Meet Illapa
Hi, my name is Illapa Sairitupac! Here’s a little bit about me and why I’m running for State Assembly:
I’m the proud son of Peruvian immigrants.
My parents came to New York from Peru in the 1980s with nothing but determination. To support our family, my mom cleaned houses and my dad bussed tables. We moved from town to town for years, chasing stable housing and steady work.
Eventually, my parents put themselves through school. My mother became a union nurse, my father a teacher at CUNY.
But that security came only after decades of sacrifice and struggle. I grew up watching them fight for every inch of it.
I’ve lived that same story of struggle in my own way.
When I moved to the Bowery nearly a decade ago, I walked dogs and worked as an assistant teacher for poverty wages, living in a tenement building with a family of recent immigrants.
Like my parents, I went back to school to build toward something better. I became a social worker helping members of our community overcome struggles with poverty, addiction, and mental health.
And as a social worker, I saw the need for structural change.
As a tenant organizer, I’ve taken on bad landlords and fought alongside neighbors across Lower Manhattan.
Families across Lower Manhattan are fighting every day just to stay in their homes. I have organized with renters to build tenant associations, pressured negligent landlords to deliver necessary repairs, and passed legislation to secure tenants’ rights. I also work with the This Land is Ours Community Land Trust to create and preserve community land trusts in Lower Manhattan.
As an Assemblymember, I am committed to fighting for stronger tenant protections, for expanded rent stabilization, and for the Social Housing Development Authority. I’m not taking a penny from landlords, developers, or the real estate lobby—and I never will.
I’m fighting for all of us.
Over the years, I have organized with my neighbors to pass the Build Public Renewables Act, bring an end to forever wars, and protect our communities from ICE. As ICE targets immigrants across the country and in our city, I have been helping build networks of folks in their efforts to protect our immigrant neighbors.
It’s become increasingly difficult for working people and families in Lower Manhattan to carve out secure lives for ourselves. I’m tired of watching the rich get even richer while the rest of us stretch our paychecks to get by.
We deserve a champion for working people like us. That’s why I’m running to be your representative in Albany.