Ritchie Torres
Ritchie John Torres is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served on the New York City Council from 2014 to 2020.
Torres served as the New York City Council member for the 15th district from 2014 to 2020. Torres chaired the Committee on Public Housing and was a deputy majority leader. As chair of the Oversight and Investigations Committee, he focused on predatory lending associated with taxi medallion procurement and the city's Third Party Transfer Program. In 2016, Torres was a delegate for the Bernie Sanders campaign.
In July 2019, Torres announced his bid for to succeed Representative José E. Serrano. The district is one of the most Democratic-leaning congressional districts in the country. Torres won the November 2020 general election and assumed office on January 3, 2021. This made Mondaire Jones and him the first openly gay Black men elected to Congress. It also made Torres the first openly gay Afro-Latino elected to Congress. Torres served as one of nine co-chairs of the Congressional Equality Caucus and as one of the co-chairs of the Congressional Albanian Issues Caucus in the 117th United States Congress.
Torres is known for his pro-Israel advocacy and has faced criticism from progressives opposed to Israel's conduct in the Gaza war.
Early life and education
Ritchie Torres was born on March 12, 1988, in the Bronx. His father is Puerto Rican, while his mother is a native New Yorker who was born in the Bronx to Puerto Rican parents. Torres was raised Catholic.Torres was raised by his mother in Throggs Neck Houses, a public housing project in the Throggs Neck neighborhood of the East Bronx, where he was frequently hospitalized for asthma as a result of the mold in their apartment. Of growing up economically disadvantaged in "slum conditions", Torres has said, "I was raised by a single mother who had to raise three children on minimum wage, and I lived in conditions of mold and vermin, lead and leaks." His mother raised him, his twin brother, and their sister. Torres was upset that the $269 million city-subsidized Trump Golf Links was built "across the street" in Ferry Point Park when those city funds could instead have been used to provide housing for New Yorkers in need. Torres has said that the construction of the Trump Golf Links helped him understand that he had to fight for struggling New Yorkers like himself. In junior high, Torres realized he was gay but did not come out, fearing homophobic violence.
Torres attended Herbert H. Lehman High School, served in the inaugural class of the Coro New York Exploring Leadership Program, and later worked as an intern in the offices of the mayor and the attorney general. He came out while a sophomore, during a schoolwide forum on marriage equality.
Torres enrolled at New York University, but dropped out at the beginning of his sophomore year, as he was suffering from severe depression. He struggled with suicidal thoughts based on his sexuality. As he recovered, Torres resumed working for council member James Vacca, eventually becoming Vacca's housing director. In that role, Torres conducted site inspections and documented conditions, ensuring housing issues were promptly and adequately addressed.
New York City councilmember
At 25 years old, Torres ran to succeed Joel Rivera as the councilmember for the 15th district of the New York City Council. The district includes Allerton, Belmont, Bronx Park, Claremont Village, Crotona Park, Fordham, Mount Eden, Mount Hope, Norwood, Parkchester, Tremont, Van Nest, West Farms, and Williamsbridge in the Bronx.When he won the Democratic nomination for the New York City Council, Torres became one of the first openly gay political candidates in the Bronx to secure a Democratic nomination, and upon victory in the general election, he became the first openly gay public official in the Bronx. Torres also served as a deputy leader of the city council.
Public housing
Upon his election, Torres requested the chairmanship of the council's committee on public housing, tasked with overseeing the New York City Housing Authority ; as of July 2019, it is the "nation's largest public housing system", which "provides housing to more than 400,000 low-income residents" in "176,000 apartments across 325 complexes." He made "the living conditions of the city's most underserved residents a signature priority." In this role, he helped secure $3 million for Concourse Village, Inc., a nearly 1,900-unit housing cooperative in the South Bronx. According to 2010 United States census data, the South Bronx is among the poorest districts in the nation. The cooperative is subsidized by the Mitchell-Lama Housing Program, offering "income-restricted rentals and below-market value buy-in for co-ops". He also secured nearly $1 million to renovate Dennis Lane Apartments, a Mitchell-Lama co-op in the heart of his district, and "played a crucial role in exposing the city's failures to address lead-paint contamination."In August 2019, along with fellow council member Vanessa Gibson, Torres announced Right To Counsel 2.0, an expansion of legal aid to NYCHA tenants facing eviction. Since the original law was passed in 2017, providing legal help throughout the entire eviction case, the council has found that 84% of tenants were able to stay in their homes. The council members "say this will help keep families together and prevent displacement." Torres said, "NYCHA is one of the worst evictees in the city... Not just one of the worst landlords, but one of the worst evictors. In 2018 alone, 838 families lost their homes in the hands of the NYCHA."
Combating gig worker tip theft
In April 2019, Torres worked on legislation aimed to compel companies that employ gig workers to be transparent about whether the workers' tips are diverted to pay a base salary. Mobile app delivery companies, like DoorDash—which has freelance workers pickup and deliver meals from restaurants—Amazon's Prime Now, and Instacart, usually allow customers to add a gratuity, but the companies were counting the tips toward regular payment. Torres characterized the practice as exploiting "an underclass of independent contractors", and hopes the city council can ban the practice altogether. Vox noted the gig economy requires regulation for the estimated 57 million workers who have little protection, and few if any benefits. Torres's bill would compel these companies to be transparent about the practice "by explicitly stating it in their terms of service or by sending a notification as a transaction is being approved."Taxi medallion predatory loans
As chair of the oversight and investigations committee, newly empowered in January 2018 by city council speaker Corey Johnson, Torres said he had documentation that as early as 2010 the Bloomberg administration was "aware that medallion prices could crumple", a year before ridesharing pioneer Uber started its service in the city. Medallion prices dropped considerably in 2014, likely due to competition from ride-share companies. Medallion owners sued the city and Uber in November 2015. By 2017, 60,000 ride-share vehicles outnumbered medallion vehicles by almost 4 to 1, and many medallion owners faced the prospect of bankruptcy or severe debt because of the low medallion prices, which few were willing to pay. Torres said the "medallion market collapse is a cautionary tale" and "one of the greatest government scandals in the history of New York City."In July 2019, the city council considered how to address the city's taxicab industry with the National Taxi Workers' Alliance's concerns that the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission knowingly sold medallions at inflated prices, bringing in $1 billion in revenue to the city government, while saddling "thousands of drivers with impossible debt loads", leading to suicides.