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Ritchie John Torres (born March 12, 1988) is an American politician from New York. A member of the Democratic Party, Torres is the U.S. representative for New York's 15th congressional district. The district covers most of the South Bronx. It is one of the smallest districts by area in the country, covering only a few square miles. Torres represents the poorest Congressional district in the United States. Torres served as the New York City Council member for the 15th district from 2013 to 2020. He was the first openly gay candidate to be elected to legislative office in the Bronx, and the council's youngest member. Torres chaired the Committee on Public Housing, and was a deputy majority leader. As chair of the Oversight and Investigations Committee he focused on taxi medallion predatory loans, 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 New York's 15th congressional district, 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 him and Mondaire Jones the first openly gay Black men elected to Congress. It also made Torres the first openly gay Afro-Latino elected to Congress. He is one of the nine co-chairs of the Congressional LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus in the 117th United States Congress. Early life and education Ritchie Torres was born on March 12, 1988, in the Bronx. He is Afro-Latino; his father is Afro-Puerto Rican and his mother was born in the Bronx to Puerto Rican parents. Torres was raised Catholic but says he is not practicing while still believing in God. 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 by the $269 million city-subsidized Trump Golf Links built "across the street" in Ferry Point Park rather than housing for struggling New Yorkers; the course was built on a landfill, took 14 years to be developed, and opened in 2015. He vowed then to fight for their well-being.) In junior high, Torres realized he was gay but did not come out, fearing homophobic violence. He has described being "brutally assaulted" by a bully in the third grade. 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 is one of a small minority of congressmen who does not hold a college degree. He 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 council 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 New York city council, Torres became one of the first openly gay political candidates in the Bronx to win a Democratic nomination, and upon victory in the general election 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 (NYCHA); 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 passed in 2017, providing legal help throughout the entire eviction case, the council has found 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 if the worker's tips are diverted to pay 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 is in need of regulation for the estimated 57 million workers (in the U.S.) 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 comm.... Discover the C J Torres popular books. Find the top 100 most popular C J Torres books.