Oversight Hearing on Older Adult Centers at NYCHA Facilities and Introduction 1083, October 27, 2026

On Tuesday, October 27, 2026, at 10:00 AM, the New York City Council Committees on Public Housing and Aging held a joint hearing in Hearing Room 1 at 250 Broadway, New York, NY. The agenda was T2026-2464, an oversight review of Older Adult Centers (OACs) located in NYCHA facilities, and Int 1083-2026, a bill that would require the Commissioner of Aging to designate at least one financial literacy advisor to serve in each OAC for at least 20 hours per month. Public Housing Committee Chair Chris Banks and Aging Committee Chair Susan Zhuang presided. Roll call showed six members present and one member excused. The hearing included opening statements, provider testimony, agency testimony from NYC Aging and NYCHA, council questioning, and public testimony.

Public Comments & Testimony

• Sarah Morgridge, board member of Riverstone Senior Life Services, testified that Riverstone has been housed at NYCHA's senior development at 99 Fort Washington Avenue for 40 years and described severe difficulties after the building entered the RAD/PACT program with a private landlord she referred to as PRC. She stated that PRC's actions caused Riverstone to lose property liability coverage twice, that PRC refused to remove outdated and illegal fire panels, and that PRC was pressuring Riverstone to sign a license agreement containing conditions such as eviction for failure to maintain insurance. She also said PRC required investor approval to replace a faulty HVAC system in the memory center, and Riverstone paid for that repair. She called on the council to include nonprofit providers in forming next steps.
• Patricia Lynch, older adult supervisor at Millennium Development, testified that her organization operates three OACs in NYCHA facilities with a fourth opening next month. She described leaks, lack of heat, difficulty getting repair tickets resolved, unclear responsibility, lack of formal MOUs or leases, and lack of place-of-assembly designations. She said providers are written up by NYC Aging and FDNY and asked for better communication, clear ownership of issues, and a commitment to resolving problems rather than passing responsibility around.
• Bridget Lee, on behalf of the Weinberg Center for Elder Justice, supported Int 1083. She stated that more than one in five older New Yorkers live in poverty, 45% of NYCHA households are headed by someone 62 or older, financial exploitation occurs at a rate of 41 per 1,000 older adults in New York State, only 1 in 24 elder abuse cases is reported, and 67% of verified financial exploitation perpetrators are family members. She noted that Americans age 60 and older reported nearly $8 billion in losses to the FBI in 2025, a nearly 60% increase, with an average loss of about $38,000 per person. She urged four amendments to Int 1083: require training on elder abuse and financial exploitation, require scam intervention training, require advisors to share contacts with elder abuse service providers, and require NYC Aging to consult elder justice providers on advisor qualifications and training.
• Anita Kwok, policy analyst at United Neighborhood Houses, testified that OAC providers in NYCHA facilities face unresolved repairs, unclear site control, and repair projects paused for years. She said NYC Aging and NYCHA often defer responsibility to each other, providers are sometimes asked to take on responsibilities such as extermination or to sign leases without city funding for rent, and a dedicated funding stream for fully funded capital services is needed.
• Christopher Leon Johnson testified in support of Int 1083 but asked that the required advisor time be increased from 20 hours per month to at least 40 hours per month. He also raised concerns about poor Wi-Fi and cell signal at NYCHA community centers and asked the city to invest in connectivity infrastructure.
• Rosemary Salazar, program director at University Settlement's older adults program, testified that the fire panel at the Neighborhood Center is not connected to the FDNY alarm system or any monitoring company and that NYCHA has refused to correct the issue, saying responsibility lies with the community-based organization. She stated that FDNY inspectors repeatedly reported the need to repair or replace the panel to NYCHA in 2024.

Agency Testimony

• Dr. Lisa Scott McKenzie, Commissioner of the New York City Department for the Aging (NYC Aging), testified that there are 105 OACs primarily serving NYCHA residents across the five boroughs, that nearly 150,000 older adults attended an NYC Aging OAC in FY 2026, and that about one-third of those attendees were at centers serving NYCHA residents. She said NYC Aging provided more than 6.3 million meals at OACs in partnership with the council, and that 12,686 older adults receiving NYC Aging services are known to live in NYCHA across all programs. She described the complaint process through NYCHA's Customer Contact Center, regular review of open tickets by the NYC Aging-NYCHA liaison, and quarterly leadership meetings. She said NYC Aging completed 56 projects in FY26, many made possible by a $5 million Council grant, including a kitchen renovation at Bronx River OAC and a roof and AC replacement at Samuel Tilden OAC. On Int 1083, she said NYC Aging agrees with the intent of the bill but is reviewing its implications and preliminary rollout costs.
• Eva Trimble, Chief Operating Officer of NYCHA, testified that NYCHA's campuses are home to 77 older adult centers, with an additional 28 centers at PACT developments. She said NYCHA and service providers share responsibility for maintaining centers, with NYCHA generally responsible for building systems and providers generally responsible for interior maintenance and minor repairs. She highlighted the reopening of the Edenwald Senior Center after it had been inoperable for 25 years. She reported that over the past year OACs submitted approximately 1,700 work orders, almost all of which were closed and completed by NYCHA, with about 250 still open. She said the average response time was about 12 days and the average days to close a work order was 12.8 days. She said NYCHA estimates approximately $900 million in capital need for older adult centers, and that there are currently 60 FDNY violations and two DOB violations at OACs. She also said NYCHA does not have a formal repair agreement with NYC Aging, although staff meet biweekly and leadership meets quarterly.
• Abigail Fradkin, NYCHA Deputy Chief Asset and Capital Management Officer, testified that NYCHA is again accepting council-allocated capital funding after a temporary pause due to staffing shortages, and that the pause was lifted. She said NYCHA has completed seven discretionary-funded OAC projects, has 16 active projects with a total budget of about $57 million, and has six planned projects currently in discussion.

Discussion Items

• Chairs Banks and Zhuang raised concerns about long-standing leaks, including a reported two-year leak at the LaGuardia and Dykeman older adult center. Commissioner Scott McKenzie said she had recently visited Dykeman and saw no active leak there, but NYCHA and NYC Aging committed to follow up on LaGuardia and report back.
• Council members asked repeatedly about the division of responsibility between NYCHA and NYC Aging. Agency officials said NYCHA handles roof leaks, major plumbing, HVAC systems, and building envelope issues, while providers handle minor interior repairs such as broken doorknobs, minor painting, and small ceiling tiles. NYC Aging said it does not perform direct repairs outside of small items funded by council allocations. Several members pressed the agencies to reduce finger-pointing and give providers clear instructions.
• Council members raised the lack of leases or MOUs at many OACs. NYCHA stated that OAC providers are not tenants, that OAC spaces are treated as community spaces rather than commercial spaces, and that only a handful of license agreements are in place at PACT sites. NYCHA said it encourages providers and PACT partners to sign license agreements but does not require them.
• The hearing included substantial discussion of RAD/PACT conversions. NYCHA said PACT conversions generally include modernization of community centers when funding allows, but that Section 8 rents cannot be used for community center renovations, so city subsidy is needed. Councilmember Banks asked whether OACs could lose previously allocated capital funds after a conversion; NYCHA said it is handled case by case and could not guarantee that no site has ever lost money.
• Council members asked about closed OACs. NYCHA said three centers were closed over the past year due to unsafe conditions: Glebe Avenue, Lattimer Gardens, and Randall Avenue/Balcom. Regarding Lattimer Gardens, which served about 700 seniors, NYCHA said the center closed because of persistent roof leaks, the roof replacement is not currently funded, and if funding were confirmed the project would take about four years.
• Council members raised ADA compliance. NYCHA said not all OACs are ADA compliant, no complete count was available on hand, and bringing all centers up to standard would require significant capital investment.
• On Int 1083, Commissioner Scott McKenzie said the bill would likely require new financial literacy staff rather than relying on case managers, and gave a preliminary rollout cost estimate of $2 million to $3 million. She said NYC Aging is exploring alternatives such as advisors shared across centers or mobile services.
• Councilmember Brewer asked how NYCHA plans for future needs such as kitchen upgrades and proactive projects. NYC Aging said it maintains a running list of desired projects and will share that list with the council.
• Councilmember Restler raised a $6 million Brooklyn borough president allocation for older adult center upgrades and said his office had received no updates from NYCHA. NYCHA said it would look into the specific allocations and provide updates.
• Councilmember Hudson asked about capital improvement pipelines for OACs, specifically the William Hodson OAC. NYC Aging said there is no standing capital pipeline and that funding for comprehensive improvements generally comes from direct allocations by elected officials and from PACT conversions.

Key Outcomes

• The oversight resolution T2026-2464 was held and filed by the committee.
• Int 1083-2026 was heard and laid over by the committee for further consideration; no vote was taken.
• NYC Aging and NYCHA committed to provide follow-up data and reports, including the status of the LaGuardia/Dykeman leak, a breakdown of the approximately 1,700 OAC work orders and 250 open tickets, borough-level OAC statistics, the number of OACs that are ADA-compliant, the list of completed and planned OAC projects, funding information for the William Hodson OAC, and updates on the Brooklyn borough president's $6 million allocation.
• NYC Aging stated it would continue biweekly ticket reviews with NYCHA and quarterly leadership meetings, and would continue sharing a joint tracker of repair requests.
• Written testimony was accepted for the record until 72 hours after the hearing by email to testimony@council.nyc.gov.