On April 8, the West Roxbury Business Professional Association (WRBPA) hosted Democrat candidate for state senate in the Norfolk/Suffolk County, Persis Yu.

She discussed a range of topics, including the affordable housing crisis, a need for stipend reform in the State House and structural change in the system in order to be able to actually pass bills.

Yu said she works as a social worker, is a lawyer by trade, and her most important role is as deputy executive director for Protect Borrowers, which she said she considers her most important work. She asserted herself as a champion and advocate for working families.

Yu grew up in Washington, DC and moved to Boston in 2011, living in Roslindale and now Hyde Park, while raising two children. “Critical kitchen table issues” are what matter to her and her goal is to craft policies to lower costs for many people. She has gone as far as to sue Bank of America as well every president since 2012 for not being transparent enough.

She described Massachusetts as having one of the “least effective legislatures in the country,” and she is upset the younger generation is leaving as they can not afford to live in Boston. Affordability is crucial to democracy as people cannot engage if they are worried about rising costs.

“I want to work in a government where people realize government can work for people.”

She said she is well-versed in consumer finance and higher education finance and has worked in many coalitions for civil rights groups and has sued many corporations. Right now she is suing the Trump administration for hurting citizens of Boston, particularly federal workers who are in need of debt relief. What was on most people’s minds was affordable housing and stipend reform. Jim Hennigan, president of the WRBPA, kept people on track politely, reminding them of the hard hour limit of the meeting.

Yu said she appreciates the higher cost of living and is grateful to be locked in at a fixed mortgage rate. but she is striving to bring her children into a more affordable Boston. Right now is budget season and Yu said the state has not been able to pass a budget in the last 16 years. She questioned how Florida, a much bigger state, could do so and referenced other larger states who work intensely for 60 days and pass many bills. Here in Massachusetts, bills go nowhere despite having more time and she explained the reason. Legislators get paid a base salary of $80,000. But when they get committee assignments, their earnings increase. State Sen. Mike Rush for example gets $180,000, she said. And the problem is when a legislator votes against the Senate president or speaker, the committee assignments are taken away. A stipend reform would increase legislators base pay to $110,000 and then limit the number of committees. She also said audits are needed to prevent things known as “no-show committees,” which is what they sound like. One member from the crowd chimed in that he wished his full-time job could be on a no-show committee which garnered some laughs.

Regarding affordable housing, Yu told the crowd it almost did not matter what she thinks as the structure needs to change. “We need to get housing stock on track.” She said battling utility costs was more achievable at this point as you can compare companies to municipal-owned utilities and observe the lower costs. “Why are National Grid and Eversource so expensive? If we invest in sustainable energy it is better for the environment and costs.”

Yu said home insurance also needs to be addressed. She said what is driving costs is not even the cost of the house but it is the interest rates and fees.

“We need to do something about skyrocketing costs.”

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She said legislators have the potential to keep costs down, but since they, too, need to feed their families they succumb to the inequities of the system.

She also said the state needs to invest more in public housing in order to make it safe for families.

“A lot of housing is one-bedroom or two-bedroom.” She said while these types of housing are needed, families need more space as well as a safe environment to raise families.

When one member of the WRBPA brought up her usual gripe about illegal immigrants receiving more benefits than hardworking taxpayers, Yu shared a story about her grandfather who was killed at a re-education camp in China, and how her grandmother had to make the hard decision to send her then 7-year-old father on a train with an adult who pretended to be his mother. Eventually, he made his way to the United States and flourished, but she said as an immigrant she is sympathetic to anyone fleeing injustice. She said we need to treat people with humanity.

The WRBPA member said we need to respect U.S. citizens to which Yu replied, “We have resources to help both. We don’t need to pit one against the other. The political process has driven a wedge.”

As a lawyer with over 20 years of experience working on consumer issues such as wage theft, Yu said she wants to work on creating a better system during a real moment of crisis in Massachusetts.

The WRBPA has one more formal meeting before its June celebratory end of the season meeting, complete with a buffet and drinks at The Corrib Pub, its regular meeting place.