REMARKS
Crystal Hudson's Introduction to the First Committee on Aging hearing
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3 min
Council Member Crystal Hudson opens the first aging committee hearing of the new legislative session, outlining the goal to advance age inclusivity in New York City.
The focus of the hearing is on a proposed legislation to assist older adults with the rent increase exemption programs SCRIE and DRIE.
Speaker 1
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Good afternoon, and welcome to the 1st aging committee hearing of the new legislative session.
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I'm counsel member Crystal Hudson.
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My pronouns are she, her and I'm the committee chair.
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As chair, I look forward to building on this committee's achievements and continuing the important work of advancing age inclusivity in New York City so that older adults may age in place with dignity.
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To that point, today, we are hearing a preconceived introduction sponsored by council member Eric Denowitz, which would require the Department of Housing, Preservation, And Development, or HPD, in coordination with the Department of Finance, to provide application forms pre populated with applicant information for the senior citizen rent increase exemption program, also known as scree to eligible mitsalama residents.
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It's no secret that New York City is in the midst of a worsening affordable housing crisis.
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This crisis hits older adults, particularly older adults of color, especially hard.
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According to a report from the city's Department of Finance, the escalating cost of rent and growing income inequality caused many low income New Yorkers to pay a greater share of their income on housing, which means they have less money for other important needs.
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That is why it is more critical than ever to increase enrollment in both degree and the disability rent increased exemption or jury programs.
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This important benefit freezes the rent of eligible older adults.
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And renters with disabilities at the time of enrollment and provides valuable financial assistance to the sum to some of the city's most vulnerable citizens.
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According to the Department of Finance, as many as 155,000 households may qualify for spree injury.
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Approximately 61,000 households already receive these benefits, and upwards of 94,000 additional New York City residents may be eligible but are not enrolled.
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This suggests that the current enrollment rate is approximately 39%.
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As the older adult population increases, the number of households eligible for screen injury is also likely to increase.
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39% is far too low in the face of skyrocketing cost of living and an accelerating eviction rate.
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The city needs to significantly step up its efforts to enroll eligible New Yorkers into spree injury.
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I appreciate that the administration has previously shared concerns on this bill, and we will continue our conversations.
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And I look forward to a productive discussion about the ways we can meaningfully boost enrollment in these programs.
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We need to think creatively about closing the enrollment gaps that we can keep our city's older adults in their homes.
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Older adults overwhelmingly want to age in place.
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Scree Injury helped them do just that, and we should be making every effort to connect eligible households to these essential benefits.
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The legislation being considered today was heard last session in this committee on November 28, 2023, and all testimony from that hearing will be in braded into the record for today's hearing.
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The administration is not appearing before the committee today and is instead submitting new written testimony for the record which the committee will consider.
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The committee will additionally consider any new public testimony submitted up to 72 hours after the close of this hearing Testimony may be submitted to testimony at counsel.nyc.gov.
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Thank you to my colleagues and aging committee members.
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I would also like to thank my staff, Casey Addison and Andrew Wright, an aging committee staff, Christopher Pepe, Chloe Rivera, Julia Hernandez, and Samuel Hamid.
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I'd like to acknowledge we are joined here by council members Lee Zhang salam and banks.
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I'll now turn it over to the committee council.
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And council member Schulman remotely.
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Thank you.
Speaker 2
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Thank you chair.
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At this point, we will be turning to in person testimony.
