Good morning.

Welcome to the Committee on Aging jointly with the Committee on Disabilities and the Committee on Finance.

Please place your phone on silent or vibrate mode any time during the hearing.

Do not approach the days.

Chair, we are ready to begin.

Thank you.

Good morning.

I'm Councilmember Susan Zhuang, Chair of the New York City Council's Committee on Aging.

I want to thank you all for being here today for this important oversight hearing on senior senior citizen rent increase exemption.

We call scree and the disability rent increase exemption D.

I also want to say thank you to my co-chairs, Councilmember Shahana Hanif of the Committee on Disability and Councilmember Linda Lee of the Committee on Finance for holding this hearing joint with Committee on Aging.

We are also hearing several bills, include a number in the committee, including a number in the committee on aging.

Intro 1011, sponsored by Councilmember Millie, could require owner to disclose information to city before evicting older adults tenant.

That information could include the name, address, and phone number of the older adults occupant.

It could also require HPD to provide information to those tenants about available legal assistant.

Preconsider intro number T 2026, 2546, also sponsored by Councilmember Millie, also required DIFTA in consultation with Cabinet for Older New Yorkers to develop an informational toolkit about programs, benefits and the services available to older adults.

Could call on New York State legislator to pass and the government to sign legislation authorized the city of New York to provide the full exemption from real estate exemption taxation to homeowner eligibility for the senior citizen homeowners exemption.

And those household only source of income is social security.

Affordability is an issue that all so many vulnerable New Yorkers are struggle with.

Older adults are often rent-burdened, means that they spend more than 30% of their income on housing while leaving on fixed income.

This is why programs such as Scree are critical to assure eligible older adults are not overburned by raising rents.

For so many other 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.

Scree is intended to protect seniors from such rent increase.

Also ensures that property owners receive the corresponding property tax benefit.

While programs like Scree exist, they are only effective if people know about them.

Many eligible older New Yorkers are unaware of this program.

The city needs to do better at ensuring everyone has access to the benefits they are entitled to.

Beyond awareness, this program also run more efficiently and impactfully if specific changes were made to improve the program.

There are many barriers to inroll and the utilize of those programs.

For example, providing certain documents in order to complete application for scree can be overly burdensome.

And the income eligibility ceiling in the rent-freeze program also central driver of underlements in the program.

Today we want to have a better understanding of how the New York City Department of Aging, NYC A, Department of Finance, NYC Aging, and the Department of Housing Prevention and Development, Preservation and Development, and the Mayor's Office of People with Disabilities conduct research to ensure seniors across all cultures, ethnic backgrounds, those who live with disabilities, those who are limited English proficiency, and those who may not have access to internet gain information about scree and the dream.

We also want to understand how the city is using the data we have at our disposal to ensure those who are eligible for those benefits are actually enrolled in them.

This is our understanding that programs are underutilized.

We must work to change that.

We also want to call on our state counterpart to make changes to screen to ensure more property owners to participate in this program.

And to encourage assisting more order adults in annual.

Sorry.

Joshua Newman, Julia Hamas, Julia Hermes, Marguerite Bursley, Kobe Order, Amy Josco, and Brooke Fry.

Julia Hermas, Marguerite Bursley, Kobi Alder, Amy, Joe Josko, and the Brooke Fry.

Before we continue, I want to recognize my colleagues who are here with us today.

We have Councilmember Mate, Dinawoods, Mamarong, Brewer, Schuman, Hassan, Absing, Cabang, Wang, Luis, Mercedes, Nurses, Santas, Banks, Brooks Power.

We have on the Zoom Joseph, Abraill, and I think also Abdul.

That's it.

Now I give the floor to my coach here, Councilmember Lee, for her to give a statement.

Great.

Thank you so much, everyone.

Good morning.

It's so great to see all the folks from the admin as well as all of our amazing advocates who are joining us today.

My name's Linda Lee, Chair of the Committee on Finance, and I'd also like to thank my colleagues, Councilmember Susan Zhuang and Councilmember Shahana Hanif, who are both co-chairing this hearing with me.

And we're also hearing several bills today, which will be included in the Committee on Finance.

So bear with me while I read these.

Would require the dissemination of information on the rent freeze program and training for participating agencies.

Resolution 431, sponsored by Councilmember Susan Zhuang, calls on New York State legislator legislature to pass 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.

Resolution 470, sponsored by council member Susan Juang, calls on New York State Legislature to pass and the governor to sign S3563563 and A10927 to permit other qualifying members of a household to qualify for the disability rent increase exemption.

And finally, resolution number 471 calls on the New York State Legislature to pass and the governor to sign S4805 slash A4984, 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, heat, cooling, or electricity.

The rent freeze programs administered here in New York City by HPD and DOF provide the much needed relief that allows for a vibrant older adult and disabilities communities to contribute and exist without facing cost barriers to do so.

During my time as president and CEO of a nonprofit providing services to the very communities at the center of today's hearing, this was and remains a prevalent issue.

Communities uh faced and continue to face cultural language barriers to understanding, accessing, and making full use of the programs designed to provide them relief.