Res 1099-2016

By Council Members Cabrera, Johnson, Chin, Rosenthal, Maisel and Torres Whereas, The senior citizen rent increase exemption (SCRIE), was instituted by New York City in 1970 to freeze the rent of low-income seniors; and Whereas, SCRIE currently applies to eligible seniors who are at least 62 years old, are the primary tenant named on the lease, live in a rent controlled, rent regulated hotel, rent stabilized, or Mitchell-Lama building, have a combined household income of $50,000 or less, and spend more than one-third of their monthly income on rent; and Whereas, According to the Department for the Aging, there are nearly 1.4 million senior citizens living in New York City; and Whereas, As a result of the increasingly high cost of living in New York City, SCRIE was established to eliminate the burden of rent increases from low-income seniors, and Whereas, A 2014 report by the New York City Department of Finance (DOF) determined that, 52,171 households are currently enrolled in SCRIE and 69,558 households qualify but are not participating; and Whereas, According to the 2014 DOF report, 57% of the eligible population are not participating in SCRIE; and Whereas, New York State Law currently establishes that the rent an individual would pay into the SCRIE program is based on the combined income of all the members of their household for the income tax year immediately prior to an application for enrollment in SCRIE; and Whereas, According to the 2014 DOF report, the average SCRIE participant has been in the program for 9.1 years, has an annual income of $16,504, a legal rent of $1,005 per month and has had their rent frozen at $755 per month, thus saving them as much as $250 each month; and Whereas, Since SCRIE freezes a recipient's rent, a senior can save more on rent the longer they are enrolled in the program; and Whereas, In 2015, New York State Assemblyman Mathew Titone, introduced A.3137, which would amend the New York City Administrative Code to provide that applicants who enrolled in the SCRIE program after their eligibility date would receive a rent reduction that is retroactive based on their original date of eligibility; and Whereas, This legislation would help ensure that New York City's seniors are not priced out of their homes and communities; now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls upon the New York State Legislature to pass and the Governor to sign A.3137, legislation providing retroactivity to the original date of eligibility for the senior citizen rent increase exemption (SCRIE) program. LS 7804 ER 05/09/16