Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defended her decision to move into a luxury apartment by saying that luxury should be the standard of living for everyone.
“I move into this building, and it’s marketed as a ‘luxury’ building in D.C., right? I’m keeping it 100% with you,” the New York Democrat said at a town hall last week. “So I move into this luxury building in D.C. And what does it have? It’s an efficient building, it’s clean, it has public space, it has a rooftop garden — y’all watching my Instagram — it has all these things, right? It has clean air, it has clean water. And I think about this and I’m like, ‘Hm, this is what a luxury building is like.'”
Ocasio-Cortez went on to explain that, earlier in the week, she toured new affordable housing for senior citizens that looked “just like hers.”
“So I go in, and I do a tour with one of these seniors. And she opens the door, and I look, and I open it, and it looks just like my apartment. It looks just like my ‘luxury’ apartment,” the freshman congresswoman said. “What that shows me, and what that tells us is that what we have been taught that is a luxury should not be a luxury,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
“Another world is possible. We can live in places, and we can live with either responsible landlords or we can live in buildings that are non-for-profit or tenant owned. There are so many ways that we can slice this. And we can structure it in a way where all people have a right to a dignified home, and it’s not science fiction and it’s not just for the rich. Because what we have been taught and what we have been conditioned is that basic rights are luxury and a privilege when they are not.”
Ocasio-Cortez’s defense of her luxury apartment comes after criticism of her luxury living arrangements in D.C’s Navy Yard neighborhood.
The apartment complex includes over 100,000 square feet of luxury amenities for residents who are willing to pay thousands a month. The cheapest apartment starts at over $1,800 a month for a studio, with the most expensive at $5,200 for a three-bedroom apartment.
Tenants have access to private massage rooms, state-of-the-art hydrotherapy beds, saunas, a 25-meter indoor lap pool, a full-scale kitchen with wood-fired pizza oven, a rooftop pool with view of the Capitol, a fireside lounge featuring a Steinway & Sons player piano, a Peloton cycling studio, and a PGA-grade golf simulation lounge that allows users to play virtually on the world’s most exclusive golf courses.
After news outlets reported on the congresswoman’s luxury apartment, Ocasio-Cortez responded by blaming journalists for endangering her life.
“Journalists are sharing stories about where I live the same day it’s shared that myself + others were targeted by a mass shooter. All this paired w/ amplifying unvetted conspiracy theories. It’s reckless, irresponsible & puts people directly in danger. This isn’t a game,” she tweeted in February.
The congresswoman, who bartended last year before being elected to Congress, said in November she thought she might not be able to afford an apartment in D.C.
After moving to the city in March, Ocasio-Cortez attacked luxury estate lobbyists.
“Skyrocketing cost of living is a national crisis that CAN be addressed. It’s not just an NYC issue – it’s happening in every US metro area. We need to kick luxury real estate lobbyists to the curb and defend working people’s way of life,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted.
