Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE) and Disability Rent Increase Exemption (DRIE)

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Oh, one second. Okay. Good morning. Welcome to the Committee on Aging, joint with the Committee on Disabilities and the Committee on Finance. Please place your phone on silent or vibrate mode. At any time during the hearing, do not approach the dais. We are ready to begin.

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Thank you. Good morning. I am CM Brewer, Chair of the Committee on Aging. I want to thank you all for being here today for this important oversight hearing on the Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption, which we call SCRIE, and the Disability Rent Increase Exemption, which we call DRIE. I also want to say thank you to my co-chairs, CM Hanif of the Committee on Disabilities and CM Linda Lee of the Committee on Finance for holding this hearing jointly with us.

We are also hearing several Bills, including a number in the Committee on Aging. Int 1011, sponsored by CM Felder, would require that information included in notices to tenants include the name, address and phone number of the older adult occupants. It could also require landlords to provide information to those tenants about available legal assistance. Preconsidered Bill T2026-2546, also sponsored by CM Felder, would also require DFTA, in consultation with the Cabinet for Older New Yorkers, to develop an informational toolkit about programs, benefits and services available to older adults.

Proposed Res. No. 55-A, sponsored by CM Cabán, calls on the New York State Legislature to pass and the Governor to sign S.2220/A.5232, which would allow municipal and local laws that have a senior citizen rent increase exemption program to use an automatic re-enrollment program for eligible seniors to be automatically re-enrolled in the program.

Res 0512-2026, which I have sponsored, calls upon the New York State Legislature to pass and the Governor to sign S.4252/A.10721, to provide for continued rent increase exemption or disability rent increase exemption benefits after a period of ineligibility due to a head of household's temporary increase in income.

And finally, Proposed Res. No. 610-A, which I also sponsored, calls on the New York State Legislature to pass and the Governor to sign legislation authorizing the City of New York to provide for exemption from real estate taxation to homeowners eligible for the Senior Citizen Homeowners' Exemption and those households whose only source of income is Social Security.

Housing affordability is an issue that affects over one million New Yorkers who struggle with it, and it can make the difference between whether people are able to remain in this City or not. This is especially true for older New Yorkers. A 2025 needs assessment of older adults found that one in four older adults surveyed responded that they lack stable housing, either because they fear losing their housing in the future or because of their current lack of housing. Older adults are often rent burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on housing while living on fixed income. This is why programs such as SCRIE are critical to ensure that eligible older adults are not burdened by rising rents. For so many older adults living on fixed income, even the slightest rent increase can represent the difference between being able to afford basic needs like rent, food, medicine and transportation or not.

SCRIE is intended to protect seniors from such rent increases while also allowing property owners to receive a corresponding property tax benefit. While programs like SCRIE exist, they are only effective if people know about them. Many eligible older New Yorkers are not aware of these programs. We need to do better at ensuring everyone has access to the benefits that they are entitled to. Beyond awareness, these programs also run more efficiently and impactfully if specific changes are made to improve them. There are many barriers to enrollment and use of those programs. For example, providing certain documents in order to complete the application for SCRIE can be overly burdensome, and the income eligibility ceiling in the rent freeze program is also a central driver of under-enrollment in the program.

Today we want to have a better understanding of how the New York City Department for the Aging, the Department of Finance, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities are working to ensure seniors across all cultural and ethnic backgrounds, those who live with disabilities, those who have limited English proficiency and adults who do not have access to the internet are gaining information about SCRIE and DRIE. We also want to understand how the City is using the data we have at our disposal to ensure those who are eligible for these benefits actually end up receiving them. It is our understanding that these programs are underutilized. We must work to change that.

We also want to call on our State counterparts to make changes to SCRIE and DRIE to ensure more property owners participate in these programs and to encourage more older adults to enroll. Among the many pieces of legislation our committees are hearing today, I also sponsor legislation that focuses on those goals. Res 0431-2026 calls upon the New York State Legislature to pass and the Governor to sign legislation to authorize property tax incentives for property owners who dedicate 20% of existing housing stock to senior citizens experiencing homelessness. Res 0470-2026 calls upon the New York State Legislature to pass and the Governor to sign S.3563/A.10927 to permit other qualified members of a household to qualify for rent increase exemption. And finally, Res 0471-2026 calls upon the New York State Legislature to pass and the Governor to sign S.4805/A.4984, which would shift the income verification responsibility for the Senior Citizen Homeowners' Exemption from local governments to the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance.

Thank you to my colleagues for joining me today, to DFTA and all the other agencies for testifying, and to my staff: Jennifer, committee staff Anita, Julia and Jo's call and Brook Fry. Before we continue, I want to recognize my colleagues who are here with us today. We have CM Morano, Brewer, Hanif, Cabán, Louis, Narcisse, Nurse, Sanchez, Banks, Brooks-Powers, Abreu and I think also at the door. That is it. Now I give the floor to my co-chair for her to give her statement.

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Great. Thank you so much, everyone. Good morning. It is so great to see all the folks from the administration as well as all of our amazing advocates who are joining us today. My name is Linda Lee. I chair the Committee on Finance and I would also like to thank my colleagues CM Zhuang and CM Shahana Hanif, who are both co-chairing this hearing with me. We are also hearing several Bills today which will be included in the Committee on Finance, so bear with me while I read these.

Int 0307-2026, sponsored by CM Marte, would establish a universal application and re-certification system for the Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption programme and Disability Rent Increase Exemption programme. Int 0934-2026, sponsored by CM Simcha Felder, would require the creation of additional annual income categories and corresponding exemption percentages for certain households eligible for the Senior Citizen Homeowners' Exemption. Proposed Int. No. 978-A, sponsored by CM

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Farah Louis, would require the City to increase the maximum income level qualifying for exemption from rent increases granted to certain senior citizens and persons with disabilities. Int 1010-2026, sponsored by CM Christopher Marte, would increase the maximum income level qualifying for the Senior Citizen Homeowners' Exemption and the Disabled Homeowners' Exemption. Int 1033-2026, sponsored by Simcha Felder, would make certain informational requirements for notices concerning rent increase exemption programs discretionary. A preconsidered Bill sponsored by CM Christopher Banks would require the dissemination of information on the rent freeze program and training for participating agencies. Res 0431-2026, sponsored by CM Zhuang, calls on the New York State Legislature

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Sorry, the New York State Legislature to pass

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and the Governor to sign legislation authorizing property tax incentives for property owners who dedicate 20% of existing housing stock to senior citizens and individuals experiencing homelessness. Res 0470-2026, sponsored by CM Zhuang, calls on the New York State Legislature to pass and the Governor to sign S.3563/A.10927 to permit other qualifying members of a household to qualify for the Disability Rent Increase Exemption. And finally, Res 0471-2026 calls on the New York State Legislature to pass and the Governor to sign S.4805/A.4984, which would shift income verification responsibilities for the Senior Citizen Homeowners' Exemption from local governments to the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance.

This hearing and the proposed legislation are intended to ensure that no New Yorker living with a disability and no older adult on a limited fixed income has to choose between paying rent and paying for daily necessities such as food, medicine, heating, cooling or electricity. The rent freeze programs administered here in New York City provide the much needed relief that allows our vibrant older adult and disabilities communities to contribute and exist without facing cost barriers to do so.

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During my time as president of a nonprofit providing services to the very communities at the center of today's hearing, this was and remains a prevalent issue communities faced and continue to face: cultural and language barriers to understanding, accessing and making full use of the programs designed to provide them relief. One example is that we saw this during the public charge debate several years ago. It is my hope that today's hearing helps us identify where those barriers persist and what more can be done to close them.

As Chair Brewer mentioned, I am excited that we are able to convene the agencies and offices of New York City Aging and the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities to understand how we can maximize collaboration on our end to ensure the success of these programs and to ensure that New Yorkers can fully take advantage of them and are provided adequate support and materials to do so.

Thank you to my colleagues for joining me today, to DFTA and all other agencies for testifying, and to the Finance Committee staff: Julia Aramis, Owen Krakowski, Margaret Barnsley, Amman Mahadev and Valeria Lazaro Rodriguez. I also want to give a special shout out to our interpreters helping out today for our disabilities community, so let us give them a round of applause. Now I hand it back over to my co-chair. Thank you. Now I pass the microphone to my co-chair for her to give a statement.

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Thank you. Chairs Brewer and Lee, good morning everyone. I am CM Hanif, Chair of the Committee on Disabilities. For the record today, I am wearing a full sleeve black coat. I am not wearing glasses, which I usually wear. I am in my contacts and I am seated behind the dais next to my colleagues. All right, colleagues, it is okay. Thank you. Everybody is just looking at me. I am sorry, everybody is making fun of me right now.

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Thank you for inviting the Disabilities Committee to join this important hearing where we will discuss the Disability Rent Increase Exemption, or DRIE, program. In New York City, nearly one in six New Yorkers lives with a disability and New Yorkers with disabilities are far more likely to have lower income, to rent rather than own and to be severely rent burdened. For someone living on a fixed disability benefit, a rent increase is not an inconvenience. It can be the difference between staying housed and not. The DRIE program exists to stop that from happening. It freezes rent for low income tenants with a disability and reimburses the owner through a property tax credit.

Yet the program is not reaching the people it was built for. DRIE enrollment peaked at 12,215 households in 2019. By 2024, it was 11,012, a decline of nearly 10%, while the cost of housing in New York City went in exactly the opposite direction. Across both SCRIE and DRIE, the Department of Finance estimates that roughly 158,000 households were eligible in 2023 and that roughly 42% of them were enrolled, down from 56% four years earlier. The Bronx is the only borough where DRIE enrollment fell, and the Bronx neighborhoods report some of the lowest rent freeze program utilization rates in our City. In Morrisania and Fremont, fewer than a quarter of eligible households are enrolled in either SCRIE or DRIE. That is not a coincidence. It shows us where outreach is not working.

But enrollment is only half the problem. Among DRIE recipients in 2024, the median household income was $16,671 and the median tenant was paying 62% of their income toward frozen rent. 16% had a frozen rent that exceeded their entire reported household income. These are households the City already enrolled and counted as a success, and they are still paying rents they cannot afford. Freezing rent at an unaffordable number is not the point of the program.

It is important to note that the City has taken steps and the agencies in this room deserve recognition for them. The Department of Finance has maintained the office of the SCRIE and DRIE ombudspersons. The Public Engagement Unit's rent freeze team has done direct outreach to tenants who failed to renew. The Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities continues to document housing access barriers. This work absolutely matters. I have seen the programmatic impacts and gaps up close. Just this past summer, a constituent's daughter reached out to support her parent on a SCRIE renewal facing an extended delay of months on end, resulting in full rent being charged. My constituent's Social Security was nearly depleted and she had little money for basic necessities. Our office was fortunately able to connect them to the Public Engagement Unit's rent freeze office and resolve the issue. But there are countless stories like this out there and we have to do better.

To return to DRIE: I want to make clear that this is not an older adult program. Eligibility starts at 18 and the average DRIE householder is 64 years old, 13 years younger than the average SCRIE recipient. A working age tenant with a disability is unlikely to see themselves in outreach built around older adult centers and mailings to seniors. When a benefit is bundled under a heading that does not describe you, you do not apply for it. Today I want to hear from the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities and the Department of Finance about how outreach efforts attempt to reach that New Yorker specifically.

Thank you to the administration for being here today and to the disability advocates, attendant organizers, legal service providers and members of the public who have traveled to testify or submitted written testimony. Your presence here is an act of self-advocacy and we do not take it for granted. Thank

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you to all of the staff who have made today's hearing possible, including the Disabilities Committee staff: Senior Legislative Counsel Sarah Sayeed, Legislative Policy Analyst Chloe Rivera and Emmett Tehran, my Legislative Director and Senior Adviser, and Simone Levin, my Communications Director. I would also like to recognize that we have been joined by CM Restler. I will now pass the mic back to Chair Brewer. Thank you.

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Thank you. I will now pass the mic to CM Marte to give us a statement on his legislation. Good morning. My name is CM Christopher Marte, a brown male wearing a blue suit and white...

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A red tie with little cameras on it — I would like to see. I look maybe younger than my age, but I would like to thank our committee chairs today, CM Lee, CM Hanif and CM Louis, for today's important hearing. Thank you to the committee staff who has been helping us with these Bills and organizing this hearing. Lastly, I want to thank all the advocates that are here today. SCRIE, SCHE and DRIE are some of the most important programs to stop displacement, address our City's housing affordability crisis and keep people in their homes. The skyrocketing cost of living, compounded with the astronomical rent increases, means that more and more New Yorkers are finding themselves just scraping by. Seniors and people with disabilities, people on fixed incomes, are the most vulnerable to rising costs.

For too long, the eligibility criteria for these programs have not reflected the economic realities that many New Yorkers now face, and our hands have been tied. Thankfully, raising eligibility to $75,000 — Int 1010 will implement this change for SCHE — giving tens of thousands more seniors and disabled homeowners access to these tax breaks, along with CM Louis's Int 0978. We must pass these Bills and move immediately to increase housing affordability for renters and homeowners alike.

We are also hearing my Bill, Int 0307, which will create a universal online application for SCRIE. While most of SCRIE is handled by the Department of Finance, Mitchell-Lama tenants receive SCRIE through HPD. Despite the fact that it is exactly the same benefit, the process is different for each agency. The Department of Finance has a user-friendly website that makes it easy to apply, recertify and stay on top of your SCRIE application, while also having a paper option. HPD, on the other hand, only has a paper application that you can mail in or email to a general inbox, or even sometimes fax. Yes, we are talking about faxing documents in 2026. For many seniors in Mitchell-Lama, this can be incredibly confusing. People accidentally submit applications to the wrong agency, not realizing they are different.

My office has had constituents who applied to SCRIE multiple times because they mailed in their applications and waited months, only to find out there was no record of their application. This system of two different processes for the same benefit only leads to delay and confusion. Int 0307 will simplify this process by requiring a single online application portal for SCRIE, regardless of which agency administers it. This easy fix will make SCRIE more accessible to Mitchell-Lama tenants all over New York City. I look forward to today's hearing and urge my colleagues to support these Bills so we can quickly pass them. Thank you.

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Thank you. And now I will pass the mic to CM Cabán to give a statement on her legislation. Thank you so much.

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My name is CM Tiffany Cabán. I am a 39-year-old Latina female wearing a gray suit, glasses and my signature ponytail. I will keep it very brief so we can get this show on the road. There are over one and a half million seniors living in our City — that is half a million more than we had in 2006 — and many of them are living on fixed incomes as the cost of living here continues to soar. Amid this historic affordability crisis, when rent and maintenance costs go up, too many senior citizens are forced to choose between housing, food and medicine. The Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption, or SCRIE, can be life-saving by covering the cost of rent and maintenance increases for seniors struggling to get by.

I see it now, my colleagues see it now, when our constituents come into our offices, and this has been a persistent problem. I saw it as a law student. One of my very first legal internships, I worked at Lenox Hill Neighborhood House supporting seniors and people with disabilities with their SCRIE and DRIE applications. The challenges existed then, but they are exacerbated now. Too many seniors do not know about SCRIE or struggle to re-enroll year after year, and there is no reason for us to place this bureaucratic burden on senior citizens when enrollment could be automatic.

So that is why we are hearing this resolution today, and thank you that that is happening. The resolution calls on our friends at the State level to pass and implement S.2220/A.5232 so that our City can automatically enroll our senior citizens in this life-saving program. Thank you.

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Thank you. And now I will pass the mic to CM Banks to give a statement. Thank you, Chairs.

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Thanks to my colleagues for the opportunity to speak on this important legislation. For many older New Yorkers, SCRIE and DRIE can mean the difference between remaining in their homes and being displaced by another rent increase. As we all know, our City is in the midst of an affordability crisis, and these programs are critical. But they only work when all New Yorkers know they exist and receive accurate guidance when they ask for help.

Too often, residents visit a City agency seeking assistance and leave even more confused — without clear information about whether they qualify, how to apply, how to renew their benefits or where to submit an application. A missed renewal or incorrect referral can place someone's housing stability at risk, and in this affordability crisis, that is something we cannot afford. This Bill addresses that service gap. It would require the Department of Finance to provide SCRIE and DRIE training to designated personnel at City agencies that regularly serve older adults and people with disabilities. The training would cover eligibility requirements, application and renewal procedures, key program features, reasonable accommodations and proper referrals. The Bill would also expand existing outreach requirements to include DRIE and add the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities as a participating agency, and require annual reporting to the Council so we can ensure that the training is taking place.

The principle is simple: when New Yorkers reach out to the government for help, they should receive accurate information and be directed to the right place. They should not be sent from office to office or risk losing benefits because the person assisting them was never properly trained. Every City agency that regularly serves older adults and people with disabilities should be equipped to connect eligible residents with these rent freeze programs. For our constituents, that knowledge can protect their homes, preserve their independence and provide much-needed financial stability. So again, I urge the members of this joint committee and every member of the Council to sign on and support this legislation. Together we can make City government easier to navigate and ensure that SCRIE and DRIE reach the New Yorkers these programs were created to protect. Thank you.

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CM Louis to give the statement on her legislation. Good morning and thank you, Chair.

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I am CM Farah Louis. I am a Black woman wearing a lilac suit and mid-length hair. I want to thank the Chairs and CM Hanif for convening today's hearing and for your support in bringing Int 0978-A before the Council. I am proud to sponsor Int 0978-A, which would amend the Administrative Code to increase the maximum household income for eligibility for the Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption, also known as SCRIE, and the Disability Rent Increase Exemption, also known as DRIE, from $50,000 to $75,000, beginning July 1, 2026, making it retroactive to that date.

This legislation is necessary because the need for rent stabilization among our seniors and New Yorkers with disabilities is significant and growing. According to the Department of Finance, 67,677 households received SCRIE or DRIE benefits in 2024, while 158,214 households were potentially eligible in 2023. That gap demonstrates that thousands of New Yorkers who could potentially benefit from these protections remain outside of the program. For those who are enrolled, the program provides meaningful relief. In 2024, the average monthly SCRIE benefit was approximately $249, while the average DRIE benefit was approximately $261. In Brooklyn, the average monthly benefit was $243.

Yet the underlying affordability challenge remains severe. A 2025 report found that the median rent-to-income ratio among SCRIE recipients was 56% and among DRIE recipients it was 62%. By raising the threshold to $75,000, we can extend this important protection to more New Yorkers and strengthen housing stability for people who have spent decades building their lives and communities here in New York City. I look forward to working with my colleagues, the administration, advocates and our constituents to ensure that this expanded protection reaches every eligible New Yorker who needs it the most. Thank you.

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Thank you. We have an interpreter here. We will hear testimony from the public first, then we will go to the administration. Thank you.

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Good morning, Chairs and members of the committee. My name is Clements, and I am representing the Metropolitan Asian Deaf Association. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today on housing stability for deaf and hard-of-hearing senior citizens across New York City. Housing affordability is a critical issue for deaf seniors living on fixed incomes such as SSI or SSDI. While programs like DRIE and SCRIE are vital lifelines, deaf seniors face systematic barriers that prevent them from accessing these protections.

First, many deaf seniors never receive notice of DRIE eligibility. They face sudden rent increases without accessible prior notice, and many remain completely unaware that DRIE exists to freeze their rent. Unknowingly, they pay unaffordable increases for years or face severe risks. This is all due to a lack of knowledge and a lack of language access resources available to support them. Second...

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Administrative communication is heavily phone-based. Managing DRIE or following up on applications relies on systems like 311. Calling through the video relay service leads to long wait times, dropped calls and representatives untrained in handling relay calls. There are no direct visual channels such as video appointments or direct email ticket support.

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Third, language barriers and tight timelines create constant hurdles. Complex legal notices are rarely available in American Sign Language or plain language. When recertification notices arrive late in the mail, deaf seniors often lose their frozen rent status simply because they lacked accessible support to process them in time.

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We urge the City Council to take these three clear actions. One: mandate proactive DRIE notices whenever landlords issue rent increases to tenants receiving disability benefits. Two: establish direct video appointments and dedicated email support at the Department of Finance so deaf applicants do not have to rely on 311. Three: fund community-based organizations to provide targeted, hands-on DRIE navigation for deaf and hard-of-hearing New Yorkers. Thank you for your time and commitment to equitable housing access.

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Thank you. Our Council will definitely work with you. Now let us turn over to the committee counsel to administer the oath to the representatives from the administration. Can you make your way to the desk?

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Everyone who is going to be speaking, answering questions or giving answers, please come to the desk.

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Good morning, Chair Hanif, Chairs of the Committees on Finance, Aging and Disabilities, and members of the City Council. My name is Jeffrey Sheer and I am the First Deputy Commissioner of the New York City Department of Finance. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today on legislation affecting the rent freeze program, the Senior Citizen Homeowners' Exemption and the Disabled Homeowners' Exemption. Joining me today to help answer questions after the testimony are Ryan Murray, Executive Deputy Commissioner and Chief Program Officer at the Department of Aging; Aleka Ampriester Samuels, Deputy Commissioner at Housing Preservation and Development; Nisha Agarwal, Commissioner of the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities; and Julie Walpert, Assistant Commissioner at Housing Preservation and Development.

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Taken together, the proposals

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before the Council address an important policy question: how the City can make tax and rent relief more accessible for older New Yorkers and people with disabilities, while ensuring that the programs can be administered effectively. I will begin with the rent freeze program. The rent freeze program consists of two benefits: the Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption, or SCRIE, and the Disability Rent Increase Exemption, or DRIE. Both share the goal of helping older New Yorkers and people with disabilities remain in their homes by protecting them from future rent increases. For eligible tenants, the program establishes a frozen rent amount. As the authorized regulated rent increases, the tenant generally continues to pay the frozen amount and the property owner receives a corresponding property tax credit for the difference.

The rent freeze program serves a substantial population. In calendar year 2024, 67,677 New York City households received benefits. That included 50,071 administered SCRIE households, 6,594 administered SCRIE households in Mitchell-Lama housing and 11,012 DRIE households. Participation increased steadily during much of the last decade before declining during the pandemic. In 2024, enrollment increased by 0.8%, the first annual increase since 2019. Expanding awareness has been an important part of our work. The outreach unit and rent freeze ombudspersons participate in information and enrollment events at senior centers, rent freeze clinics hosted by Council members and State...

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legislators and outreach in training sessions with community based organizations, legal service providers and social service organizations. We have also worked with other City agencies to improve awareness of the program and to provide application assistance. We have worked particularly closely with the Mayor's Public Engagement Unit through the On Your Block initiative. City staff provide eligibility screenings and enrollment assistance in communities across the five boroughs, and also provide reminders to renew on time so that the City can conduct targeted outreach. We have also sought to reduce administrative barriers. Applicants can now apply and renew entirely online. The Department of Finance has replaced initial and renewal applications with a single streamlined application for most participants. We continue to review and improve rent freeze forms, notices and other materials.

The Department of Finance supports Int 0978-2026-A, which would implement legislative changes enacted by the State Legislature to increase the rent freeze program's income ceiling — the maximum income level for SCRIE eligibility — to $75,000 beginning July 1, 2026. Int 0978-2026-A would make the corresponding change to the New York City Administrative Code retroactive to that date. The increase would recognize that households with income above $50,000 can still face significant rent burdens in New York City. Over time, nominal increases in Social Security, pension income or wages have pushed households outside of the eligibility limits even when those households' actual economic circumstances have not materially improved. The Department projects that the higher ceiling will increase enrollment by approximately 9%, or about 5,000 households across SCRIE and DRIE. The estimated fiscal impact is four and a half million dollars in the first year, $8.6 million in the second year and $13 million in the third year.

With regard to Int 0307-2026, which would require the Department of Finance and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development to create universal initial and recertification applications for SCRIE and DRIE, making it easier for tenants to apply for benefits — the current division of responsibilities between the agencies is not simply a matter of two agencies using different forms. A universal form and online system for all households, regardless of type of residence, would require substantial technical and operational upgrades and coordination between both agencies with different workflows and payment mechanisms. We welcome the opportunity to work with the Council on ways to achieve the Bill's underlying goal while ensuring that any new process can be implemented reliably and without creating new delays for applicants.

Two other introductions before the Council concern homeowner exemptions rather than rent freeze program benefits, but they serve a closely related purpose: helping older homeowners and homeowners with disabilities to remain in their homes by reducing their property taxes. The Senior Citizen Homeowners' Exemption, or SCHE, provides a partial reduction of a home's assessed value to qualifying senior homeowners. The Disabled Homeowner's Exemption provides similar benefits to qualifying homeowners with disabilities. These are significant programs. In fiscal year 2026, the City granted 50,912 SCHE exemptions with $1.1 billion in exempt assessed value and an estimated tax expenditure of $190.9 million. The City also granted 2,500 DRIE exemptions in fiscal year 2026 with an estimated tax expenditure of $8.5 million.

Int 1010-2026 and Int 0934-2026 both would increase SCHE benefits based on recently granted State authority. Int 1010-2026, which relies on authority that was enacted as part of the State budget, increases the maximum SCHE exemption for lower-income senior homeowners from 50% to 65% starting in fiscal year 2028, as well as increasing the income cap to $80,834. Int 0934-2026 relies on State authority that was enacted separate from the State budget at the end of the legislative session. It would move up the start of increasing SCHE benefits from 50% to 65% of property taxes owed to fiscal year 2027. The Department is generally supportive of increasing the income cap and benefits for SCHE. However, at this time the City's budget has only funded increasing the income cap for SCHE. Therefore we would like to defer our position on Int 0934-2026 and on the benefit level increase in Int 1010-2026 until budget conditions become clearer for fiscal year 2028.

We look forward to working with the Council on each of these Bills. Regarding Int 1033-2026, we need time to review the Bill and how it would facilitate our communication with customers. Regarding T2026-2458, the Department already provides training to outreach staff from other agencies and we do so regularly. As such, we do not know if making this an annual requirement is necessary. Thank you for the opportunity to testify. I and my colleagues would be happy to answer any questions.

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And then, any other statements? No. Okay, now we are going to do the question part. I have my first question and then we will turn to the other chairs.

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Regarding agency participation in identification and the referral process to screen eligible older adults — how many referrals did DFTA or the older adult center case managers and associated staff make last year? Good afternoon, Chairs. Ryan Murray from the Department for the Aging. We obviously defer to the Department of Finance on eligibility and targeting. Our infrastructure citywide includes our 308 older adult centers and our case management programs, which ensure that folks have the most up-to-date information on SCRIE and DRIE, and we make those referrals. What we can tell you is we have over 1,752 individuals in our network who have been screened as of last year — that is fiscal year 2026 — and over 2,340 individuals who are enrolled in SCRIE through our case management program. What we have done with the Department of Finance is host, as you have heard from the first deputy commissioner, targeted outreach at our older adult centers. We have had town halls. We have also worked with the Mayor's Public Engagement Unit to be present in the community and have enrollment days at our centers, and we continue to disseminate information.

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What languages do you provide?

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At our centers, as you know, we require not just language access but cultural relevance in our case management programs as well. The individuals who are there speak the languages of the community, whether it is in English or they are working in multiple languages — Spanish, Chinese and so on. That is a requirement for those programs.

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Please. Sorry — if they do not come to the center, how do you get to them through outreach?

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Our team will disseminate information to our older adult center teams. We have monthly meetings with our directors in the program so that those are kept relevant. If folks are part of the center or they are part of our case management program, that is where we make sure we are providing the hands-on support to complete those applications.

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Did you reach out to the deaf community, like Mrs. Soul's community?

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I think there is always much more that we can do, but our outreach channels are multiple. I would welcome the opportunity to work with the organization.

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Okay, can you please describe your current outreach process and the program in detail — how many staff are dedicated to assisting with SCRIE and to creating information materials and helping older adults through the application...

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...process? Sure. We do not have a dedicated number of staff to SCRIE specifically at our older adult centers. As you know, we have our case assistance program, so each of the 308 centers has an individual or multiple individuals who provide case assistance across a range of benefits and services.

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The number is at least 308 individuals providing those services. In our case management programs there are multiple case managers. We have 21 programs citywide, so at least 21 or more individuals in those programs are dedicated to providing information. Again, we partner — when we think of outreach — with our colleagues here at the Department of Finance, who would be on the ground, and with other parts of our City government.

(00:54:26)

So except for the senior centers, you do not have another way to do outreach so far?

(00:54:34)

Right. We reach through our case management agencies, which serve over 30,000 homebound individuals. That would be the channel where we are reaching folks who are not coming into the centers. In addition, we also feature information online. Since the start of this administration, we have added over 5,000 followers to our social media. We use a range of channels to make sure we are outreaching. In terms of incoming contacts, our Aging Connect program also provides referrals and assistance to individuals who are coming to us by phone.

(00:55:11)

Which social media?

(00:55:15)

Whether it is Facebook, Instagram... those are our current channels. And Twitter as well.

(00:55:21)

Do you have culturally sensitive channels? People speak different languages and they need different platforms. Did you get to do outreach there? I would say, for example, KakaoTalk for the Korean community or WeChat for the Chinese...

(00:55:35)

...community. As you know, our partners on the ground — whether it is WeChat, we saw each other recently at Homecrest for our programs there — our providers are using those platforms actively.

(00:55:47)

Oh, I have not seen any. Sorry, I am wearing a different hat, but I have not seen any. Okay. I want to let you know that a lot of people who are elderly and only speak certain languages are not going to go to Facebook or Instagram. They may not even know what Facebook or Instagram is. So I hope you can really do outreach for different ethnic communities and different language platforms. They really — say, the Jewish community — a lot of the time they only read their newspaper. They have different needs. Hopefully you can really reach those communities. I see you have great translation in Chinese on Facebook, but not on WeChat. The Chinese-speaking-only seniors are only on WeChat, but there is no advertising there at all. Just letting you know. And what is the percentage of referral applications that result in a completed enrollment? So again, the number that I gave you is the folks who are currently enrolled in the SCRIE program. Those are successful enrollments in the program. Does DFTA use a hotline or general outreach to promote SCRIE?

(00:57:06)

Yes. Individuals that come to us via our Aging Connect program — housing and benefits is consistently one of our top call categories, and that is where we provide that assistance.

(00:57:22)

You also said that you do outreach in the media. Can DFTA ensure that older adults who lack internet access or technology skills are not left behind in outreach and the application process?

(00:57:39)

Sure. A lot of the work that happens on the ground at our centers, or with our case management agencies, is where we are reaching folks who are often some of the most vulnerable — who need hands-on support with someone next to them to complete the application and to follow up. And with our colleagues at the Department of Finance, that is where the real boots-on-the-ground work is happening.

(00:58:03)

And what is the way you are doing outreach to those people? Sure. Our case management agencies — as you know, again, over 30,000 individuals are enrolled in the program. There is an intake process for case management for folks to confirm that they are homebound and that they need support with various activities of daily living. One of the things that we screen for is whether or not they are eligible for a variety of housing supports. That work happens on the ground with our 21 case management...

(00:58:39)

...agencies. So are you able to, say, have your Meals on Wheels staff, when they are delivering a meal, give the person the information and then help them fill out the application there, or do they have to go somewhere else? Yes. Typically the case management agencies are responsible for helping with getting the application completed. Home visits are a part of that, following up on applications. They have the authorization to complete those applications with the client. Of course, our home-delivered meals program is also a channel for disseminating information. But our case management agencies are in direct contact with the individuals who are homebound and are making sure that they are screening for and supporting applications.

(00:59:32)

Is SCRIE enrollment something the cabinet for older New Yorkers is working on?

(00:59:39)

Sure. What I will say is that the Department of Finance and the Department of Social Services are part of the cabinet. As you know, there are over 30 agencies and we continue to expand. One of the initiatives — one that we did in the last few years — was, as the first deputy commissioner shared, the outreach that happened directly through the Mayor's Office of Public Engagement, another member of the cabinet. The second initiative was one we worked on with our colleagues at Adult Protective Services, where some of the most vulnerable individuals are served. The Department of Finance has trained staff there to make sure that those applications are as complete as possible and have updated information. Those are two initiatives that we have worked on with our cabinet member agencies.

(01:00:31)

When was the last time you had a cabinet meeting? I think it was in the last couple of months and we meet quarterly. Okay, when is the following meeting?

(01:00:41)

I believe it is in... yes. So you said a couple of months ago, and that is about a half... yeah, I think it just happened, so I think the next meeting is coming up, but we could follow up with the exact date. I will get it before we leave today. Okay.

(01:00:56)

Okay, thank you. And it is a quarterly meeting — quarterly? Yes. Okay. Is that something that can be...

(01:01:02)

...publicized? I will follow up with you on...

(01:01:04)

...that. Okay, thank you. And then let us turn to CM Brewer, who is ready to ask questions.

(01:01:12)

Excuse me, I just want to add one thing to the many things that Ryan had to say. Regarding the discussion about referrals and applications, I did want to add that our outreach unit, which partners very frequently with the Department for the Aging, does assist citizens in the field to complete their applications and oftentimes takes the applications directly from them so that they do not have to submit them online. Through the Mayor's office, the number of applications that our outreach unit received for SCRIE was over 1,200 in fiscal year 2026. That is an increase from the 900 that were received in fiscal year 2024.

(01:02:13)

Sorry, can you repeat that again? Because that actually leads into the question I wanted...

(01:02:16)

...to ask anyway. So yes. Our outreach unit, which works very closely with the Department for the Aging, conducts over 220 events a year at which SCRIE is at the top of the agenda. They often assist citizens with completing their applications at the outreach event, at the senior center, or we are often working with Council Members and elected officials at their offices. So in fiscal year 2026, that outreach staff received over 1,200 SCRIE applications for us to process, and that is an increase from fiscal year 2024, where the number was 900 applications.

(01:03:22)

Okay, and do you mind sharing the breakdown of where those came from?

(01:03:25)

I do not have the breakdown. I will try to get back to you with that.

(01:03:30)

Okay. And then just in terms of keeping on topic with the outreach portion — I am going to skip around in my questions a little bit. I know that CM Zhuang made a great point in terms of the media. One of the things that I believe used to happen, and I am not sure if it is still happening, is that each agency has a dedicated budget for local ethnic media. Can you sort of talk about how that has been incorporated into a lot of the outreach efforts that you are...

(01:04:03)

...working on? I cannot speak specifically to that. I can say that our events are held in all five boroughs...

(01:04:12)

...all over the City. And let me add...

(01:04:18)

...we also have our applications available in all required languages on the website. I will need to get back to you regarding foreign language media.

(01:04:34)

Okay, yeah. If you could just let us know. And then also, if you have any list and whether we can actually recommend additional outlets for you as well, that would be great. I know DFTA does a lot of work and they are always multilingual and all that. Just in terms of outreach more broadly for different purposes — because I know one of the things we always talk about with previous commissioners is that we know there are a certain number of folks that are coming in. What about drawing in more seniors and older adults, because we know there are so many more that need to come into the mix? I think, to CM Zhuang's point earlier, what does that sort of look like? Because we know the overall numbers and demographics of the City, but I feel like there is so much more we could be doing. So what are we doing...

(01:05:28)

You know, I think as we have shared before, that is why it is so important to be present in the community, not just at our centers but also on social media. We will be looking at expanding that reach. The partnerships that our older adult centers have in their community are critical. That is one of the channels, and of course, as we have shared before, that is why we have launched campaigns based on various issues, whether it was our subway campaigns on ageism and caregiving and so on. Those are many of the channels that we are using. So much more to be done there. We agree with you that we absolutely will be focused on outreach. We are also planning to go directly to folks as they are entering into the 60-plus realm and making sure we reach folks, so stay tuned and we look forward to the partnership with the Council on an enhanced outreach.

(01:06:24)

Thank you. And...

(01:06:24)

Let me correct the record. The team is telling me that the meeting is actually coming up. So June 25 was the last one for the full executive cabinet, but we have meetings that are monthly, actually. So that is what I was thinking about. The cabinet liaisons meet monthly and it is much more frequent, and we bring our proposals and project updates to the executive cabinet with commissioners and other representatives. So the last meeting was June 25 for this quarter. The next meeting is September 28, that is coming up.

(01:06:55)

So we can again follow up with you on additional dates for meetings for the rest of the year. Okay, perfect. And then just — and this is for all of you — have there been conversations with the administration? Because I know that there is a community of mass engagement, right? And so when I think of mass engagement, I think: how do we reach out to as many New Yorkers as possible to make sure that they are in the know of all the things that the City is doing? Is that part of the conversation at all?

(01:07:23)

The answer is yes. Okay, so...

(01:07:25)

In my testimony, I mentioned a unit that is part of the Office of Mass Engagement. Okay.

(01:07:36)

And then how much — do you know, in terms of the budget — is allocated for the older adult community?

(01:07:43)

I do not know if it is separated out that way, but if you could let us know that...

(01:07:50)

I am sorry, I did not follow that question. I just wanted to see, in terms of the amount of resources that are being dedicated towards certain issue areas or communities or demographics, I was just wondering if there was any...

(01:08:02)

...sort of data on that. We will get back to you. Okay.

(01:08:08)

And then just in terms of the certification and renewal process — because I have been seeing, even just with the constituent casework coming into our district — some of the questions I am going to be bringing up are directly related to that, and others are more general. But in terms of the certification renewal process, how does SCRIE handle the multi-benefit period? I am not sure I am following the question. So how do I ask this in a different way? I am trying to think of what the better way to ask this is. Okay. So let me go into the rates, actually, and I will come back to that one. So what are the SCRIE renewal rates, and how many benefits lapsed for non-renewals between 2023 and 2025, and then how many were later restored?

(01:09:21)

Yes. So the renewal rate has been 95% over the past three years. We were able to maintain this high rate with the help of two letter reminders and direct email reminders to participants in the program. Okay, sorry. I...

(01:09:45)

I just wanted to also note we have been joined by a Council member. Of the benefits that were not renewed, how many were due to late or missed renewal deadlines as compared to recipients no longer meeting program eligibility requirements?

(01:10:00)

Yes. So 70% of the non-renewed benefits were due to late or missed renewal deadlines, and that is 2,237 out of 3,204. And 967 were not renewed due to participants no longer meeting eligibility requirements. For the ones that missed the date or deadline, what is the most common reason? I believe that it is that their incomes are too high.

(01:10:46)

Right. So those are for the ones that no longer meet the program eligibility requirements. Yes, I...

(01:10:50)

understand, right. But then...

(01:10:51)

for the ones that were late — was it because, I do not know, something...? Yeah, great.

(01:10:58)

We do not know. In those instances, despite our efforts, we do not hear from these participants. They have moved. We are not in contact with them.

(01:11:15)

Okay. And so I am assuming there is no follow-up then. So in other words, if you have a participant that just did not...

(01:11:20)

...renew, so there is follow-up. Okay, so we send...

(01:11:27)

...two letters to...

(01:11:29)

...them both before and after the deadline, because there is a grace period where people who miss the deadline can still continue their benefits. And we send four email reminders both before and after the deadline, because we very much want to have people renew. We are pleased that the renewal rate is 95% and we are working to make it higher.

(01:11:59)

Okay. And then do you have a stance on codifying automatic renewals for SCRIE to reduce the lapses due to paperwork submissions? I did not get the first part of that. Do we have... just codifying automatic renewal. So...

(01:12:19)

...automatic renewals are not authorized by the current law. What there is, is for long-time participants — I think people who have had five renewals — their renewals can be done via short form, and we have developed the short form for them to ease the renewal process.

(01:12:39)

Okay. And would you be in...

(01:12:40)

...favor of codifying it so that it is automatic? That would require State legislation.

(01:12:47)

Okay. Yes. No, I know, but I just wanted to know how the department feels, if it would...

(01:12:51)

...be in favor of it if the law were to change.

(01:12:53)

I think we are willing to have a conversation about it. We would like to consider that. Okay.

(01:13:03)

And how many disability-related extension requests were received, granted and then denied? Okay, so for SCRIE...

(01:13:32)

...in fiscal year 25, we received 190 what we call reasonable accommodation requests.

(01:13:45)

And then in fiscal year 26 we received 202...

(01:13:49)

...reasonable accommodation requests. Of those, for fiscal year 25, three were denied, so more than 99% were approved. And for fiscal year 26, only two of those were denied. Okay, let me...

(01:14:12)

And is it normal for you all to have only around that number? It seems like around 200 requests. Okay. It seems low. Okay. And how many DRIE benefit takeover applications were denied because the surviving member had not been listed on prior applications?

(01:14:32)

I do have information. Can I give you the DRIE statistics? Yes. So just to fill out the information — for fiscal year 2025, we received 41 reasonable accommodation requests relating to DRIE. Only two of those were denied. And in fiscal year 2026, we received 72 reasonable accommodation requests and zero of those were denied.

(01:15:07)

Okay. And I see this — maybe this is just because I am not as familiar — but that number seems extremely low. So do you know, is it because folks are not understanding that they can apply for some of these benefits or exemptions? Well, to be clear...

(01:15:23)

...these are people who come to us who say that they have not been able to, or will not be able to, make the deadline, typically due to a disability. So it is only a small set of the applications that we are receiving. Most people are able to come to us with timely applications.

(01:15:46)

Okay. And then — this is in the world where people have their applications in — do you have any sort of data or statistics on how many people still could apply for certain benefits but maybe have not, and what the outreach is like there?

(01:16:17)

So we do issue a report that estimates how many are eligible, but I want to emphasize the Mayor has been clear that he believes it is essential that we work hard to connect New Yorkers to the services and programs available to them that can help make life in New York City more affordable. That is why we continue to do extensive outreach for the rent freeze program in communities throughout the City. So we do have a report, but the Mayor wants us to be doing extensive outreach regardless of what is in that report. Okay. And we are committed to doing that.

(01:17:05)

Yeah. No, I have no doubt that you are committed to doing that. I am just trying to think, as we are going through these questions, of some creative ways of how to expand the pie, so to speak, or expand that outreach. And then how many DRIE benefit takeover applications were denied because the surviving member had... oh, I just asked that. Sorry.

(01:17:23)

Yes, I did not get to answer that. Okay, please. And the answer is none. It changed its policy on this in fiscal year 2022. So we are no longer denying any for that reason. Okay, perfect.

(01:17:44)

State law allows a household that loses the benefit for excess income to reapply the next calendar year and have its prior frozen rent restored, up to three times, for 2024 through 2026. Separately, for SCRIE, how many benefits ended because the...

(01:18:03)

...household income temporarily exceeded $50,000, and also how many households had their prior frozen rent restored under that provision? So the numbers I have are — yes — for benefits that were ended because the household income temporarily exceeded $50,000 for SCRIE: in fiscal year 2024, 27; in fiscal year 2025, 17; and in fiscal year 2026, 8. For DRIE, the numbers are: in fiscal year 2024, 2; in fiscal year 2025, one; and then fiscal year 2026, one.

(01:19:06)

I need to get back to you. You sort of alluded to this in one of the previous answers, but if you could get back to us — because I think what would be curious for us to look at — we would want to know what your estimates are for the eligibility for SCRIE and DRIE for fiscal year 2027, in terms of overall New Yorkers: how many would be eligible, and of those, how many actually are enrolled, citywide and borough by borough, if you could give us that data if you do not have it now, as a follow-up.

(01:19:42)

But if you have it, it would be great. So the last data that we have relies on data for 2023. Okay, so not 2026 and 2027. No. Okay. We only do — and I want to emphasize that it is an estimate. We are relying on data regarding rent-controlled or rent-regulated units and income data that we are matching, so it is not precise. We also know that there were issues with the methodology. So we believe that it tends to overstate the number of eligible households. For example, accounting for households that might have more than one income tax filer in them is difficult for us to do. And I do have numbers by borough. These numbers exclude numbers attributable to rent control and Mitchell-Lama housing, but they are: 40,000 for Manhattan — that is total, so that includes households already in the program and households that are not in the program — 37,000 for Brooklyn, 30,000 for the Bronx, 27,000 for Queens and 1,400 for Staten Island. Okay.

(01:21:33)

I mean, if at all possible, if there is any way — understanding that the methodology and everything is probably off a little bit — it would be great to see if we can get updated numbers, only because I would say in that time period since 2023, especially the older adult community in certain populations have definitely grown quite a bit. So I just want to make sure that we are capturing the numbers accurately. And then, before I hand it back, I just wanted to ask a couple of questions about the enrollment, because — as I think was mentioned — SCRIE enrollment fell from 63,021 to 56,665 in 2024. Is the decline in SCRIE enrollment due to different factors compared to the decline in DRIE enrollment, and if they are different, what are the factors, and what does this mean for outreach and enrollment efforts?

(01:22:34)

Yes. We do not have sufficient information to know all of the details behind the changes in enrollment that you and the other chairs have mentioned. We do know that, tragically, during the pandemic many senior citizens fell seriously ill or passed away due to COVID, and that many New Yorkers did move out of the City. We believe that these external factors have largely determined the decline in enrollment. We are heartened by the fact that enrollment did increase — even though it was under 1% — but it did increase this past year.

(01:23:31)

Okay. Yeah, and I am just wondering if there are other things factoring into that. For example, I know that when public charge happened back after 2016, a lot of older adults with legal immigration status — even those that we saw — got off whatever benefits they were on because they were afraid for their immigration status. And I know that H.R. 1 and other things that are happening impact that. So I just wanted to know if there is a way to track that, and also, knowing that, how are we going to shore up what we can and cannot do on the City level? I would be interested to see — and again, if you could follow up and come back to us — if there is a way to see how those impacts are factoring into the enrollment numbers here, or if at all. So that was just something we wanted to follow up on. We will look into that. Okay. We do have challenges. Obviously we do not ask the immigration status of people who are applying to the programs. Yes, I know, but especially with community partners on the ground, I...

(01:24:35)

...think, narratively speaking, at least somewhat — even with the older adult centers, I am sure they will be able to tell you what some of the challenges are. So I am just curious to see if there is any sort of data that is correlated with that, and what the response on the City side should be — what we can and should be looking to do. So that was just the question there. And I have a bunch more, but I am going to pause here to allow our other co-chair as well as members to ask questions. Thank you so much.

(01:25:10)

I would like to start with MOPD and give our Deputy Commissioner a bit of a break.

(01:25:21)

Commissioner, can you share how MOPD participates in the outreach and enrollment process for DRIE-eligible New Yorkers?

(01:25:30)

Sure. First of all, thank you to everyone for inviting me here. So, broad picture: this is an affordability issue, and New Yorkers with disabilities face the highest true cost of living of other populations in New York City. They also face the greatest resource gap between actual income and true cost of living — nearly double the citywide average. So with that in context, I will talk about what we want to do further.

We have information on DRIE on our website so New Yorkers can reach out and see that. We also refer constituents seeking housing services, including DRIE information, and there are two ways we do that. One, we proactively share information about DRIE programs through housing presentations or just talking to folks. So this morning I just got a constituent who met me at the Deaf town hall that went on on Wednesday, and she wanted to talk about DRIE. That is the kind of way that we engage. We also have a call-in and email system, and we receive many emails about housing resources, which we share with constituents as well. MOPD includes DRIE in our housing resource guidelines, which are provided at outreach events to community partners. And, like other people have said, if people need assistance with applications, we refer them to the Disability Service Facilitator and the Department of Finance and the DFTA.

So those are all of the things we have currently been doing. Moving ahead, I think we are seeking to enhance our outreach and information dissemination efforts because this is the Mayor's affordability agenda, and so we want to expand that. The biggest barrier we have noticed is that people with disabilities tend to not have access to information, and we are committed to providing that information to the communities that we serve. For example, we are doing housing access community engagement, disseminating information and answering questions about a range of housing resources, and that includes DRIE. We are also going to work with our City partners here — for example, working with the Department for the Aging — and we know we overlap between the communities that we serve, so working with Aging, we can maybe move that ball forward. So that is just a little bit about what we want to do for the future.

(01:29:32)

And then how many referrals did MOPD make in this last year? So I have... as this is a program...

(01:29:45)

We do not actually do the enrollment process. However, in recent years we have worked with partners to make the process more accessible to screen reader users, for example. And looking forward, we are happy to support our City agencies. If there are any accessibility concerns with enrollment, please reach out to us and we will partner with our City agencies to ensure that the application is accessible to the people we serve. We want to have more people apply.

(01:30:34)

Currently, what is the relationship, as it pertains to this program, between MOPD and DFTA?

(01:30:46)

Yeah, so as I had mentioned before, we work with them on outreach and do referring. If people call and want to know more about DRIE — because there are many older adults who are also disabled — so that is some of the stuff we are doing, but we are happy to do more as needed, as you suggest.

(01:31:11)

And then in terms of how many folks reached out to MOPD, do you have a number that you can share?

(01:31:20)

Yeah, we do not have a specific number, but I will say there are a lot of constituent calls that come to our office. I think for the last month it was like 500 people, so we have a lot of people asking questions and the majority of them are really about housing. That is an area that we are going to be involved in, not just in SCRIE but also other areas of affordable housing.

(01:31:47)

And then his constituents call. NOPD, how are you all keeping track of the issue areas that are coming your way?

(01:32:00)

Yeah, so we cannot do an actual detailed numbers breakdown et cetera. Calls come in often in crisis, so we have simple data but we do not provide the information. I think it is very important to know that we do have data on whether they want housing or they want employment et cetera. We have that information to start sorting that out.

(01:32:38)

I asked because, as we do in our district offices when we get calls, we want to make sure that we are able to share those trends. So I would really like to understand how you all are similarly keeping that data within your offices. And then does he have data on or conduct outreach to caregiver-headed households with an adult child with a disability?

(01:33:06)

So NOPD does not have access to household data, but targeting outreach for this population is a great idea and we appreciate the feedback. We would love to talk to you more on that.

(01:33:28)

And then because DRIE eligibility is age-restricted, are there specific enrollment or awareness gaps among working-age disabled tenants who may not be reached by older adult-focused outreach?

(01:33:43)

Yeah, we want to expand the outreach that we do. One thing that we want to add is reaching younger DRIE populations. We work with aging and that is really great, but the younger folks are also important to reach out to and to mention that this is an option for you if you need it. That is one of the gaps that we have that we want to close.

(01:34:15)

And then as you are getting calls, what kind of staffing or staff is receiving the calls? Are they taking down maybe the age or location of where those calls are coming from?

(01:34:34)

Yeah, so again it is very quick because we need to ask what information they need. We have one person from 311 who does that service and we have another staff member who does that, and most of it is referrals. So if they have a DRIE question we refer them, so it is like a pass-through to other agencies which are doing that work. And then how many...

(01:35:03)

...people are picking up the phone?

(01:35:07)

The staff... yeah, when a call is coming in it either goes as emails or calls to our 311 person or to another person. Two people receive these emails or calls. So you are saying 311 is the one...

(01:35:30)

...then sending it over to you all. This person is from 311, but is in our office because we have so many constituent calls related to disabilities broadly and to housing in particular. So can you just...

(01:35:49)

...clarify? This is a staff member who also works... he is seconded from 311.

(01:36:01)

And we really worked with 311 on having that because that is very important, and in fact we might want another one because it is really a huge job. And how many staff are currently at...

(01:36:17)

...about 20. And this person is still with 311. I am a little confused there, so they are technically in 311 but they support us and come to our office every day and respond to emails and calls. It is just one person. Yes. OK. And then for the outreach unit and rent freeze...

(01:36:46)

...persons divisions, how many full-time staff are on board? I need to get back to you with that information.

(01:36:58)

Are you able to share what the staffing level is right now? I do not have that with me. And would you be able to share what the average number of new rent freeze program applicants approved per staffer was? I would like to understand the ratio of staff to applications. We will work on getting that to you. Okay.

(01:37:29)

And then what specific disability-focused spaces is the City conducting outreach about and assistance to enrolling in DRIE? I am sorry, can you please repeat that question?

(01:37:42)

What specific disability-focused spaces is the City conducting outreach about and assistance to enrolling in DRIE?

(01:37:56)

Like, I am curious. Are we on CUNY campuses? Are we in spaces where New Yorkers with disabilities are in and out interacting, and do we have information about DRIE in those locations?

(01:38:15)

A little bit. We did a town hall for Tanya Towers, which is primarily a large community of deaf-blind people, and we did that and we asked whatever concerns they have. The majority of people had housing questions, and that is one thing that we do — outreach and community engagement for that population. For all our populations, the disability community is very diverse, so reaching out to those people and getting their information and their solutions is very important. We have done that, including town halls with different community groups, and that is one thing that we have done.

(01:39:17)

Got it. And then for DRIE, are you all on CUNY campuses?

(01:39:23)

I do not know if we are on CUNY campuses specifically. I know that we work with several community-based organizations.

(01:39:30)

Could you share which ones?

(01:39:32)

I do not have the list with me. We will get back to you with that information, Councilmember.

(01:39:39)

And then just more broadly, outside of the partnership with the organizations and maybe a specific town hall being organized, how is the word getting out about DRIE?

(01:40:01)

DRIE is a central part of the outreach that we do. As I have mentioned, we do over 200 events and we do them in all communities. We do events with Council Members and other elected officials. We do events with community organizations. Sometimes we do outreach where our staff goes to certain neighborhoods and is on the streets giving out information in heavily trafficked areas.

(01:40:47)

So those are some of the outreach that we do. Would you say that...

(01:40:52)

...those are effective forms of outreach? Yes.

(01:40:57)

For the events with the Council Members and elected officials, are these events like a town hall about a specific topic and then you all are tabling? Or is this an event specifically about SCRIE and DRIE? I am just trying to understand. Outreach is an art...

(01:41:21)

...and yet so few applicants. We do both. That worries me. Yes.

(01:41:27)

I understand your concern, but to answer your question...

(01:41:31)

...we do events that are specific to SCRIE and DRIE and we also do general outreach events. However, SCRIE and DRIE always figure very prominently for us and are at the top of the agenda.

(01:41:47)

What were the events that took place last month? I will...

(01:41:53)

...need to get back to you with that.

(01:41:54)

Is there a recurring set of events that happen...

(01:42:03)

...regularly? And then are there events that are maybe larger that happen every three months or every six months? I need to get back to you for most of that. One thing that I will mention is that we do have a monthly event with CM Brewer, who is here. We do a clinic at her office where we have people who can assist people who need help with SCRIE and DRIE, and we are happy to do that with as many other Council Members who want to work with us.

(01:42:47)

Really good to know. Are there other efforts like this clinic? Because I do think clinics, especially in member offices, are a really good place of trust. I know that not all of us have this kind of reach, but CM Brewer has hundreds of thousands of people in her email listserv. We are not all at her level, but this clinic is important and something that is this consistent is a great initiative. That is really what I am trying to get at with my line of questioning — just to understand whether we are using our time as effectively as we can so that word is getting out. Sometimes we can have events and things that are almost just vibes and people are not really taking out of those spaces what they should be. So I will come back to more questions, but I wanted to...

(01:43:56)

...oh yes. And then just this before... sure, sure, sure.

(01:43:59)

Is there a specific plan to address the enrollment of DRIE skewing older when eligibility starts at 18?

(01:44:10)

We are looking to do outreach to all ages for DRIE.

(01:44:15)

What does that mean? But we are not...

(01:44:19)

...skewing our outreach efforts. We are aware of the statistics that you read during the remarks. We do not limit our outreach for DRIE by age.

(01:44:34)

And is there a budget for the outreach? I have to get back to you on that. Okay.

(01:44:45)

Passing back to you, Councilmember.

(01:44:47)

Cheers. Thank you. Let us turn the microphone to CM Brewer. Thank you very much. I am a white woman. I used to have great hair but now it is blonde and I have a brown top on. You have to be a little funny in these crazy times. Okay, first question. First of all, Department of Finance, you are phenomenal. Rita, Jenna is fabulous and there are so many people who want to attend these clinics that you do once a month that we actually have to sign people up as opposed to just waiting in line. We also have somebody who comes in who is a volunteer. She has been coming in for 10 years and she comes in every single Monday from 2 to 4 without fail and she helps people with SCRIE, because people — these older adults — need to have hand-holding. Even if they have knowledge about how to use computers and so on, they still need hand-holding. So this jump from 52 to 75, it is fabulous, but it is going to take a lot of hand-holding to get people signed up. I want to thank Finance. I am a huge fan of what you do and I appreciate the monthly clinics tremendously. The admiration is mutual, Councilmember. We thank you for your leadership. Thank you.

(01:46:02)

Now, what about Mitchell-Lama?

(01:46:03)

We have not talked about that. What is the situation with Mitchell-Lama and SCRIE and DRIE? That is all one, you know. So first I just want to thank everyone for their dedication to protecting our seniors. I just have to say that.

(01:46:15)

They vote, you know. I know, and I also just have to say something real quick. When my mother reached the age where she could actually apply for SCRIE, she was so excited and I had to help her with her application. She is a school safety agent. And then I had to remind her about the renewal and everything else. I just wanted to lift that up because she had a daughter who was engaged and she still had questions and everything else. We understand that need. And she was one of those who passed away during COVID. So you lost that application.

(01:46:55)

But I just wanted to say that, and again thank you. When it comes to Mitchell-Lama, the conversation is just a little different, and that is because it is targeted and focused on what we can and cannot do based on the rent increases that are approved. So when it comes to enrollment and outreach, we have the numbers. We know who is enrolled, but we also see a lot of our households and families have Section 8, and we understand that you are not eligible for SCRIE when you have another subsidy. I just wanted to mention that so you can get an understanding of what we are seeing in the picture of Mitchell-Lama.

(01:47:16)

But again, when it comes to outreach, when there is a proposed increase to the maintenance charges and carrying charges, we go into the buildings. Again, very targeted because it is development-specific, and we work directly with the residents, hosting workshops. When we talk about workshops, we are flyering the buildings, we are working through the pre-populated applications — thanks to this Council body — but we are also going there on weekends because we understand the population. Again, it is a targeted effort and we are seeing a lot more robust outreach because of that.

(01:48:17)

One more question quickly for DRIE or SCRIE, which is: we find a lot of people get older, they are forgetful and they forget to re-register and they forget about SCRIE and so on and so forth. This is an increasing problem. So how are you going to deal with that? In other words, say for instance we do the outreach and we are getting more people to sign up and so on, but they do forget. Is there something we can do that is more pre-populated? It could be like making it more than a one-year renewal. I do not know. I am asking because increasingly you are going to get this memory loss, you are going to get people who are not doing the right paperwork et cetera. And then you have got the owner involved, you have got the official at Finance about it. It is a whole thing that goes on and I do not know how we can avoid it, so I am looking for suggestions from you and maybe from DFTA. Yes, so we do some...

(01:49:15)

...pre-population in our forms to help people, and I mentioned earlier that we do quite a few reminders. I am sure we can look into that and come up with other thoughts as well.

(01:49:28)

Okay, that is where we are getting challenges, so people are...

(01:49:34)

...forgetting that they even needed to do it. I assume that also happens in DRIE for whatever medical challenge they are facing. I do think we need to look at it. You have got this huge number of more people getting older...

(01:49:37)

...and yes, we need to think about this.

(01:49:49)

We will. I also do want to reference back to the discussion about the reasonable accommodations that we supply specifically to people in the programs, maybe older people with memory loss. That is set up precisely to assist those people.

(01:50:10)

Okay, I would like more conversation along that line. Thank you very much.

(01:50:15)

Thank you. And I also have a question for my district. You guys have been working closely with CM Brewer. I think every other Council Member who also wants to work with you guys should reach out to your office. We want to do it with you. You can contact me directly. I do want to mention that we did an email campaign where our outreach staff sent emails to every New York City elected official — Council Members, State Members and State Senators — and also some of their key staff, chiefs of staff and heads of constituency work. So we want to be working with you. We welcome the effort.

(01:51:13)

Call us. Okay, we definitely need it. My office sees 77 people a year — more than most congressional districts — because people from all over the City come to us. If they speak Chinese, they think I am their Council Member and they will come to my office. So I have a question from CM Brooks-Powers. Hard questions. My district in Southeast Queens has one of the highest concentrations of senior Black homeowners in the City for SCHE and SCRIE. How many additional homeowners citywide would be eligible — or as a rough estimate — could benefit from raising the ceiling to 75? Our estimate is 5,000 households. In Southeast Queens? Citywide. I do not have a breakdown by borough or by neighborhood for that.

(01:52:21)

What outreach efforts specifically for outer borough homeowners could be conducted to ensure that current and potential eligible SCHE recipients are aware of the increased exemption percentage available under this Bill?

(01:52:41)

Yes, well I do want to again point back to our existing significant outreach efforts that we have been discussing — the 220 events annually, the work with the Department of Aging. But we also, in connection with this Bill and Int 0978-2026-A, are having conversations with the Office of Management and Budget regarding what resources would be needed to get the word out and to process the additional applications that we would expect. Okay. And then the...

(01:53:24)

...second question. Many of my lowest-income seniors living in NYCHA or using a Section 8 voucher are excluded from the rent freeze program entirely. As the City is expanding eligibility, is there any plan to address the seniors who fall outside these programs altogether? How else can we do more to meet their needs? The state legislation...

(01:53:51)

...does not change the basic application of the program, so it is focused on the income cap. It does not change the basic eligibility guidelines. So there is nothing else we can do there. We are always ready to have constructive conversations with the Council and come up with a single consolidated public-facing talking point about access, or something similar, that flags SCRIE and DRIE eligibility alongside other benefits a household may qualify for. We have on our website an eligibility tool and a single place for people to apply online. I should mention, along the lines of the discussion earlier, that many seniors prefer to apply via paper. Right now under 20% of the applications we get are online, but we love online applications as that helps speed the process and we have done work to make sure that people can apply entirely online. So my question is...

(01:55:28)

That is excess because my office sees 77 people, sometimes when it is super busy. I also see constituents myself. I did the DRIE application myself before for constituents. A lot of times people do not know they are qualified. Do we have a system where, when they are applying for other benefits, it is also mentioned to them: "Hey, you are qualified for SCRIE and DRIE, do you want to apply?" Do we have anything coordinated with the other programs? I will need to get back to you on that. Because that would make sure people know the program easier and also remind them if they are qualified. That is probably one of the ways to do outreach. Because when you access the portal and go in, it could tell you what benefits you can apply for. That is actually very helpful for a lot of seniors and also caseworkers. If we can put that inside there together, then it would probably be a benefit to a lot of people. That is my opinion. How does the agency screen their DRIE compared to the state oversight role? Where does responsibility split between the City and New York State HCR? Is there a gap between them and conflict for applications?

(01:57:04)

I am sorry. Conflict?

(01:57:06)

Yeah, it created confusion. I mean, confusion for...

(01:57:13)

Applications. I am not aware of that being an issue, so there is no gap. It is always challenging, but I am not aware of confusion because of HCR.

(01:57:34)

What has been the status and the impact of Council legislation expanding SCRIE and DRIE income limits, including whether it has produced the enrollment increase projected at the time? Unfortunately, during the pandemic, enrollment did decline in the programs. We do not think that was attributable to Council legislation, but to factors beyond our control. What administrative improvements could the department make most...

(01:58:21)

...to improve the process, limited on limited time, reducing lapses? Has the funding being requested for this current or upcoming budget? Do you have the requests and the IT budget?

(01:58:41)

Yes. We have a system. So for rent freeze we have a portal that is dedicated to it and we maintain it and we make upgrades to it as needed. I do not know if there is a specific budget for it, but...

(01:59:02)

...across agencies, like, say, if this is a senior, they may be eligible for other senior benefits and at the same time they can send more information to different City agencies that could screen them for other programs.

(01:59:22)

I will get back to you on that. Okay. Thank you.

(01:59:24)

Actually, I just wanted to piggyback off that line of questioning because one thing that we have been hearing a lot from the providers and the nonprofits that actually provide the services is that oftentimes it would be really helpful if there are joint applications. One of the most common things, which I am sure you have all heard as well, is: is there a way to jointly apply for food stamps, SNAP benefits, as well as the housing piece of it? Because that is something that seems to overlap a lot and we heard that from a lot of our housing providers as well as a lot of our food providers.

I have to say, I know there is some controversy out there about the use of AI, but this is one area where I wonder — and I have spoken to other agencies about this — is there a way for us to, and I get there is HIPAA and all of those things, we want to protect privacy. I have spoken to the deputy commissioners about figuring out if there is a way to first of all identify people, not in terms of their actual identity but coding it somehow, and then also on top of that — because at least in the mental health space, for example, when I was chair of mental health, every time I asked questions about, you know, folks that have comorbid issues: if I am homeless and I go into a shelter one day and then next month I have an episode and I end up at an H+H hospital system, and then the month after that I get picked up by an outreach street team because of my issues around substance use — how are we ensuring that people are not falling through the cracks and that our systems are communicating with each other somehow?

I get that the cross-agency meetings with all the teams from a data perspective are happening, but is there a way that we can make things more efficient with the application process as well as address some of the frustrations that our providers are raising? Because the same thing — you know, when I was working in social services and the nonprofit sector, the work that the caseworkers need to do is very cumbersome. Even folks and friends of mine, myself personally, who are professionals — they could be doctors, lawyers, whatever — they call me because they are like, "Do you guys do work with helping seniors and older adults apply for Medicare, Medicaid, all these benefits?" And I say yes, because these are professionals who are saying this is so complicated. It is literally spread out in terms of the areas that they need to look into. So I just wanted to emphasize that point and put it out there that I do think we need to start maybe having these conversations at a City level to see what can be done, understanding of course that we do want to keep information and data private. I just wonder if it would help us be more efficient.

(02:02:31)

Yes, I am interested in joining those conversations with you. I think other City agencies would also need to be involved, but we are open.

(02:02:43)

Well, I understand your point. There is a time tax on applicants and on providers with having to deal with multiple forms that are longer than they need to be. Also, just like with college applications there is the common app where you apply for multiple things at the same time. I am not saying it has to be done that same way, but is there something where there is basic information that we can collect all at the same time and share with different agencies? I think that would potentially speed up the process. Things like that — I just feel like we need to do better to help folks out. But I appreciate the fact that you are on the same page. We have got to figure out how to continue those conversations. Okay.

(02:03:32)

Yes, and really quickly, I just wanted to ask — actually, speaking of data. So this is sort of going into the section of data transparency. Does the agency publish SCRIE enrollment, denial and utilization data publicly? I think you did mention this, but just for the record, if you could reiterate. And if not, would the agency support a local law requiring the reporting?

(02:04:00)

I am sorry. Which specific data?

(02:04:01)

Oh, just about the SCRIE enrollments, denials and utilization data, if it is available publicly on the website.

(02:04:08)

The data that I referenced is available. We will also share it with you directly. Okay.

(02:04:17)

And what has been the annual tax expenditure associated with the SCRIE and DRIE programs in each of the last three fiscal years?

(02:04:47)

What I have is: in fiscal year 26, $178 million. This is for SCRIE and DRIE together. The projected amount for fiscal year 27 is $214 million. The projected amount for fiscal year 28 is $243 million. These figures are from the OMB June 2026 plan. Okay. Why the big jump? So in FY27 and then $243 million in FY28 — yes. It is a 20% growth to FY27 and 14% growth for FY28.

(02:05:49)

Okay. And what is the projected effect of the Rent Guidelines Board's adoption of a zero percent adjustment for one and two year leases, which starts on October 1 through September 30 of next year?

(02:06:03)

I do not have that specifically. We do know that with zero percent, that is better for the public and it means that people's budgets will be less challenged. We have not done an analysis to figure out what the impact would be on enrollment in SCRIE and DRIE. We still feel there is an essential need for us to do outreach regardless of the increase or lack thereof. The Mayor has emphasized that we need to do that, so we are committed to doing that. Okay.

(02:07:04)

And just lastly, the February 2026 financial plan put the cost of raising the SCRIE income limit at $44 million over FY2030, and the plan added a separate SCHE line. What part of the $44 million is attributable to SCRIE and what part to DRIE? And has the estimate been revised since the state budget was enacted in May 2026, because I know some of those numbers change?

(02:07:35)

The numbers have not changed.

(02:07:39)

No. So it has not changed since the state budget.

(02:07:40)

Correct. It has not changed since the state budget. It is still $44 million. About 82% of the total costs — roughly $36 million — is attributable to SCRIE and the remaining 18%, $8 million, is attributable to DRIE. Okay.

(02:08:03)

And as you indicated, that is over a period of several years. Several years. Yep. Okay. I am going to pause there. Actually, sorry. Yeah, I am going to pause there. Okay, go on. Thank you. Do you provide training concerning SCRIE and DRIE to personnel at other City...

(02:08:32)

...agencies? We do. We provide training to staff from the Department for the Aging. We also, because we do outreach with ACS and HRA, have done training there as well.

(02:08:53)

And is this training that happens annually or how often? What is the basis for doing the...

(02:09:00)

...training? The other agencies need it on an as-needed basis. Got it. And...

(02:09:07)

...then what topics are covered?

(02:09:13)

I think just in general, the eligibility for the program...

(02:09:20)

...and the application process, those sorts of things. The training that is done is done for staff at those agencies that will be doing outreach events for us, so it is geared to the interactions that the agency would have with potential applicants. And who from the agency does those trainings? That would be staff from our outreach unit and also from our taxpayer advocates office. Got it. And then...

(02:09:59)

...going back to the enrollment data that was shared, DRIE enrollment peaked at 12,215 in 2019 and was roughly 11,000 in 2024. Talking about the decline in applications, you mentioned COVID as one reason, which I think is very fair. Is there any kind of...

(02:10:30)

...analysis capacity to really look at what is causing an enormous fall, particularly in the Bronx? Yes. So we do have some more information regarding the Bronx. I want to preface that by saying there are limits. When people leave the program, we lose touch with them. They do not tell us why they are leaving the program. But we have these figures: DRIE enrollment peaked at 12,215 in 2019 and was 11,012 in 2024. We break it out this way: death was the largest reason for that decline, accounting for 669 of the 1,203 — that is 56%. Non-renewals: 225. So...

(02:11:47)

...again, we do not know precisely the reason why people did not renew. We are aware of 250 where tenants moved residences and we have 23 that transferred to the SCRIE program. And then for the non-renewals, is there a reason not to check in? Well, we just check in and what mostly happens is we do not hear anything further.

(02:12:35)

Got it. We are very intent on making sure that people in the program who remain eligible renew. It is very important. We are proud of the fact that we have a 95% retention rate and we do that by sending many reminders — paper letters, emails — and also working with you with lists of people who have not yet responded. Understood. Could...

(02:13:11)

...you share how many DRIE recipients are 62 or older?

(02:13:21)

I have that here somewhere. I believe it is roughly 6,200. Oh, here we go, it is 6,729. And then do you have a breakdown of folks who are younger? No, but we can come up with one. Okay. Thank...

(02:13:47)

...you. I might be reaching my final question, so if you will give me a minute. I believe you have answered this earlier. How are you reaching immigrants and limited English proficient communities? Is this through community-based organizations?

(02:14:24)

We do work with community-based organizations. We do provide translations of our forms on the website in many different languages. We also have language translation services available at five business centers, one per borough. We have data showing that our exemption unit uses those services about 120 times per month. Now that is for all exemption programs. That is not specific to rent freeze.

(02:15:03)

I do not have the figure. We do not provide breakdowns by program, but those are some of the ways in which we do outreach. And for the applications available in other languages, are you all keeping track of, let us say, if I fill it out in the Bengali language — that seven applicants used a translated application — or how are you all tracking use? I need to get back to you on that.

(02:15:37)

Thank you. And then where...

(02:15:38)

...are the five business centers?

(02:15:39)

He said one in each borough.

(02:15:43)

Yes, the agency has five business centers.

(02:15:48)

I do not have the addresses off the top of my head. One of them, the Manhattan Business Center, is within walking distance from here on John Street. We have one in Brooklyn near Borough Hall. We can provide you with the addresses for all...

(02:16:10)

...five. And then at these business centers, are they set up so that applicants can drop in to get...

(02:16:18)

...the support they need to fill out an application? Yes, we provide...

(02:16:30)

...additional support in our Manhattan Business Center. Our exemption unit...

(02:16:35)

...has a separate exemption walk-in unit, so people can either walk in without an appointment or make an appointment in advance. So we have additional service there. But for all of our business centers, people walk in to access a wide variety of services for New York City residents...

(02:17:01)

...ranging from parking ticket hearings, assisting people paying their property taxes, and everything and anything in between. So people come to the business centers...

(02:17:22)

...who need assistance and we can provide them with translation services.

(02:17:31)

And then when someone is applying specifically for SCRIE or DRIE, is that also where they can come in to do that, or are there other centers?

(02:17:40)

The best place for people who want specific help with their application would be our Manhattan Business Center. But again, I want to emphasize that we provide the same type of assistance...

(02:17:56)

...at many of our outreach events...

(02:18:00)

...where we assist with the applications. As indicated earlier, staff received 1,200 applications in fiscal year 26 precisely because we know that this population often needs assistance and cannot do it online or cannot do it on paper by themselves. We have outreach that addresses that issue. The best way to find out about these outreach events is we will contact you directly, Council Member. Okay, I will get back to...

(02:18:47)

...you. Thank you.

(02:18:47)

I believe everyone sitting here has the same goal: to help our seniors and people with disabilities. As Council members, I believe everyone, all my colleagues sitting here, want to provide the resources to see the agency also serve our seniors and disabled community together. That is how we will go.

(02:19:13)

It is not that someone did something wrong. This is our goal: to try to accomplish everything together. Okay. I want to thank everyone who came here. Now we are going to move to public testimony. Thank you all. Okay. I now open the hearing for public testimony. I want to remind members of the public that this is a government proceeding and decorum shall be observed at all times. Members of the public should remain silent at all times. The witness table is reserved for people who wish to testify. No video recording or photography is allowed at the witness table. For members of the public not present, audio or video recording is permitted but the transcript of such recordings must be submitted to the Sergeant-at-Arms for inclusion in the hearing record. If you wish to speak, please fill out an appearance card with the Sergeant-at-Arms and wait to be recognized. When recognized, you will have two minutes to speak on the oversight topic of Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption, SCRIE, and the Disability Rent Increase Exemption, DRIE, or on any of the legislation on today's agenda. If you have written testimony or additional written testimony you wish to submit for the record, please provide a copy of that testimony to the Sergeant-at-Arms. You may also email written testimony to testimony@council.nyc.gov within 72 hours of this hearing. Audio and video recordings will not be accepted. Now we are going to call our first panel.

The first panel is Lloyd Thing, Molly Krukowski, Barry Song, Wing Person, Iraq Cienski Rivas and Rio Harris. Okay. Okay.

(02:23:52)

Thank you. Committee Chair Brewer and Co-Chair Lee and members of the Committee on Aging, my name is Lloyd Thing and I am the Associate State Director of Advocacy for AARP New York. I am here today on behalf of our 750,000 members in New York City and the millions of older adults who call the City home. We are here to support Int 0978-2026-A, which would...

(02:24:15)

Raise the maximum threshold income eligibility for SCRIE and DRIE from $50,000 to $75,000. As you know, older New Yorkers are working harder today to make ends meet. Our 2025 report with the Center for an Urban Future reveals the dire financial crisis facing older New Yorkers. Over the past decade, the number of older adults living in poverty increased by nearly 41%. Today, more than 250,000 older New Yorkers live below the poverty line. That same report finds that nearly 60% of New Yorkers over age 70 reported no retirement income at all. Meanwhile, the number of New Yorkers age 65 and older who are working increased by 66%. So after a lifetime of contributing to the City, older New Yorkers deserve better than to be left behind by it. If we want New York City to remain a place where people can afford to grow older, our policies must wake up to the harsh realities older adults face. Raising the eligibility threshold is a logical, necessary and compassionate step to achieve that. AARP New York has long advocated for strengthening and expanding SCRIE and DRIE. Increasing eligibility is critical to ensuring these lifelines keep pace with the cost of living and serve more of the people they were created to protect. We urge the Council to pass Int 0978-2026-A now. Thank you all so much.

(02:25:49)

Good afternoon, Chairs Lee and Hanif and respective committees. Thank you so much for hosting today's hearing. My name is Molly Krukowski. I am Senior Director of Government Affairs at JASA, and very happy to be here today. JASA is one of New York City's largest and most trusted agencies serving older adults. For nearly 60 years we have provided a comprehensive network of services to more than 40,000 older adults across New York City. Housing stability is essential to that mission, and the older adults we serve are facing rising rents, property taxes, food costs, utilities and other expenses, often on very limited incomes. Being able to remain in their homes in the community can make the big difference between continuing safely and independently or facing displacement.

JASA is very pleased to see the expansion of income eligibility for SCRIE and DRIE, and we support many of the proposals before the committee today. We have submitted written testimony, but we wanted to highlight just a few of the priorities for implementation. First, expanded eligibility will only help if people know about it, and I think we heard plenty about that today. The City needs to make robust multilingual outreach central to implementation. It is not enough to just use the older adult centers and community-based organizations. Housing providers, social service agencies and other trusted sources — landlords and property managers — should also be required to post information about the new eligibility. We would especially encourage the Department of Finance to proactively reach out to people who were previously denied because their income exceeded the $50,000 threshold. There are people in the City that they know about who would already be qualifying, and they should not have to navigate the process to find out on their own.

We also want to emphasize that even an older adult who is earning $75,000 may still face significant financial pressure in New York City, so we encourage the City to continue looking at the needs of older adults and people with disabilities who remain just above those eligibility thresholds. I will submit written testimony so you can hear more of what we have heard a lot about today. Thank you.

(02:28:00)

Good afternoon, Chairs Hanif and Lee and members of the Committee on Finance. My name is Sideya, and I am New York City Policy Director at the New York State Association for Affordable Housing. Thank you for the opportunity to testify on behalf of our membership today. For 28 years, NYSAFAH has represented the for-profit and not-for-profit developers, owners and managers who build, finance and operate affordable housing across New York State. Many of our members serve senior citizens and people with disabilities who rely on SCRIE and DRIE to remain stably housed. NYSAFAH supports Int 0307-2026, Int 0934-2026, Int 0978-2026-A, Int 1010-2026 and Int 1033-2026. Together these bills streamline application and recertification, raise income eligibility thresholds and make notice requirements more workable. We also support Res 0055-2026, Res 0431-2026, Res 0470-2026, Res 0471-2026 and Res 0512-2026, calling on Albany to establish automatic enrollment, expand eligibility beyond the head of household, protect benefits after a temporary increase in income and incentivize preservation of housing for seniors.

As these measures move forward, we encourage clear eligibility standards, efficient administration, protections for taxpayer information and timely notice to property owners when exemptions are renewed. Because this hearing is also oversight of the City's implementation of recent SCRIE reforms, we also urge that eligible New Yorkers not be left waiting for relief they already qualify for. We will be submitting our full written testimony, which addresses specific solutions in more detail, for the record. Thank you for your leadership on these issues.

(02:29:49)

Good afternoon, Chairs Hanif and Lee. Thank you for holding today's hearing. My name is Ariel Hirsch and I am the Director of Policy at UHAB. For over 50 years, UHAB has helped low and moderate income New Yorkers become homeowners in the communities where they already live. We provide technical assistance and training to 1,224 HCR-supervised Mitchell-Lama co-ops. We are here today to urge the Council to pass basically the full suite of bills, but I want to focus my testimony specifically on Int 0978-2026-A and Int 0307-2026 and talk a little bit about how they impact Mitchell-Lama specifically.

With Int 0978-2026-A, we have talked a lot about the need to update this to be in line with State law. It is a cruel thing to be on a fixed income but not poor enough to be protected from rising carrying charges, especially in a place with rising inflation and compounding operating and carrying charges that put cooperatives, Mitchell-Lamas and HDFCs in particular vulnerability for their overall financial and physical health. Int 0307-2026 would make it easier for residents to apply and keep their benefits. We heard earlier that some are still using paper applications.

We talked a bit about Mitchell-Lama and a little less about HDFC co-ops. We work with many, many folks working through SCRIE and DRIE applications and recertifications. A few examples stand out. We have been working with a senior who has been trying to apply for SCRIE since earlier this year and still has not received approval. We understand there is one person in asset management approving these, and he is wildly oversubscribed for the amount of requests they are getting. We are also working with a senior who needed to provide additional documentation for their SCRIE application and had real difficulties procuring this due to language barriers and lack of support. Overall, we can do a lot, but we can only do so much, and we really need a focus in this overall legislative package on the ways that this impacts especially Mitchell-Lama and the overall financial and fiscal health of their buildings. Thank you.

(02:32:04)

Thank you so much. Sorry. First of all, I just wanted to say thank you to all of you — many of you who I know very well — and I appreciate you being here to testify. I just wanted to emphasize, because I appreciate the fact that I see some of the staff of the agencies that are still here and taking notes, so I appreciate the fact that you are still here. I think one of the things, to your point, that several folks have mentioned is the outreach piece of it, which by the way, as Molly as you

(02:32:36)

mentioned, we asked a lot of questions on the outreach because of the language barrier piece. I think that is something that we have seen in a lot of our immigrant communities. Then also, to your point with the staffing — which I know Chair Hanif had brought up — I did not quite get to that as she was walking in, perfect timing. To your point, because she had asked a series of questions on the staffing, and I think that is something that we want to follow up more deeply on. Knowing that there was one person doing those applications, understanding what the staffing needs are and how that can change to increase the applications, I think would be helpful also. So we will take that back. Thank you.

(02:33:26)

Now we have the next panel: Stevens, Elizabeth Fox, Solomon Smart, Katrina Toma, Janine Cahill Jackson. Thank you. Then you may begin. Thank you.

(02:34:03)

Good afternoon, all. Chairs and members of the committees. My name is Katrina Toma and I am an advocate representing individuals with disabilities at Legal Services NYC. I appreciate the opportunity to testify concerning Int 0978-2026-A, which, if enacted, will increase the maximum income levels for the SCRIE and DRIE rent freeze programs from $50,000 to $75,000, as permitted by the 2026-2027 State budget.

Legal Services NYC is the largest civil legal services provider in the country. We handle over 32,000 cases and have benefited 18,000 New Yorkers, including around 10,000 clients who receive Social Security, Supplemental Security Income or Social Security Disability benefits, and 14,000 clients who are seniors. From 2023 to 2025, Legal Services NYC assisted nearly 1,200 families — totaling more than 1,700 people — with obtaining SCRIE and DRIE benefits. So far in 2026, we have assisted more than 300 households with these applications. However, many more of our clients and other low-income people throughout New York are ineligible for SCRIE and DRIE benefits because their household income exceeds the current cutoff of $50,000 per year. As a result, they are subject to rent increases at each renewal of their rent-regulated apartments, despite often being on fixed incomes.

Many are subsequently priced out of their rent-regulated apartments despite the purpose of the rent freeze programs, which were created precisely to avoid such an outcome. The SCRIE and DRIE income limits were last increased to $50,000 in 2014. Since then, the national inflation rate and the average cost of rent in New York City have skyrocketed, forcing low-income elderly and disabled individuals to stretch their incomes further and further. Moreover, because eligibility is determined by household income, low-income families are often under significant pressure to split up their households to become eligible for SCRIE and DRIE. Not only does this defeat the purpose of SCRIE and DRIE, it also threatens to take away critical support systems. I will turn it over to the next respondent.

(02:36:14)

Good afternoon, members of the committee. My name is Elizabeth Fox. I am a staff attorney in the right to counsel unit of Brooklyn Legal Services. In my role, I serve people on the brink of eviction and homelessness every day. Our hardest cases in right to counsel are often cases serving seniors and people with disabilities on limited incomes whose benefits and employment cannot keep up with inflation and the rising cost of rent. SCRIE and DRIE can be a lifeline for these New Yorkers, and expanding the income limit would allow more people to maintain affordable housing, especially those who currently are barely able to afford the rent and would stand no chance of continuing to do so as their incomes plateau while rents rise.

Just this past spring, I assisted a client who would have greatly benefited from an increased maximum. She had lived in her rent-stabilized apartment for around 14 years. Despite being in her late 60s and dreaming of retirement, she was still working full time to afford her rent and other expenses, earning around $39,000 per year. Her spouse, who was nearly 80 years old, was homebound and requiring around-the-clock medical assistance, with a sole income from Social Security of around $13,000 a year. Their combined income put them at roughly $52,000 annually, which is about $2,000 over the limit for SCRIE. This meant that they were unable to freeze their rent. At the time I assisted them, neither she nor her spouse will ever make more money than they do now, and when she retires and takes Social Security, her household income will be reduced to about half of what it currently is. Yet without assistance, she will be unable to safely retire for fear of facing displacement. This household deserves to be able to stay in their apartment, and expanding the income limits will allow them to do so.

The State of New York recognized that the current income limits create a cruel and unnecessary barrier to assistance when it permitted those limits to be raised. These are central programs that help some of the most marginalized communities in New York City maintain their housing stability, and raising the income maximum would greatly expand access to these benefits. Expanded eligibility would better reflect the economic realities facing today's seniors and people with disabilities and ensure that modest increases in income or benefits do not put them out of reach of critical rent protections. Stable housing is often the foundation for good health, financial security and community engagement. When seniors and people with disabilities remain in their homes, they are better positioned to maintain medical care, remain connected to their support networks and live independently with dignity. Based on our experience serving low-income New Yorkers every day, expanding eligibility would help more individuals and their families maintain housing stability and economic security while meeting their other essential needs. Thank you.

(02:38:54)

Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Solomon Smart. I serve as the Associate Vice President over Older Adult Services at BronxWorks, and I am happy to be here on behalf of BronxWorks in support of all the suite of bills here today. I particularly love to talk in support of Int 0978-2026-A and Res 0055-2026. We are all on the same team here. I think I cannot say anything really new. I was surprised by the Council member's information regarding the Bronx numbers, so I am glad that we are doing this. I found an interesting report from 2022 on the rent freeze that showed that people on SCRIE and DRIE for five to ten years save about $176 to $291 a month, which can amount to about $2,000 a year or more. I do not think I need to emphasize how much that little bit of money would mean to older adults and disabled members of our communities. So we very much support this at BronxWorks. We have been serving older adults since 1972. It is very dear to our heart. So I thank the Council for this meeting and for this opportunity. Thank you.

(02:40:16)

Good afternoon. My name is Janine Cahill Jackson and I am the Director of Elder Law with the Legal Aid Society. Thank you, Chairs, for convening this hearing on these important issues. The Legal Aid Society supports all of the changes proposed to the program that will make it work better for our clients, but my testimony today will focus on the income increase for SCRIE and DRIE. Just yesterday, I was in Bronx Housing Court representing an 82-year-old woman who has been a rent-stabilized tenant for decades and just survived major heart surgery, but is facing eviction. She grabbed my arm and looked in my eyes and started to cry because she knew her renewal lease was coming. She said, "Am I going to get the rent freeze?" I immediately asked her, "Why are you not on SCRIE?" She shared her income

(02:41:02)

information, and she was only $3,000 over. She said, "But I cannot get a job. I am only getting older. I have no one else to help me. What am I ever going to do, even after this lease?" I shared a little bit about today's hearing and she had a huge smile come across her face and said, "Well, I hope by the time my next lease expires, the Council will have passed the law." She has been struggling to decide between paying her full rent, cutting back on food and paying for her necessary heart medications. Had SCRIE kept up with inflation, she could have qualified years ago.

Other senior clients that we have are still working to save for retirement, so their income is a little bit too high, yet their rent continues to grow. So while they save for essentially their most essential expense, rent only continues to grow. With a lower rent burden, clients like these will be able to afford the other things that they need, not only a roof over their head. We support the bills and resolutions before the Council today increasing access to SCRIE and DRIE, including the increase in income limits from $50,000 to $75,000, helping low-income seniors and individuals living with disabilities like the clients I just described. We will also be submitting written testimony on the rest of the bills and resolutions. Thank you.

(02:42:19)

Thank you. Hopefully we can help your client.

(02:42:25)

Good afternoon, Council Members. My name is Jeanne Stevens and I am Director of the Benefits Law Project, Volunteers of Legal Service. Thank you so much for this opportunity to testify. The Benefits Law Project strongly supports Int 0307-2026, Int 0978-2026-A, Int 0934-2026, Res 0055-2026 and Res 0512-2026 because we know firsthand the population we serve desperately needs all of this legislation.

At the Benefits Law Project we serve New Yorkers who rely on public assistance, including SCRIE and DRIE. All of our clients live below 200% of the federal poverty level. We are one of the few legal services providers that focus specifically on SCRIE and DRIE. Our goal is to reach the 57% of New Yorkers who are eligible for SCRIE but remain unenrolled. We help them apply, we help them maintain their benefits so they can stay in their homes and communities and avoid eviction and displacement, as my colleagues stated. We host rent freeze clinics all over the City where volunteer attorneys meet with clients to advise them on eligibility, help them apply and renew, and also troubleshoot any issues through our hotline. We also advocate on our clients' behalf to resolve any issues.

From our experience, we know why so many New Yorkers remain unenrolled. Anyone who sits with these benefits can see that it is very challenging for anyone, even attorneys, to navigate the applications and all the required documents — even for many of the people we assist just to find the application, which we have been talking about, let alone older adults and people with disabilities.

The groups that this program is designed to benefit face the most challenges. They cannot quickly research the correct application to submit. They do not know how to find the documents they need. They do not know how to access a portal or emails or follow up on deadlines, or how they are going to absorb a financial increase in their rent when their income goes up just for one year.

So all of these Bills we support because they address these issues head on. They have an immediate impact. The increasing number of New Yorkers with incomes above $50,000 who live on that razor-thin line of affordability and precarious housing, paying more than a third of their income on rent — now many more people will be able to be eligible.

An automatic enrollment system would create an opt-out mechanism rather than an opt-in and provide overnight relief for thousands of eligible tenants. It would save thousands of hours of stress for tenants and administrative headache and cost for the City. Similarly, a universal application and recertification would mean applicants will not be applying to the wrong agency and missing out on months of benefits. Those with children with disabilities could now benefit from DRIE. And finally, those who do lose their SCRIE because of a temporary boost in income will then be able to get it back, restored to their same frozen level.

For these reasons, we strongly urge the Council to pass these legislative efforts to expand SCRIE and DRIE eligibility and streamline these processes. Thank you so much. I want to thank everyone who helps our seniors and people with disabilities. Thank you all.

(02:45:56)

Thank you. Okay, we have next — Susan...

(02:46:01)

Okay. Susan K. Simon... Michael O'Connor. Michael O'Connor. Christina... Christian Lopez. Kristen... Lopez. Nicholas Moody. Nicholas... Alex Cardoza. Cardoza... okay, when you get ready.

(02:46:55)

Please. Thank you. My name is Suzanne... and the views expressed today do not necessarily reflect... Thank you for allowing me to testify today about the outreach work New York City is doing, day by day, night by night, practicing our part in supporting the caring, vibrant, inclusive City of New York. We help safeguard universal rights for health care in New York City. That work is not necessarily seen as a social expenditure, but much more as an effort to reach residents with the humanitarian goal of medicine in New York City. Our staff go through heat, through cold, through snow to reach patients. They are exposed to... and they connect and ease the hopelessness, sometimes using their excellent skills in medical care and people skills and community participation. The community is celebrating diversity, but yet we very often have to make the choice between going home and doing overtime, between helping our own children go through school and making the money to pay for rent. Please continue if you did not finish. You can continue.

(02:49:06)

I am finished. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you for your work.

(02:49:18)

Sorry. Sorry. First of all, I just want to say good afternoon. My name is David Cook. I represent PAK. I am a paramedic and I am also an active lieutenant with the Fire Department of New York City. Before we start, I want to say thank you to everybody in this room. The reason I am saying thank you to everybody in this room is because I know what it is like to pick up patients who have disabilities, and I want to tell everybody with disabilities: you are superheroes and you are an inspiration to me and others. I want to say thank you for that. I know it is hard for you with disabilities, but I tell you I respect you.

I also just want to thank you all because by making sure that these elderly people get the money that they need — I know what it is like for these elderly patients who have Alzheimer's and other diseases and they do not even have people to help them. So the fact that you are going to be able to give them more income is phenomenal. I want to say thank you.

The reason why we are all here is these are a group of paramedics — from the private sector, hospital 911 systems and the fire department — and they are superheroes. I want to say thank you to everybody on this panel. I represent PAK, a nonprofit organization. You can follow us on Instagram or Facebook.

New York City has a crisis and it is an emergency, and I am being very honest. I did not come here just to talk about lollygag stuff. I am being honest with you from the heart. The truth is, we do not have enough ambulances out there on the streets. I have been...

(02:50:50)

Let me give you my background first. I became an EMT in 2006. I worked in New Jersey for Nationwide Ambulance and also Bell and Mobile Vital. I became an EMT in New York in 2008. I became a paramedic in 2010. I got upgraded as a paramedic in 2011. I also won numerous competitions. I was a paramedic instructor for New York Methodist Hospital and I am currently a paramedic instructor at LaGuardia College right now. So anybody who wants to be a paramedic, I suggest you come to LaGuardia. I want to say thank you to my colleagues at LaGuardia because they are phenomenal instructors.

The reason why we are here is because I know what it is like to have to be in Brooklyn and get called for a cardiac — that means somebody's heart is not beating. I am going to break things down simple. You have a bunch of cells in your body, right? And in four to six minutes when your heart stops, those cells start to die. When somebody is in Brooklyn and there is a cardiac arrest in Staten Island, or a cardiac arrest in the Bronx, and there are not enough ambulances, we need you on the Council to help fix this because we also advocate for the public.

The big thing while we are here too is because we have issues beyond just the retention rate. The fact that we do not even have the budget to get equipment — a bill was passed for $50 million, and the firefighters took that money and used it for their equipment. We do not have the right resources or enough manpower to get to you. Because of these issues with the low pay on top of that, I am telling you right now, this is the emergency. New York City is having talks now. In every station across all five boroughs, people do not care about the Taylor Law. People are talking and they are considering a strike, and I am telling you right now: you do not have enough resources as it is. Right now, people in New York City are dying every day.

So I want you to put yourself in this situation. The truth is, if you go down right now and call 911 because somebody's heart stopped, I bet it is going to be 10, 15 minutes. The stats they have been giving up here are not accurate. It is not five to six minutes. There are not enough ambulances and people are dying in New York City. We take it home because we care about saving you. So I am telling City Council: we had to crash the party because there is an emergency going on. This is for all of you — no disrespect, but it is for all of you and your colleagues. I am speaking to the people you took an oath for. If somebody takes a flight from Florida, comes to New York City for the first time and drops dead — 20 minutes for an ambulance, 30 minutes for an ambulance. Imagine you get a cardiac arrest right here going to the Bronx. How long do you think it is going to take for me to get there? People are dying in New York City. I want to address why I personally have run into issues under Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore, under whose administration things were mishandled. She has not done anything. She was the reason why... hold on one second, please. She was the reason why certain things happened, and I just want to say... thank you.

(02:54:02)

Thank you. Thank you. I understand your concern and we will address your issues. For this hearing on seniors, I personally really appreciated all the testimony. As a Council Member, my colleagues and I also understand that the pay is not enough. Your salary is very low. For me, it is a big issue.

(02:54:31)

But today we have a hearing on SCRIE and DRIE and we will probably have a separate hearing to address this issue. Thank you. Council Member, we all do respect the reason why all of us are here. The understaffing of EMS leaves older and disabled New Yorkers highly vulnerable. As David was mentioning, there are not enough ambulances in the system. I have been an EMT for three years and the response times are increasing. It is incredibly difficult for us when we have to respond to a potentially life-threatening emergency and we are halfway there and we know that person might not make it by the time we get there — they might be in a really unstable or potentially unsalvageable condition. There are simply not enough ambulances to take care of people and that is leaving New Yorkers vulnerable to a wide variety of conditions. We believe that there needs to be a way more increase in training and staffing, because right now we are understaffed at our normal operation level. Think about when there is a crisis, when there is a disaster like a flood, a pandemic, a terrorist attack...

(02:55:53)

...then New Yorkers are going to be even more vulnerable. Thank you for your time.

(02:56:00)

I just want to interject also, because I do not know if you all were at the Finance hearing or the Executive Committee hearing, but there was — I would say probably the longest portion of the testimony was focused on a lot of our workers and how important pay parity and salaries are. I have to say the folks that were heads of the agencies actually gave very insightful information on exactly what you were saying about calls and ambulances having to be shifted around — if one moves here then there is a lack of one here, and then if there is a call here, what that does in terms of response time. As former chair of Mental Health, Disabilities and Addictions, that was something that was very important to me as a social worker. I totally understand. I actually went to the site in Bay Terrace that does the trainings at Fort Totten, and I have to say that was very eye-opening as well. I understand the outreach teams are super critical and that is something that I just wanted to emphasize. On the Council, we have really been trying to fight for increasing the salary levels of our EMTs and paramedics. I just wanted to say...

(02:57:17)

...that up front, because I know that for the public testimony portion we do want to try to stick to the topic. But maybe, if the chairs are okay with it, if we can briefly have you just go through what you had written and then just respect the two-minute time limit if possible. He only has two minutes. I understand your frustration and I am with you, but today we are focused on more folks on SCRIE and DRIE. Thank you.

(02:57:49)

My name is Walter Adler. I am a paramedic for a hospital-based 911 system in the City. I have been working in EMS for 23 years. Let me raise a resolution on behalf of my colleagues who are here from the private sector, the hospital sector and the fire department: that any legislation whatsoever that is beneficial to the elderly and disabled of our City, that helps them live lives with dignity and helps them survive, all 15,000 EMTs and paramedics support. I know that because I know the soul of the ambulance worker, which is to say I know that the men and women who sign up to become EMTs and paramedics are the kind of people who will go in every circumstance — when our aging members of our City are at their very worst moment. The legislation that you are proposing, we support, and we in no way seek to disrespect the...

(02:58:43)

...Council by bringing our issues before you. But of 30 committee meetings that happen a month, maybe only one or two per year are about EMS, and that is why for 30 years nothing has advanced in our field. PAK, the Emergency Services Public Advocacy Council, is always going to stand by low-income New Yorkers, immigrant New Yorkers, New Yorkers that want an affordable life in our City. In that regard, our organization will always be on the side of the Mayor and members of the Council that are fighting for New Yorkers.

How I seek to make this relevant for today's topic, which is purely about aging and disabled New Yorkers getting more secure housing and a better life and opportunity: I want people to understand that our members are not just here to beg with our hands out for five more dollars in salary. We see ourselves as agents of this City and as members that support the City's most vulnerable members. So we are here today in solidarity, not just with our own wages and our own labor struggles, but to say we wish to be allies to AARP, to members of the Council, to everybody fighting for New Yorkers. Thank you.

(02:59:58)

Good afternoon, Council Members. My name is Christian Lopez and I am a paramedic, born and raised in Queens. CM Lee, I live and work in your district. I also serve and worship in your district at the Knights of Columbus at the same Robert Bellarmine parish. You chair the Finance Committee and under the fiscal year 2027 preliminary plan, EMS was cut by $3 million. Your own Council report called this a staffing crisis.

This past Tuesday, I transported four critically ill patients from your district. All four of them waited at least 30 minutes for an ambulance. 30 minutes. This is everyday, Council. Yet we call New York the greatest City in the world. When NYPD, Sanitation or fire suppression needs investment, you find the money. Many of us work multiple jobs just to make ends meet. I know, because I am one of them. In the greatest City in the world, you can make more delivering food than delivering patients. EMT starting pay is around $18 an hour, and the people who pay the price for that are often the most vulnerable — older adults and disabled New Yorkers who often depend on 911 the most. They are on our agenda every day when they fall, have a stroke or cannot breathe. We are supposed to show up, but when there is no one available to send, I have walked through that door 30 minutes, sometimes hours later. Sometimes that asthma attack is now someone dead and we have to stand in our family's home, look them in the eyes and explain why help took 30 minutes.

Do not tell us that this is a priority. I need you to prove it. Understand this: I will be back with more EMTs and paramedics. When patients and their families ask why help took so long, I will tell them where these decisions are made and who represents them. I am done hiding behind the word "system." Budgets are decisions. Staffing is a decision. Investment is a decision. This was not on your agenda when you walked into the room this morning, and excuse my French, but after today it had better be. What are you all going to do about it? With that, I yield...

(03:02:16)

...my time. Let us chat after this. As a representative of your district, I would love to sit and chat with you more because I think we actually share a lot of the same concerns. Let us figure this out. I can tell you, Council Member, we are actually working very hard internally to push more funding for EMS. All the people sitting here, we all understand this is the issue and we are working on this.

(03:02:51)

Good afternoon. My name is Michael O'Connor. I am an EMT and I have worked in private in New York City for approximately eight years. I want to emphasize that "private" is distinct from the municipal sector, and that New York City's workforce operates across different sectors with different employers, wages, benefits and working conditions. There are approximately a few thousand or so workers serving the commercial private sector alone.

Today I am speaking from my experience as one of those private sector EMTs. We are entrusted with extraordinary responsibilities. We perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation, provide life-saving interventions and medications within our scope of practice, consistently face potential exposures to infectious disease and perform physically demanding work, including lifting and carrying patients, some of which are bariatric, meaning greater than 250 pounds. Yet a starting wage of $20.50 an hour — an example of a starting private sector wage — is still less than 21% above the New York City $17 minimum wage. I have even heard some stories of private sector workers getting paid at less than that, at $17, which is the minimum wage.

Affordability affects us in very real ways and these issues are interconnected with what we speak about today. Even my regular schedule includes three consecutive 12-hour shifts. Sometimes we are mandated past our scheduled off time because of a late job or emergency call, even when we are expected back early the following morning. Recently, after one of my shifts being mandated, I had to spend around $20 more on transportation for my patients the next day. This is around $20 more than I earned from the additional mandated hours. Sometimes I feel like we are the ones paying to be mandated, not the other way around.

That is only one example, though. Affordability looks different for every worker, but we should not have to choose between remaining in a profession that we love and being able to afford the basic necessities in our lives. As a New York City private sector EMT, I would feel safer knowing that the Council takes seriously the affordability of private sector workers. Thank you.

(03:05:15)

Yeah, we are going to — if you want to stick around after this hearing, I can have a conversation with you guys. This hearing is more about SCRIE and DRIE. If you want to stick around after, I can talk to you guys. Thank you. Okay, next.

(03:05:36)

Though, there are some folks who still have not spoken.

(03:05:39)

Oh, did everyone speak in this panel? Okay.

(03:05:44)

My phone is at 1%, so I have to be quick. Good afternoon, members of the Council. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Nicholas Mosley. I live in Ridgewood. I am an EMT for the Fire Department. Two days ago I had a call for a suicidal patient that had been holding for 12 whole hours. That call came in at noon. We arrived on scene at 1:00 AM. Throughout the day the call was continually given to a unit and then that unit was given a higher priority call. For 12 hours, a person in this city suffering a mental health crisis on the verge of taking their own life was unable to receive the medical attention they deserved.

Now, in my area we were experiencing a slightly busier than normal call volume, but the simple answer as to why this person did not get the care they needed was because we do not have enough units on the street. The simple answer as to why there are not enough units is because our pay is insulting. My pension contributions started getting taken out of my checks two months ago. For a 90-hour pay period I was receiving $1,050 — one thousand and fifty dollars — every two weeks for almost 90 hours. I will save you the effort with the math: that is $12 an hour that I am making to respond to emergency medical calls. That number is absolutely insulting. Out of the dozens and dozens of members I know on the job, I am one of the few people I know who are able to pay for their own place and who are not living at their parents' house. I know people who have been in for 12 years and they are still living at their parents'. I know mothers, single mothers, who are still living with

(03:07:06)

their mothers, who work 10 hours of overtime a week and then do bottle service gigs on the weekend just to scrape by living at their parents'. Every single second you work with pay that low, that forces you to struggle that much, is an insult. The fact that I am a 26-year-old single person and I find myself looking at eight hours of overtime a week just to afford to live is an insult.

(03:07:30)

I do not blame half of the people I came out of the academy with who have already left the job to be treated better somewhere else. I do not blame the other half of the people that came out of the academy with me who are only here to go to fire in five years. At this point, I worry — maybe I am to blame for coming in every day despite this insulting pay. Thank you.

(03:07:49)

Thank you very much. Good afternoon, Chair Hanif, and CM Lee. I appreciate you and your colleagues doing tremendous work with the City and I thank you for your time. My name is Omar Mohammed and for five years I worked as a first responder. From 2017 to 2021 I worked the front lines across Staten Island, South Brooklyn and throughout the City. I experienced firsthand how our health care system cracked under pressure, but our first responders did not.

The raw disparity we faced on the streets mirrors the systemic abandonment baked into our City budget for decades. Medical emergencies now drive nearly 70% of all runs, yet barely 20% of the department budget is allocated to EMS. We face the exact same biohazards, the same physical trauma and the same life-threatening dangers as fire suppression, but our pay and our future are treated as afterthoughts. While top-pay firefighters after five years earn roughly $110,000, veteran paramedics max out at a fraction of that, forcing thousands of experienced life-savers to work punishing double shifts or flee the job entirely just to afford to live in the City they protect.

We carry the same weight and we deserve to be paid what we are worth. That is why I am calling on the City Council to create an independent department of EMS with full pay parity, giving us direct budget control, dedicated medical leadership and the resources we deserve, ensuring that our City finally gets a professional emergency medical service that values the lives of its workers just as much as the lives it is sworn to save. Thank you.

(03:09:41)

Thank you so much. Thank you. Anyone else?

(03:09:48)

I guess I will be the last one to speak. Good afternoon. My name is Maloney Cardozo. I am here to speak about New York City EMS, which is responsible for responding to all calls related to health emergencies. They staff approximately 6% of units for the City, allowing private agencies to supplement support. For decades the average starting pay for EMS has been $18 an hour, one of, if not the lowest of any City employees. Since 2020 the influx of calls for an ambulance has tripled to about 6,000 calls. Historically this has been known as New Year's Eve numbers, where the City has planned staffing and allocated personnel to account for such an amount of calls. Currently, working as a New York City paramedic, we find that this is the norm on a daily basis, with a failing system struggling to keep up.

I could sit here and tell you stories of how many calls we responded to with 30-minute drive times and terrible outcomes, but it is pointless. The truth is, you could be a uniform unit from Queens or Brooklyn dispatched to Manhattan and end up in the Bronx. Patients and bystanders alike all say the same thing: what took you so long? We waited two hours. I should have taken a cab instead. Your EMTs and medics are tired, they are fed up and sick of being overworked and extremely underpaid compared to their first responder counterparts. Our coworkers who have been around longer than we could imagine are telling us it is not worth it anymore. It is all overshadowed by an abysmal pay scale and the stress of the traumatic situations we are met with daily. There is a mass exodus from EMS to anything better, furthering the crisis we are experiencing today.

A recent New York City budget has increased for the FDNY as a whole, but the EMS division has found a decrease specifically. When you need us to come help you, the reality is you will be waiting, you will be upset and we will be tired. So to everyone who told us to move on from a dead-end career that does not care about you, I say no. City Council, you can help us. Help our first responders, who day after day continue to feel like it is all for nothing in a field where the whole point is to care for you. Who cares for us? Thank you.

(03:11:49)

Thank you for your testimony. Thank you all for joining us today and, as my colleagues shared, we recognize that this is not a problem that we are just learning about today. This is an ongoing crisis and I share your frustration. I do not have the answer nor the budget. I share your frustration because I know that you all have been coming to hearings to raise this topic and that obviously disrupts the hearing topic at hand. However, I would also love to stay behind to meet with you folks. I do not know what your day looks like — obviously I do not want to make that assumption given that you probably took time off from work to come and stick around. I saw many of you here for the administration's testimony and the back-and-forth Q&A that we did, and you are still here.

This is certainly important and the urgency could not be higher. The testimonies that you provide about the various New Yorkers — whether it be a suicide-related call, whether it be a senior who needed assistance right away, or folks with disabilities — this is urgent. You all are our frontline folks who are seeing these New Yorkers. It is not us. We are hearing about this, but it is not us experiencing it. I know that this is not the time, but I do have a lot of questions. I have asked committee staff to check whether we have done a specific hearing on the pay parity issues, and I know that would probably take place within the relevant committee. I am not sure if such a hearing has taken place in that space, but I would certainly be an advocate for that.

If all of you or some of you are able to stick around, that meeting does not have to happen today, but I join my colleagues in wanting to have a further conversation so that I can get some clarity on questions that have come from the testimony you have provided today. Thank you all for your service every single day, for the years of service and also for helping the next generation of frontline workers and first responders so that our City is the strongest it can be to support New Yorkers who need that care the most. Thank you.

(03:14:27)

We especially want to be heard. I know, and we apologize for the interruption. I just want to let you guys know that. I just want to say thank you again.

(03:14:35)

Thank you. And then we are going to move to the next panel.

(03:14:49)

I would like to invite our next witness, Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal. Thank you very much, Borough President Hoylman-Sigal. I am just here to thank you, Chair Hanif and the members of your committee. I represent Manhattan neighborhoods including the largest share of SCRIE and DRIE recipients in any borough of the City, and I am really grateful to the Council and the Speaker for your hearing today — to the tenants, the advocates, my former State colleagues and our City colleagues who join us in support of, in particular, CM Louis's legislation, Int 0978. As you know from today's hearing, we are facing an affordability crisis in our rents, one which particularly impacts our most vulnerable neighbors. In Manhattan, rents are rising at nearly double the rate of inflation, with the average rent reaching a staggering $6,500 as of 2026. We have a proven tool at our hands for seniors and people with disabilities so they do not get priced out of their homes: the rent freeze program known

(03:16:13)

as SCRIE and DRIE. But the household income limits required to qualify for the program have been frozen at $50,000 since 2014. This is tied for the longest freeze in the program's history. In the years since 2014, inflation in this region rose by nearly 39%, shelter costs rose over 46% and Social Security's federally mandated cost-of-living adjustments reached just 38%. This means that simply receiving inflation-adjusted Social Security could push a New Yorker above the $50,000 cap and effectively strip away their rent protections, despite not enabling them to actually afford the rent. This has had a terrible impact on the service we are providing to a vulnerable population.

I want to thank again the Council for their work and our State colleagues for authorizing the first increase in this cap in 12 years, raising that maximum income to $75,000, which represents a 50% increase. I also want to thank the Bills that are before you today. One in particular that I would like to mention is CM Cabán's resolution to support the State Bill that would raise the cap and index it to inflation, and also make enrollment easier. Albany has to pass the legislation to allow New York City to create an automatic enrollment program. Int 0307 by CM Marte would also ease the application process by creating a single universal application that the Department of Finance will jointly administer. I just want to thank CM Louis for Int 0978-A, and Senators Kavanagh and Assembly Member Rosenthal and our other legislative partners. I am proud to stand with you in your support and urge you to pass the Bills before you today and deliver on the rent protections that our constituents deserve. Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak.

(03:18:25)

Thank you, Borough President. I also thank you for the work you did in Albany. Thank you. Let us see — next, Uttam Singh, then Brenda Irizarry, then Rabia... Brianna McKinney, William... When you are ready, you can begin.

(03:19:39)

Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for your time. My name is Uttam Singh and I am a public interest fellow in law and aging and access justice at Brooklyn. I am here today in support of the Bill to increase the Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption household income eligibility threshold from $50,000 to $75,000. Access Justice Brooklyn has provided free civil legal services to the Brooklyn community for more than three decades. Our services have recently expanded to include DRIE enrollment and renewal assistance. Each year, over a quarter of our clients are age 62 and older and many rely on supplemental income to meet their expenses. Government programs and benefits like SCRIE support their economic security.

Current guidelines require that a household — not just an individual — make less than $50,000 a year. These income eligibility guidelines have not been updated since 2014. This number does not reflect the financial reality of aging in New York City. The Mayor's Office recently reported that the median cost of living for a household with two older adults exceeds $90,000 a year. Many older New Yorkers live on a fixed income and even those in rent-stabilized units spend over half of their monthly income on rent. High rent costs chip away at a person's grocery budget, the money they set aside for utilities and other expenses. Increasingly, older New Yorkers are unable to afford to meet their basic needs and unaffordable rent is a major contributor to this issue.

As an advocate for older adults, I often hear the phrase "aging in place," referring to an older adult's ability to remain in their home and community as they age. Many of the older adults that Access Justice Brooklyn works with have lived in their communities for decades. They have strong bonds with their neighbors and often rely on community resources and members for support. Many live near the person who helps them with their finances, the person who accompanies them to doctor's visits and to the supermarket. When an older adult can no longer afford their rent, they are pushed out of the community they have long been a part of and called home. SCRIE is a vital tool to keep our neighbors in their homes. To maintain its vitality it must be updated to reflect the current cost of living, and this is why I ask you to pass Int 0978-A, increasing the income eligibility from $50,000 to $75,000. Thank you to New York State leadership for already adopting this increase. Thank you all. Good afternoon.

(03:22:00)

My name is Brenda Irizarry. I live at 3215 Bainbridge Avenue in the Bronx since 1982. I am a member of Tenants and Neighbors, CASA, Met Council and Our Bronx. I am appealing to the City Council to increase the income cap for SCRIE and DRIE to $75,000. This would benefit seniors and the disabled in several ways. More people would be eligible for these programs so seniors and the disabled can remain in their homes without displacement. It is a safety net in addition to rent stabilization.

Currently I am not eligible for SCRIE because of my income. However, my building is over a hundred years old and had a major capital improvement that resulted in a rent increase of $12 per room. I fear that one day I will not be able to pay my rent if there are more increases in the future, along with other rent increases. Therefore, I am urging the City Council to pass Int 0978-A. Raising the income limit for SCRIE and DRIE will protect our most vulnerable citizens on fixed incomes, especially in times of economic distress. Thank you.

(03:23:52)

Thank you. I hope we are going to pass this and help everyone. Thank you.

(03:23:58)

Good afternoon. My name is Rabia and I am the program coordinator for community services serving South Asian, Muslim, immigrant, refugee, limited English proficient, older adult and low income communities across New York City. Through our work in benefits navigation, case management, housing assistance, health care, food access, tax preparation, domestic violence support and other social services, we regularly see how administrative barriers affect access to programs like SCRIE. Older adults and families can be lost at multiple points in the process, from initial awareness and application to documentation, agency verification, recertification and renewals.

For the communities UP Now serves, these challenges are often compounded by limited English proficiency, digital literacy barriers, cultural and ethnic background, disability, complex household structures and unfamiliarity with City government systems. Addressing under-enrollment requires stronger program design across the full enrollment and retention process. For language access, this should include meaningful navigation support. Translated forms are important, but many residents also need assistance understanding documentation requirements, household income rules, sufficiency notices and renewal procedures.

For many South Asian and older adults, effective access requires multilingual benefits navigation in commonly spoken languages with trained staff who can guide residents from application through recertification. Second, the City should reduce unnecessary documentation burden. Third, recertification should be designed around continuity for eligible residents. The City should also consider the realities of multi-generational households. Community based organizations like UP Now help residents interpret notices, and expanding this role requires dedicated funding, training and referral protocols and clear pathways for case escalation. Finally, the City should measure where residents are being lost in the process. Thank you for your time. I will submit written testimony.

(03:26:08)

Thank you. Thank you, Chairs and committee staff and the New York City Council for this important hearing. My name is Wen Pierina. I am the Director of External Affairs at Goddard Riverside, a settlement house and social services agency serving over 22,000 New Yorkers a year.

One story from our resource center director: a New Yorker worked as an actress while supplementing her income through dog walking. When the pandemic shut down performances and dramatically reduced demand for other services, her income disappeared overnight. She quickly fell behind on rent, accumulated significant arrears and struggled through years of uncertainty. When she came to our program, she was not facing just one challenge, but a housing, benefits and stability crisis. We worked with her for five years to navigate multiple challenges, including ultimately helping her enroll in SCRIE. Now 71, she was able to remain in her home, regain a sense of security, reconnect with her community and focus on rebuilding her life because she had that stability and that support that these programs provide.

Programs like SCRIE and DRIE, as well as their homeowner siblings, are what make New York strong. Int 0978-2026-A, Int 1010-2026 and Int 0307-2026, sponsored by Council Members Louis and Maloney, would expand SCRIE and DRIE eligibility and streamline the application and recertification processes, and we support swift passage and implementation. We also urge — and thank you, Chair, for emphasizing the importance of outreach — we also urge the City to increase funding investment in outreach, enrollment assistance and intensive case management services to support New Yorkers in need and help ensure providers and the City can continue to partner so that all of our neighbors have trusted, experienced navigation support to actually access and use these programs. Thank you for your time.

(03:28:03)

We will submit written testimony. All right. Well, peace and love, Chairs and committee members. I just want to say thank you for taking this time to listen to all of us here today. My name is William Jourdain. I am the Executive Director of What's Out of the Move. For 50 years our organization has served residents across Queens, including seniors and people with disabilities struggling to remain in their homes.

Without a doubt, we strongly support increasing the SCRIE income eligibility threshold from $50,000 to $75,000. The current threshold simply does not reflect the financial reality of living in New York City. Take, for example, someone earning $51,000 — they are not suddenly financially secure. A senior receiving a modest Social Security cost of living adjustment or pension increase has not suddenly become wealthy, yet that increase can affect eligibility for a program designed to help that person remain in their home.

Raising the threshold addresses one major barrier: eligibility. But we also need to address another key component of this, which is participation. Recent City reporting estimated more than 158,000 households potentially eligible for the rent freeze program as of 2023, while fewer than 68,000 households were actually receiving SCRIE and DRIE benefits in 2024. While these figures come from different reporting years and should not be treated as a precise enrollment rate, they highlight a larger challenge: expanding eligibility means little if eligible New Yorkers never successfully enroll.

At What's Out on the Move, we see why this matters. Our housing staff sit with residents trying to understand government notices, gather income documentation, complete applications, recertify benefits and overcome language and technology barriers. Government benefits should not require someone...

(03:30:18)

Well, how about this — I will give you 10... no, 15 more seconds. Thank you.

(03:30:24)

Just really quickly, Chair, my mother happens to live in your district, so I figured I should use at least a few seconds of my testimony to let you know your office has really great constituent services. We called a few times. But my mother has something many seniors do not — she has someone like me who can step in when the numbers do not add up. Our public policy cannot assume everyone does.

So as we consider expanding SCRIE and DRIE, our measure of success should not simply be how many New Yorkers become eligible. It should be how many eligible New Yorkers we actually reach, how many successfully enroll and ultimately how many are able to remain in their homes.

One more thing that I think we should really take into consideration as we are deliberating is how we can take this consortium of bills further. We should really consider seniors being responsible for no more than a third of their monthly income on rent. These are New Yorkers who worked here, raised families, paid taxes here and helped build our communities. So they should be able to grow old here. This is what housing stability means — it means aging with dignity and ultimately how we can give back to those who gave to our City for so many years. Thank you for the time.

(03:31:48)

You did a wonderful job. Now I have got to visit your mom. Thank you.

(03:32:00)

Good afternoon, Chairs and members of the Committees on Aging, Disabilities and Finance. My name is Brianna McKinney and I work with Project Guardianship. We provide guardianship services under Article 81 for New Yorkers with significant limitations who have been found unable to manage some or all of their own affairs. These are people who do not have someone like you — a family member or friend to care for them. We advocate for the least restrictive arrangement possible so that people can retain as much independence as they can.

A big focus of ours is helping people live and age in their homes and communities despite those limitations. We are here today to express our support for Int 0978-2026-A and Int 1010-2026, which would raise the income threshold. Our work to help people stay in the community relies in large part on providing hands-on management of benefits. Therefore, when a threshold is too rigid or a housing option does not exist, the consequence can mean that a client loses a rent freeze, falls behind on rent or ends up displaced into a more restrictive setting than they actually need.

For example, annual COLA increases for Social Security or Supplemental Security Income can push our clients over the threshold and put a benefit that they depend on for housing stability at risk. Because our clients often rely on several benefits at once to hold their stability together, losing even one can have a ripple effect across the rest. It falls on us as their guardian to catch that risk, reapply or appeal. So raising the eligibility threshold reduces the chance of a potentially harmful gap in coverage.

We also support Res 0431-2026. When our clients cannot find or afford housing in the community, the alternative is often a more restrictive setting than they need, which is the opposite of what Article 81 guardianship is meant to achieve. Expanding housing options and shortening the wait for older adults and people experiencing homelessness gives guardians an actual path to keep clients in the least restrictive setting possible.

We appreciate all of your work making these benefits more accessible and effective for the New Yorkers who depend on them, and just want to say this matters not only for individual clients but for the strength of our communities as a whole. When older adults and people with disabilities can remain safely and stably housed, the neighborhoods and support systems around them stay strong. Thank you for the opportunity.

(03:34:21)

Do you have questions? No, not questions, but I just wanted to thank all of you

(03:34:24)

because I know a lot of your organizations and you all do great work. I just want to say thank you. Sorry.

(03:34:37)

Okay, let us go to the next panel.

(03:34:41)

Kayla Domingo.

(03:34:43)

Marcus Jackson.

(03:34:46)

Back up, hold on friends.

(03:34:52)

Michelle Hall.

(03:34:54)

Great. Torres. Katherine Castling Kelly is here. Okay, when you are ready you can begin.

(03:35:44)

Good afternoon, Chairs and members of the Committees on Aging, Finance and Disabilities. My name is Marcus Jackson. I am the Director of Advocacy and Government Relations at Encore Community Services. For nearly 50 years, Encore has supported older New Yorkers through home delivery meals and congregate meals, case management, benefits assistance, supportive housing, social connection and other services that allow people to age with dignity and independence.

Thank you for holding today's hearing on SCRIE. For the older adults Encore serves, housing affordability is inseparable from the ability to age in place. Every additional dollar spent on rent is a dollar that will not be available for food, medication, transportation, utilities and other necessities. Programs such as SCRIE can provide critical stability, but a benefit cannot protect an older adult who does not know it exists, cannot navigate the application, struggles to produce the required documentation, encounters language or technology barriers or loses assistance during the recertification process.

Encore therefore supports efforts to make those programs simpler, more accessible and easier to maintain. We particularly support the goals of Int 0307-2026 and we also support Int 0978-2026-A. These reforms recognize both the administrative barriers facing applicants and the economic realities confronting older New Yorkers. But legislation should be accompanied by sustained community outreach. Older adult centers, case management programs, housing providers, libraries and trusted community based organizations should be equipped and funded to help eligible New Yorkers understand these benefits, complete applications, gather documentation and successfully recertify.

Our message today is simple: New Yorkers should not lose housing stability because a benefit intended for them is too difficult to find or navigate. Encore looks forward to working with the Council, New York City Aging and our community partners to ensure older New Yorkers can access these benefits, their housing protections and all the benefits that they have earned. Thank you for your time. I will pass it over to my colleagues.

(03:38:00)

Hi. I feel like this is a celebrity sighting of all of our aging service organizations. Good afternoon, Chairs and other City Council committee members. I am Caitlin Downing. I am the Assistant Director of Social Health at SPOP, the Service Program for Older People. I am grateful for this opportunity to testify in support of Res 0055-2026, Res 0470-2026 and all legislation that improves access to stable housing for older New Yorkers, especially older adults living with mental health conditions and other disabilities.

SPOP plays a unique role in supporting the health, emotional well-being and independence of older adults, and we have done this for more than 45 years. We are the only agency in the City that is exclusively dedicated to community based mental health care for older adults, and we provide individual and group therapy, psychotherapy assessments, medication management and psychiatric rehabilitation services to over 1,000 older adults every year.

My role at SPOP is to help make sure our clients are assessed for social determinants of health like housing, food insecurity and social isolation, and to connect people with appropriate services in the community. Housing by far is the most urgent need among the population we serve, and this need is greater every year. About 40% of all the adults referred to us for mental health care have such dire unmet social health needs that they cannot participate effectively in their psychotherapy. Our goal is to address those concrete needs and stabilize our clients so they can have the capacity to receive the treatment that they need. Every day I hear from older adults who are at risk of losing their housing — people who have expressed to me feelings of depression, anxiety, shame, hopelessness and suicidality, all around being afraid of losing their apartments and not being able to pay their rent.

(03:39:47)

I meet with people who feel they have done everything right. They have a pension, but maybe the sudden death of their partner means their household income is now cut by half. We have clients who are on the precipice of relapse because the threat of losing their home is overwhelming. Housing equals health, and programs like SCRIE, DRIE and SCHE are crucial to helping older adults remain in their homes. Thank you for this opportunity to testify today.

(03:40:18)

Good afternoon. Thank you, Chairs and members of the committee for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Graciela Torres. I am a Bronx resident, a rent stabilized tenant and a tenant advocate. I work with seniors, people with disabilities and tenants on a daily basis. I am here today in strong support of Int 0978-2026-A and Int 1010-2026, which would raise the SCRIE and DRIE income eligibility cap from $50,000 to $75,000. I want to be clear: I am not here because this benefits me at all. I am here because I sit with the people that this Bill is meant to protect.

I speak with seniors that are scared. I speak with disabled tenants who are overwhelmed. I speak with people who have lived in their homes for decades and are now afraid that New York City is slowly pushing them out. SCRIE and DRIE are not handouts. They are protections. They are what helps seniors and disabled New Yorkers stay in their homes, stay in their communities and avoid being forced into housing court, shelters or homelessness.

The current $50,000 cap does not match the reality of New York City anymore. Someone can earn more than $50,000 and not be wealthy. They can still be rent burdened. They can still be choosing between rent, food, medications, utilities, transportation and basic dignity. I work with seniors who saved, worked, raised families, paid taxes and did everything they were supposed to do, but now, because of the cost of living, they are being treated like they make too much to qualify for help when in reality they do not make enough to survive comfortably in this City. That is wrong.

A senior should not have to become completely poor before the City decides they deserve protection. A disabled tenant should not have to fall into crisis before the system responds. We should not wait until someone is in housing court or displaced before we admit that the rules are outdated. Raising the cap to $75,000 is not extreme — it is realistic. It reflects what we already know: New York City is expensive, and it is only right.

(03:42:28)

Good afternoon. Thank you, Chairs and members of the committee for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Rebecca Pool and I am the Director of Membership and Communications for the Council of New York Cooperatives and Condominiums, a member-funded not-for-profit organization providing information, education and advocacy for co-ops and condos in all five boroughs.

There are over 730,000 existing co-op and condo households in New York City. Approximately 170,000 of these are currently dues-paying members. Each co-op and condo homeowner has their own story — career, family, medical history and economic background — regardless of their zip code. Almost all have invested the majority of their life savings into their apartment and have committed themselves to their building community and New York City. All have paid and continue to pay ever-increasing real estate taxes. Over the past 10 years, operating costs in New York...

(03:43:26)

City mandates governing inspections, capital work and the carbonization created major affordability issues for cooperative and condominium homeowners, particularly seniors on fixed income and disabled homeowners. While the Department of Finance testified that providing additional benefits to struggling homeowners would be costly, these same co-op and condo homeowners are being asked to fund Local Law 97 work they cannot afford on behalf of the City without the benefits afforded to other homeowners and landlords. We have worked diligently on the State level to attempt to get funding specifically for these homeowners, and help is needed to ensure that these homeowners, many long-term New York City residents who helped build neighborhoods, can remain in their homes.

(03:44:19)

The legislation proposed by Council Member Mark will help, and we are grateful for his leadership, along with that of Senator Cavanaugh and Senator Cleary. We strongly support Int 1010, Int 0934 and Res 0471 and urge the City Council to vote in favor of those. Thank you.

(03:44:47)

Good afternoon. My name is Michelle Hall and I reside in Ravenswood Village, a Mitchell-Lama development. There are cooperators who already receive SCRIE and we are under supervision. I urge all of the New York City Council members to adopt the SCRIE household income increase to $75,000. This would enact a New York State authorization to expand laws locally. There are thousands of vulnerable Mitchell-Lama disabled cooperators that need an income increase to qualify for SCRIE. Ravenswood Village had a maintenance increase of 31.2%. This is a challenging increase and in my opinion is burdensome to many cooperators who are on a fixed income. Why such a steep increase? Ravenswood Village has many unpaid bills, such as the New York City water bill. The water bill ballooned up to $17.6 million. Ravenswood Village also owes vendors who supposedly completed their contract assignments. Some seniors are afraid of displacement.

(03:46:06)

Int 0978 would help lower the cost of eviction and displacement by voting yes on Int 0978, which would allow those seniors who were denied before because they were slightly over the $50,000 income level. I say again, vote yes for Int 0978. Thank you.

(03:46:27)

Thank you everyone for testifying. Thank you all for supporting all of the legislation. Okay, let's do the next round. Sue Peters... Sandra Hazel... Melissa Reddick... Sharon Soaks Nixon, would you go first?

(03:47:15)

Thank you. Whenever you are ready, you can begin. Can you hear me? Oh, sorry. Okay. I just...

(03:47:54)

I want to be sure I can be heard. Okay. Hi. My name is Sue Peters and I am a resident of the Upper West Side. I am also a member of a 30-year-old 501(c)(3) working for monetary reform, the American Monetary Institute.

I am going to share an important piece of information. I want to say everybody knows that this is right — this is a $5 bill, that is money, right? We do not really use that today. We use checking accounts, right? This is a checking account register. This is money of mine in the bank, we think, right. Okay. Keep that in mind, please.

What I am going to talk about addresses all the affordability crises that have been discussed in this room today. My work experience has made me knowledgeable to share these facts. I had a 37-year career as a data processing professional. The last 17 years I worked for a Wall Street firm and I was responsible for their bookkeeping reporting. This is a bookkeeping record — we do not see it, but the bank sees it. A corporate checking account system had 40,000 accounts and moved $2 trillion a day around, so I tracked all of that with the help of some machines.

Okay, I discovered to my total surprise the special privilege given to private commercial banks that I worked for, never taught to any of us. Every time a bank makes a loan, all it is doing is making a bookkeeping entry in the borrower's account. That is all it does. This is the root cause that is...

(03:50:04)

Two minutes. Okay. Can you submit a written testimony, or you can wrap up in about 20 seconds. Okay.

(03:50:12)

Remember 2011 and the Occupy movement? It spread around the world. 99% felt this pressure from the one percent, the 1% of the banks. I am going to leave you with this quote from the Secretary of the Treasury of President Eisenhower in 1959. This is the last thing I am going to say. Quote: "When the bank makes a loan it simply adds to the borrower's deposit account in the bank by the amount of the loan. The money is not taken from anyone else's deposit. It was not previously paid into the bank by anyone. It is new money created by the bank for the use of the borrower." End quote. And let me just say the bank has that privilege in the law, but we are not told about it. Thank you.

(03:51:03)

Thank you. I am on mute.

(03:51:10)

Good afternoon. My name is Sandra and I am in a rent stabilized apartment. I was in a building of 20 units for the past three and a half years. I moved in with my aunt around July or November 2022, taking care of her. Unfortunately, she went to make an application and she died in 2023. I went to the funeral and when I came back, I took the lease to CHR because of the set time — it was expired — to get some guidance on what to do. I was told to write the management informing him about her death and instead of rewriting the lease in her name, he would renew it into my name and I must start paying the full rent, which is $823, because the government was paying $711 for her. I started paying the full rent and the landlord refused to give me the lease. He took me to court over and over.

(03:52:10)

Unfortunately, he went to his...

(03:52:11)

...country in 2024 and really died. The landlady for the building came from Grenada to take it over. She took me back to court and now she wants to evict me. I had an emergency call and I left before the tenth. I paid rent for March and April and I came back only to find a notice on the door that she had locked me out of my apartment. The note said to call her. I did not call her because when I returned it was about 2 a.m. in the morning, so I left and went to a friend's to sleep. The next morning I went to the court. The court reviewed my evidence — the plane ticket, the passport. I am 68 years old and the judge told me that I must remove my belongings by, I think it was the 30th, but the lock was changed by the marshal. Until now the landlady keeps harassing me, telling me to come...

(03:53:17)

...and remove my stuff out of the apartment. We will follow up with you and maybe get you some legal assistance.

(03:53:26)

I wrote to the Mayor on this matter on two different occasions. I sent it by priority mail. I went to the rent report office. Nothing else. I do not know because I talked about each one, claiming that they had a heart transplant on the fourth of April 2022 and died that night. The courts...

(03:53:45)

The courts have the information. We will follow up with you. This is an individual case. Thank you.

(03:53:51)

My name is...

(03:53:58)

Good afternoon. My name is Milagros. I am a housing advocate at the Brooklyn Center for the Independence of the Disabled. I have been doing SCRIE applications for about 19 years. I really want you all to approve everything you can to keep our seniors and people with disabilities in their housing. I am just going to read four points that I want to make sure, as you deliberate throughout the day. The City must centralize or coordinate the...

(03:54:31)

...proper enrollment of tenants. A lot of people do not know about SCRIE. I am always preaching about it because that is the easiest thing I can do for some...

(03:54:42)

...people. The City must do automatic enrollment for tenants. It should be included with the HRA website. There should be more public campaigns promoting the programs. The Department of Finance should go to the independent living centers that cater to people with disabilities and seniors — that is where a lot of our folks come for help. And the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities needs more funding in order to support the community-based agencies like ours.

(03:55:30)

I am right there with the fire people because I waited an hour for an ambulance when I was hurt. So I am right there with the fire people as well.

(03:55:39)

Thank you. Thank you for your time and attention to this urgent matter. Thank you. I also have the testimony of a colleague to submit. Thank you.

(03:55:58)

Next. Good afternoon. My name is Millicent Red and I serve as Treasurer of the Mitchell-Lama Residents Coalition, commonly known as MLRC, founded in 1992. MLRC is a statewide, all-volunteer organization whose mission is to work and organize for the preservation and future expansion of Mitchell-Lama housing programs, both co-ops and rentals. We identify, clarify and solve common concerns of current and former Mitchell-Lama residents, working with elected officials and government agencies at all levels. I am also a long-term resident of a 876-unit Mitchell-Lama co-op located in Harlem, a co-op where 65% of us are on fixed income. On behalf of the Mitchell-Lama Residents Coalition, I urge the Committee to pass Int 0978, which will raise the income cap for those receiving SCRIE benefits from $50,000 to $75,000. In this time of burdensome inflation and ballooning maintenance costs, this increased income cap will allow our most vulnerable residents to remain in their homes. I appreciate your focusing on the problems they face in paying their monthly rent.

(03:57:34)

We have disturbing reports of high annual increases at many Mitchell-Lama developments. The Council heard about these increases at its own oversight hearing and such increases fall...

(03:57:50)

...heavily on our members who are disproportionately elderly and, as I said, living on fixed income. We want to remain in our homes and the communities we built. Please vote to move Int 0978 out of the Committee and then support its passage by the Council to protect some of our most vulnerable homeowners. I lost my benefits because of a capital improvement that left me homeless for two years. The formula also needs to be adjusted because Medicaid is not included when they determine the eligibility of an individual. I thank you. This is submitted on behalf of the Treasurer of the Executive Board of the Mitchell-Lama Residents Coalition. Thank you.

(03:58:42)

Good afternoon. To the distinguished members of the New York City Council Committee on Finance, thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak. My name is Sharon Soaks and I am a 30-plus year Forest Hills resident and a co-op owner. I had to make a major transition after 25 years in the fashion industry due to my disability. I am now on Social Security Disability and it is very difficult to navigate resource applications. We have to figure out every form and program ourselves and it is very disheartening for both the forgotten disabled and senior citizens. In the process I found out about the Disability Rent Increase Exemption programme. Meeting the criteria, I applied through the public engagement office before the May 15 deadline. As of today I have heard no word.

Over the past five years our maintenance fees have continued to rise, especially with Local Law 97, placing an increasing burden on all of us homeowners, particularly older adults and retirees on fixed incomes. As mentioned before, Local Law 97 is approaching and new York City local laws are on the horizon. We are concerned about the additional financial strain these regulations will bring. Unfortunately, Social Security benefits and disability payments have not kept pace with these rising costs. Personally, being on disability, I have recently experienced medical coverage cuts, while many of my older adult neighbors are facing steep increases in their insurance premiums.

If maintenance fees and excess assessments and co-op assessments continue to rise, our property tax will eventually follow suit. This will create an unsustainable situation for long-term residents, especially seniors, veterans and those with disabilities, who will be forced to leave the communities they have called home for decades with nowhere else to turn. It is critical that new policies take into account the impact on those least able to absorb the additional costs. Thank you for your attention and time.

(04:01:16)

Does anyone else want to testify who has not yet?

(04:01:23)

No. Okay. Thank you to everyone who testified. If there is anyone right now in the room who did not testify, we will now move to remote testimony. Please wait for your name to be called.

(04:01:41)

Please wait for your name to be called to testify and then please select unmute when prompted. Okay. The first one... we have Qiana, are you still here? That is why...

(04:02:04)

Oh, okay. Please start. You can begin. Can you hear me? Yes. You can begin. Thank you.

(04:02:31)

Hello, everyone. My name is Mac. I am a housing and health community organizer at the Center for the Independence of the Disabled, an organization that advocates for people with disabilities in the five boroughs of New York City. I am sorry, I did not know I was called and that is why I am trying to get back to my draft. I appreciate the time. Thank you.

(04:03:01)

We cannot hear you. Oh, sorry. Yes. Okay. I am so sorry. I just stepped out. I am trying to get back. We strongly support the legislation.

(04:03:50)

Okay, you got disconnected. We cannot hear anything. Can we move to number two? Next, Diana W.

(04:04:03)

You can begin. Oh, yes. Good afternoon, Committee, and thank you for gathering today for this all-important topic. My name is Doctor... I represent the Aging Gratefully Coalition of Faith-Based Organizations. I am here to recommend not just an expansion of the SCRIE and DRIE programs, but an expansion and streamlining of all housing subsidies for seniors into a single accessible program like SCRIE, so that seniors will find it easier to navigate across programs. The current system is, to put it mildly, daunting to navigate, leading many into the world of food insecurity. Consider also that the eligibility rules do not meet current realities across subsidy programs where income is concerned. What we have is a housing assistance program that affects all areas of life and intersects with the social determinants of health. What we know is that there are over 520 applications for housing assistance and that number is growing daily, which includes 300 people on a waitlist for a full apartment and 220 applications for affordable senior apartments.

(04:06:08)

Your time has expired. Can I just... sure, giving you 15 seconds.

(04:06:22)

Okay. To close out, I am going to submit a written summary of my recommended policy drafts. I recommend drafting policies for seniors that address their situation as well as their age...

(04:06:46)

...related status, and that takes into account the income that is normally looked at according to cost as opposed to real economic conditions. Okay. Thank you.

(04:07:01)

Thank you. Next we have Christian Costin. Okay. You can begin, you know?

(04:07:15)

Can you hear me? Yes.

(04:07:19)

Wonderful, wonderful. Can you see me? No. All right, save your time, you can begin.

(04:07:33)

Okay. Distinguished Chairs Shahana Hanif and any other Council members, thank you so much for this hearing and for the ability to testify. My name is Costin and I am a case assistance worker at a SNAP and Eastern Queens Older Adults Center, representing an organization that has been around 45 years providing social services. It is a social service organization under DFTA and it serves and hosts an ethnically and economically diverse older adult population of Queens, and also their caregivers and friends and family. We provide hot meals, both in the building and transported for people who are homebound. We have health and wellness programs, educational and recreational programs, trips to City events and case assistance. We also have a case management program as well as home-delivered meals.

For many of our seniors, the warm meal is often the only warm meal that they can afford or will have. Many of our low-income older adults find themselves in need of programs like SCRIE, but they are ineligible because their residences are not on the list of rent regulated buildings. Instead, they live in private houses that they own or rent, or they are in naturally occurring retirement communities known as NORCs, where their complexes have a mix of eligible rent regulated apartments and ineligible unregulated apartments.

So any steps to simplify the application process for SCRIE... well, long story short, we are in support of the proposals to simplify the application process and to raise the threshold of eligibility for SCRIE. Thank you for all that you do and God bless you. Thank you.

(04:09:44)

Next we have Barbara Jones. Barbara Jones, are you here? You can unmute yourself and begin. Yes?

(04:10:04)

My name is Walter Jones. I reside in the Jamie Towers, a Mitchell-Lama cooperative in the Castle Hill community in the Bronx since 1999 — 31 years. Can you hear me? Yes.

I am in New York State Homes and Community Renewal. We know it is a Mitchell-Lama development. I urged the passage of Int 0978, which will increase the income cap for SCRIE from $50,000 to $75,000. Right now, our development has had considerable increases. My maintenance went from $1,092 to $1,679 in two years — a $500 increase. We need this passage because we are on fixed income. We are senior citizens, and every time we have a rent increase it makes us very nervous. We want to make sure that we can stay in our homes. We were working in this City, we paid taxes, so it is now time for the City to give back.

I just want to say that I was getting screened, and it was when they changed the management companies, so that needs to be looked at. Also, when you call the Department of Finance, you get an announcement that they have not taken SCRIE applications. So there is a real, urgent need for these government agencies to coordinate and not just talk about it, but actually do what they are supposed to do.

I want to thank you for the hearing today. It was really very informative. Hopefully the Council will support passage of Int 0978. My time has expired. Thank you.

(04:12:18)

Thank you. Next we have Katie Bordonaro. Katie, are you here?

(04:12:38)

Yes, yes, yes. You are ready, you can begin. You are muted. No, no.

(04:12:48)

Do not touch the button. You are good to go. Are you muted again? Okay, good.

(04:13:03)

You can try again. Can you try? Okay. Thank you. Can you hear me? Yes. Okay. I am sorry, I have a bad signal. I am having technical difficulties with my testimony.

(04:13:45)

We will read the testimony. Thank you. Could you just do us a favor and mute your stream before speaking.

(04:14:17)

Can you hear me now? Yes.

(04:14:18)

Now it is good. Okay. Great, great, great.

(04:14:20)

Thank you so much. My name is Katie Bordonaro and I serve as Secretary of the Mitchell-Lama Residents Coalition, commonly known as MLRC. Our full description was given by Treasurer Militant Reddick a few minutes ago, so I will get right to the heart of the matter.

Today you are hearing testimony from MLRC officers Barbara Jones, Militant Reddick and myself, and members supporting Int 0978-A to increase the income caps from $50,000 to $75,000 for those receiving SCRIE benefits. This increase is essential to helping residents remain in their homes.

I also want to urge you to pass Int 0307, a measure that we have only recently learned about. This measure would require a universal online application and recertification portal for SCRIE. The creation of efficiencies like these is fundamental to protecting and expanding access to this vital program. We salute the Council for having passed the measure to automatically send SCRIE applications to Mitchell-Lama residents a few years ago. Int 0307 has the potential to provide similar streamlining for the SCRIE program and its beneficiaries. We understand that you may make some modifications based on comments today and we are very supportive of that exploration.

I urge you to move Int 0978-A and Int 0307 out of committee and then support their passage by the Council to protect some of our most at-risk neighbors. Thank you so much for holding this hearing and for really staying with it. It has been a long day and we appreciate your attention. Thank you again.

(04:16:14)

Thank you. And then we have Dorsia Reynoso.

(04:16:22)

Good afternoon. My name is Joe Carino. I am with Tenants and Neighbors, but I am testifying as an individual today. My testimony will be brief.

I just want to point out that although SCRIE was enacted in 1970 and DRIE in 2005, where we stand right now, we are only at 42% of people who qualify being enrolled in this program, and that is absolutely shameful. It speaks volumes about the commitment of the State and the City towards those people who need support the most. We are failing people abysmally when it comes to keeping people housed and bringing people out of the harm of homelessness.

We need to do better, not just by passing bills and passing resolutions, but once enacting them, making sure that people know that these programs are available. Many people do not have access to the internet or do not know how to use the internet to be able to do the research and find out that these things are there. It is the City's job and the State's job to make sure that people have the education and the support to be able to fill out applications and partake in these programs.

So I urge you to pass Int 0978-A, Int 0307 and Res 0055-2026, as well as to make sure that there is more messaging out there from the City Council, from the Mayor's office, and from the Office of Civic Engagement. All hands should be on deck making sure that we prevent people from losing their homes, especially people who are low income and disabled. We need to do better. Thank you.

(04:18:07)

Thank you so much. And let us go back. Are you ready this time? Yes.

(04:18:20)

My name is Marcus. I am on the Housing and Health Committee as an organizer, and also an advocate for people with disabilities.

(04:18:29)

I live with a disability, and I am here today excited to join you and highlight the importance of the SCRIE and DRIE programs for people with disabilities. I would like to mention the importance of expanding these programs. SCRIE and DRIE are essential housing protections for seniors and people with disabilities. Eligible New Yorkers can receive DRIE if they meet the income and other qualifying requirements and receive qualifying disability benefits such as SSDI, disability-related Medicaid, or qualified veterans' disability benefits.

Just as SCRIE is essential for eligible New Yorkers, DRIE is essential for our consumers, as it helps the tenants and provides landlords a tax credit for the exempted increase. According to 2023 data, 158,000 to 218,000 households were eligible, but only 67,132 are currently enrolled. That means that over 90,000 households, which is around 57 to 60%, are not enrolled. So we need to promote outreach strategies in order to expand the program.

That is why we strongly support the bills Int 0934, Int 0978-A, Int 1010, Int 1011 and Int 1033. We also want to work with the City to make a good...

(04:20:38)

Time has expired. I will just say we support Int 0307 and really urge passage of Res 0055-2026. Thank you for working with the City and improving the SCRIE and DRIE programs. Thank you. Your time has expired. Thank you.

(04:21:02)

Thank you to everyone who has testified. If there is anyone present in the room or online who has not had the opportunity to testify, please raise your hand.

(04:21:21)

I do not see any hands.

(04:21:27)

Okay. Seeing none, I would like to note that written testimony, which will be reviewed in full by committee staff, may be submitted to the record up to 72 hours after the close of this hearing by submitting testimony at Council.nyc.gov. Thank you everyone.