Q&A
Discussion on subsidies for cooling devices for low-income tenants
1:36:46
·
3 min
Council Member Restler inquires about potential subsidies to help low-income tenants, particularly seniors, afford to run air conditioning units. He references subsidies provided during the COVID-19 pandemic and asks about analysis of funding needed to keep low-income tenants safe from extreme heat.
- Deputy Commissioner Joffe acknowledges the importance of running cooling equipment and mentions ongoing advocacy for expanding assistance programs.
- Joffe states that HPD doesn't have a baseline cost estimate but focuses on criteria for access and program structure.
- The discussion highlights the need for significant city and state subsidies to make cooling affordable for the lowest income tenants.
Lincoln Restler
1:36:46
The, I just wanted to ask briefly about subsidies, and I'm not sure if deputy commissioner Joffe or somebody else might be able to jump in here.
1:36:56
But we looked back at the 1st year of COVID in 2020 when we were all very anxious about people, especially older, low income seniors, leaving their homes before we had a vaccine.
1:37:15
Same older, low income, folks are the people most vulnerable to extreme heat.
1:37:20
Right?
1:37:20
So people who disproportionately are dying from extreme heat, disproportionately going to ERs from extreme heat.
1:37:29
In 2020, there was significant state subsidies made available, to allow low income seniors to run air conditioning in their homes, because the last thing we wanted is people being forced to stay in their homes and then be suffering from dangerous extreme heat.
1:37:45
So based on the analysis that we did, we found that about $70,000,000 in subsidies was provided for low income seniors in New York City to help cover their utility bills and stay safe in their homes.
1:37:59
Have you all done any analysis of what amount of funding would be necessary to help keep low income tenants safe in their homes and, to to help them, you know, take advantage of the cooling devices they would newly have access to in this legislation?
Lucy Joffe
1:38:21
Thank you for that question.
1:38:22
It is true that we view the ability to run the equipment as a very critical piece of this puzzle.
1:38:30
And we certainly also look to some of the lessons we learned during COVID as instructive here.
1:38:37
We and have been advocating, I might say, for years, to really expand in this area.
1:38:43
There are through the HEAP program, for example, but we recognize
Lincoln Restler
1:38:50
pretty limited.
Lucy Joffe
1:38:51
We recognize that more is necessary.
1:38:53
I don't think that we have a baseline number as to what the cost would be.
1:38:59
More so, we have been focused on how do you think about the criteria in terms of who is getting to have access to this for how long and how you structure that.
1:39:08
And I think that's a, that's the the focus that we've had, Estimating people's utility costs isolated from, isolated to cooling is a little bit more challenging.
1:39:22
So we have some great information that comes from the New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey, but we actually have not isolated specifically the costs per household for cooling, and we know that that's very variable for a whole host of reasons.
1:39:35
And the folks who we're most trying to get at are not currently running their air conditioners at times.
1:39:41
And so that's an area that we would continue to work on, but we absolutely think that expanding the criteria, making sure that we're actually able to get sustained assistance to people is a critical part of this whole puzzle.
Lincoln Restler
1:39:52
Okay.
1:39:53
I just, you know, wanna say plainly and clearly on the record that, you know, this legislation requires access to cooling devices, but the second piece of what we're trying to accomplish here would be significant city and state subsidies to make it affordable for the lowest income tenants to actually be able to utilize those cooling devices.
