“What was so powerful about the rent freeze campaign is that we reached scale in New York City,” said Sumathy Kumar, the new director for Housing Justice for All and its organizing arm, the New York State Tenant Bloc. “We’re going to build off of that to keep tenant power at the top of people’s minds.”

Sumathy Kumar, a veteran organizer for Housing Justice For All, is the group’s new director. (Courtesy HJ4A/NYS Tenant Bloc)

Housing Justice for All and its organizing arm, the New York State Tenant Bloc, have had a productive few years.

The groups helped pass momentous rent stabilization laws in 2019, Good Cause Eviction in 2024, and led a campaign to freeze the rent for the city’s rent stabilized tenants last fall that helped propel Mayor Zohran Mamdani to City Hall.

Thursday, the organization announced Sumathy Kumar, a veteran organizer for Housing Justice For All, as their next director.

Kumar replaces Cea Weaver, a tenant advocate who left the post to lead the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants.

Mayor Mamdani celebrated the appointment in a statement, saying, “Sumathy Kumar and I have fought side by side in Albany to win real, transformative change for working-class families and, as we look to freeze rents and hold bad landlords accountable, the tenant movement couldn’t have a more powerful champion. I’m proud to partner with Sumathy in the fight for every New Yorker to have a safe, stable, and affordable place to call home.”

Kumar spoke with City Limits this week to answer five questions about their plans for leading the largest tenant organization in the state.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity

Your group led a “freeze the rent” campaign for rent stabilized tenants in the city that helped catapult Mayor Mamdani to City Hall. Do you think he will freeze the rent this year, and what did you learn from that campaign that you will bring to leading HJ4A in the Mamdani era?

I do think we will win a rent freeze this year. 20,000 tenants over the last year organized to fight for a rent freeze. They voted for Zohran Mamdani and now he’s in City Hall. Those tenants aren’t going anywhere. They’re gonna keep fighting for a rent freeze and making sure it happens.

In addition to winning a rent freeze, we also have to be holding landlords accountable, making sure that people are living in decent conditions, making sure that rent stabilization is strong and supported and expanded, and working with the new mayor—who is the most tenant-friendly mayor we’ve had in generations—to carve out a new partnership between the tenant movement, tenants in their buildings, and City Hall. That’s going to be about the rent freeze, it’s going to be about code enforcement, it’s going to be about holding landlords accountable for lease issues. It’s going to be really exciting.

I think what was so powerful about the rent freeze campaign is that we reached scale in New York City. It was everywhere by the end of the primary: anyone who thought about the mayor’s race thought about a rent freeze. We’re going to build off of that to keep tenant power at the top of people’s minds around the city. When they’re thinking about City Hall, my hope is that they’re thinking about what they’re doing for tenants.

In the same way that we had a massive field operation where tenants across the city were knocking on their neighbors’ doors, talking to people about a rent freeze, now that same operation gets to be mobilized to talk about holding landlords accountable, driving landlords to the bargaining table with tenants, organizing our buildings, and winning even more.

Mayor Mamdani, in one of his first actions as mayor, pledged to reinvigorate the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants, and appointed your predecessor Cea Weaver to lead it. Weaver has come under scrutiny for past social media posts about changing the relationship New Yorkers, particularly white New Yorkers, have with homeownership. What do you make of that criticism? And do you have any message for Weaver as she leads this new office, in terms of what it can do to better serve tenants?

Cea has an amazing record of protecting tenants, fighting for tenants, and building this incredibly powerful movement that has got us to this point. So now I’m really excited to work with her in her new role, to bring the tenant movement into the halls of power, to work with City Hall in a new and exciting way. 

(Courtesy HJ4A/NYS Tenant Bloc)

Cea, with all her experience on the outside coming into City Hall, I can’t think of a better champion and a better person to lead that work at the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants.

I think that the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants can really work alongside tenants who are organizing in their buildings. We’re going to be going after big portfolios of landlords, we’re going to be talking to tenants across the city, and the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants can be talking in those same buildings, working on the same landlords to get them to actually negotiate with tenants around big things like repairs, like lease issues.

In her State of the State address this week, Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed stiffer criminal penalties for landlords who engage in systematic harassment of rent regulated tenants across multiple buildings, as well as repeat serious offenders of existing anti-harassment laws. How should she go about doing that? In your mind, is there anything missing from the governor’s agenda this year?

So often when we’re talking about tenant harassment, we’re leaning on the tenants themselves to be reporting that to the state, to be doing that proactive enforcement. Tenants do that when they have baseline protections from retaliation. And so what was missing from Kathy Hochul’s State of the State is support to expand rent stabilization to people who don’t have it right now. We are currently fighting for the REST Act at the state level, which would make it easier for upstate cities and towns to actually get rent stabilization so that they can have that baseline protection to be able to organize, to be able to hold their landlords accountable [for] harassment and to a lack of repairs.

Rent stabilization laws, including 2019’s Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act, which Housing Justice For All was critical in passing, have come under attack in the recent mayoral campaign and by some lawmakers and advocates. Some of them have suggested the rent stabilization rules are too restrictive as to make buildings unable to support themselves financially. How would you respond to those complaints? And are there any changes to the rent stabilization laws that you would be open to?

Rent stabilization is one of the biggest ways that people are currently staying in New York City right now … even while things have gotten so much more expensive. [We need to] expand it so that more tenants have access to it and can stay in their homes, can put down roots, can have a basic level of stability. That is what we are focused on in our 2026 legislative session. In a moment where we are facing a huge housing crisis, we should absolutely be keeping that system intact and expanding it as much as possible.

Landlords tried to make these arguments [against rent stabilization] during the mayoral race, and they failed. New Yorkers didn’t buy it. I think they’re going to keep trying to make those arguments, trying to say that in the face of a housing crisis, the thing to do is to raise people’s rents. And I think people know that that’s just not a good solution.

They’re trying to take power—rent money—and instead of putting it towards repairs, put it towards lobbying and try to convince people that the answer to our housing crisis is more rent hikes. We are going to be organizing people to stop that. All of the power that we built in New York City and across the state over the last years, we are going to keep wielding it in Albany this year to make sure that rent stabilization is whole, is intact, and is expanded so that more people can use it across the state.

You’ve been working in housing and organizing in New York for a number of years now. What do you think that you bring to this role that’s unique?

I’ve organized people in their buildings trying to hold their landlords accountable. I’ve organized people to take action at the state legislature. I’ve worked with people to do incredible direct actions, to do massive electoral field campaigns, and I’m excited to be able to bring all of those different experiences together so that tenants get to use every tool in our toolbox to wield power and win. 

I was one of the co-chairs of New York City DSA from 2020 to 2022 where I helped found the Socialists in Office Committee, alongside newly elected Assembly members and other DSA leaders. That forged a new type of partnership between elected officials and regular people trying to win big, bold things in Albany. That’s exactly the kind of energy I’m hoping to bring into this role too.

To reach the reporter behind this story, contact Patrick@citylimits.org. To reach the editor, contact Jeanmarie@citylimits.org

Want to republish this story? Find City Limits’ reprint policy here.

The post Meet New York State’s New Top Tenant Advocate appeared first on City Limits.

Due to what promoters call “incredible demand,” country star Chris Stapleton has added a second show on July 30 at the new Mystic Lake Amphitheater in Shakopee.

Tickets for both concerts go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday via Ticketmaster. Singer/songwriter Allen Stone will open.

Initially known as the songwriter and frontman of the SteelDrivers, Chris Stapleton established himself as a solo star with the release of his debut, “Traveller,” in 2015. Not only did it go platinum seven times, it helped Stapleton fill a few shelves with awards. The 47-year-old Kentucky native has won 11 Grammy Awards, 11 Academy of Country Music Awards and 15 Country Music Association Awards.

His best-known include “Tennessee Whiskey,” “Broken Halos,” “Nobody to Blame,” “Millionaire,” “Starting Over” and “You Should Probably Leave.”

The addition of a second concert at the 19,000-capacity amphitheater isn’t too surprising, given that Stapleton filled the much larger U.S. Bank Stadium in April 2024.

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If a federal officer shoots someone in St. Paul or Ramsey County, the county attorney is asking local law enforcement chiefs to independently secure evidence and immediately call in the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

Ramsey County Attorney John Choi at a September 2024 news conference in St. Paul. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

John Choi’s request and suggested guidance came six days after an ICE officer fatally shot Renee Good, 37, in Minneapolis. The BCA and FBI were initially going to conduct a joint investigation, but the BCA said the U.S. Attorney’s Office “reversed course” and they were informed the FBI would solely lead the investigation.

“I think what happened is they had things worked out, then the rug got pulled out from underneath whatever agreements were made,” Choi said in an interview. “That woke us up to recognize that we can’t assume that cooperation is the standard anymore, and so we need to take measures to protect our processes and to protect the public interest.”

The key issues are having “a thorough investigation and one that’s transparent at the conclusion,” said Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher.

When an investigation is closed in Minnesota, law enforcement reports become public.

“In the state system, the public gets to review the investigative data,” Fletcher said. “In the federal system, quite often those documents are never released or, after 10 years, possibly.”

BCA prefers collaboration

Choi asked BCA Superintendent Drew Evans to send the BCA’s Force Investigations Unit if there is a shooting involving a federal officer in Ramsey County, which Evans agreed to. Other county attorneys have not yet established similar standing requests with the BCA, Evans said Thursday.

“Part of the reason we’re here is that a lot has changed,” Evans said. “The FBI has long been and continues to be a good partner to us. … Our commitment continues to be to look for paths forward to share and conduct investigations, preferably collaboratively and jointly with them, but if not trying to work towards a place where they share information with us and we share information with them.”

Choi said he issued his memo Tuesday after conversations with Ramsey County law enforcement chiefs. The guidance in the memo is “how we normally respond to any officer-involved critical incident where the use of deadly force is used, whether someone is dead or they’re injured.”

“I wanted to reaffirm this is the way that we do things, and that if it’s a federal agent that’s involved, our response should be the same,” Choi added.

The memo, obtained by the Pioneer Press through a data practices request to the county attorney’s office, requests that local law enforcement:

respond and provide medical assistance
immediately notify the BCA and request their assistance
independently protect the scene and any evidence at the scene
attempt to identify any witnesses and involved federal officers before they leave the scene
canvas the area for witnesses and video cameras that may have captured evidence before the BCA arrives.

“If this were to happen in the six cities that we patrol, sheriff’s deputies would take control of the scene, including the casings that are recovered, any vehicles recovered, and freeze the scene,” Fletcher said.

After an investigation by the BCA, Choi said his office would review the case to “determine whether or not the use of force was justified, or whether criminal charges are appropriate.”

Minneapolis shooting

On Wednesday night, there was another shooting by a federal officer in Minneapolis. The officer shot a man in the leg after being attacked with a shovel and broom handle while trying to make an arrest, officials said.

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Minneapolis police requested the BCA investigate. The FBI was also out investigating, Evans said.

With separate investigations, who gets the evidence, such as casings?

“That’s one of the things that is a bit challenging in these situations,” Evans said. “That’s going to be on a case-by-case basis. … That’s why I continue to hope to find a path forward to jointly investigate because then it’s easier to work some of that out.”

In the BCA’s investigation of a federal officer’s use of force, they would provide their case file to a local prosecutor, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI, Evans said.

A law that went into effect in Minnesota in 2020 has the BCA’s Force Investigations Unit investigate any deadly force involving Minnesota peace officers. While federal officers are not Minnesota peace officers, “the use-of-force standard in Minnesota that applies to peace officers is how a county attorney would review any of the force,” Evans added.

County attorney’s offices have the authority to convene an investigative grand jury, which has subpoena powers, if necessary, Choi noted.

Renee Good shooting investigation

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty called on the public last week to submit to her office any information, videos or photos they have regarding Good’s shooting.

She said their request for a joint investigation was “not because we have concerns about the FBI investigation,” but “based on a previous experience with FBI processes, we are concerned that the evidence obtained in an investigation that has only been conducted at the federal level will not be shared with our office for review.”

The FBI has Good’s vehicle that she was shot in, ballistic evidence and witness interviews.

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“Our goal must be to ensure that a thorough investigation is completed at the local level, so that our community can have transparency,” Moriarty said. She said her office has jurisdiction to make a charging decision, but “we do not yet know if there will be sufficient evidence without the FBI case file” to do so.

An FBI probe is ongoing into the shooting of Good.

“Federal agents risk their lives each day to safeguard our communities,” Deputy U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement last week. “They must make decisions, under dynamic and chaotic circumstances, in less time than it took to read this sentence. The law does not require police to gamble with their lives in the face of a serious threat of harm. Rather, they may use deadly force when they face an immediate threat of significant physical harm. Following any officer-involved shooting, standard protocols ensure that evidence is collected and preserved.”

By ALI SWENSON, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Elizabeth Woike was cautiously optimistic when she saw news reports that the nearly $2 billion in grants that the Trump administration pulled from substance abuse and mental health programs around the country the previous day might be getting reinstated.

Then she got a 2 a.m. email Thursday from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reiterating the cuts — and didn’t know what to think anymore.

“I just shook my head. It’s mass chaos,” said Woike, the CEO of BestSelf Behavioral Health, a mental health and substance use disorder treatment provider in Buffalo, New York. As it turned out, the second termination letter was sent in error. She and roughly 2,000 other grant recipients nationwide were notified later Thursday morning that their federal funding had indeed been restored.

Woike’s feeling of whiplash over the past two days has been a common experience for providers, state health agencies and Americans who receive services amid the Trump administration eliminating, then abruptly reinstating, grants that support some of the nation’s most vulnerable people.

It builds on what program directors say has become a pattern of uncertainty from this administration, which has repeatedly canceled millions of dollars in federal funding without notice and at times reversed course in decisions about what will and won’t be covered. Woike said the unsteadiness makes it impossible for organizations like hers to make long-term plans.

“No one’s looking at expansion or really trying to ramp up services to meet the need in the community,” she said. “Everyone is just retrenching, looking at putting aside every penny and every resource.”

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Trump administration surprised grant recipients

The administration first notified grant recipients that their funding was being pulled in emailed letters Tuesday evening, according to copies received by organizations and reviewed by The Associated Press.

On Wednesday, several organizations told the AP they were already making difficult decisions in response to the cuts, including laying off employees and canceling scheduled trainings.

By Wednesday evening, news reports were suggesting the cuts might be reversed — but grant recipients hadn’t yet been notified of the change. Some of them said they instead received confusing emails overnight that duplicated their termination notices or instructed them on how to to close down their grants within 30 days.

It wasn’t until Thursday morning that grant recipients started getting form emails saying the grant terminations were “hereby rescinded.”

Even then, not everyone could rest easy. Sara Howe, CEO of the Addiction Professionals of North Carolina, said members of her professional association are still nervous about whether their funding is guaranteed.

“Any time this happens, you wind up in a position where you’re like, is it OK to breathe?” Howe said. “It puts everybody on really unsteady, shaky ground.”

An administration official with knowledge of the decision who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter confirmed the grants were restored, but didn’t say why. A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services didn’t answer a question about the administration’s reasoning and declined to comment on the confusion that resulted from the situation.

Democrats blast the administration

Democratic lawmakers erupted at the Trump administration for the uncertainty and stress they caused in cutting grants and then abruptly reversing course.

House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rep. Rosa DeLauro described Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s decision-making as dangerous and haphazard after grant recipients began laying off employees based on the original plans.

“He must be cautious when making decisions that will impact Americans’ health,” DeLauro, D-Conn., said in a statement. “I hope this reversal serves as a lesson learned.”

Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin told the AP in a statement that the episode “caused chaos and real harm to Americans — and now, they need to come clean and give families some answers why they caused this mess.”

Providers said they were hustling to undo changes they’d already made in response to the cuts. Honesty Liller, CEO of the peer support organization the McShin Foundation in Richmond, Virginia, said she was working on the logistics of getting five laid-off employees their jobs back.

Ryan Hampton, founder of the nonprofit advocacy organization Mobilize Recovery, said he was relieved the funding was restored to his and other organizations, but criticized the administration for endangering lifesaving services in the first place.

“Restoring these grants was the only acceptable outcome, yet the chaos inflicted on frontline providers and families these past 24 hours is unforgivable,” he said. “We cannot normalize a political environment where overdose prevention and recovery are treated as leverage.”