the distribution of digital blueprints for 3D-printed firearms.

    • Enforcement and Monitoring: Develop and deploy technology to monitor and enforce compliance, particularly on platforms that could distribute blueprints.

    • Comprehensive Registration Requirement: Require that all firearm kits include traceable parts with registered serial numbers.

    • Enhanced Monitoring and Compliance: Increase monitoring of online sales and shipments of gun kits.

• Create a Federal Hotline to Report Shooting Concerns

  • Mass shooters often exhibit prior indicators, including violent ruminations and gun ownership. Connect the hotline with local social services and law enforcement to enable interventions

• Support Universal Background Checks

  • Implement a federal mandate requiring universal background checks for all firearm purchases and transfers, including private sales and gun shows, to ensure that firearms do not fall into the hands of those legally prohibited from owning them.