Chair Hanif on DRIE program and disability housing crisis
Council Member Shahana Hanif describes the DRIE program's purpose, notes nearly one in six New Yorkers has a disability, and explains how DRIE freezes rent for low-income tenants with disabilities through property tax credits to owners.
Thank you, Chair Swang, and good morning, everyone.
I'm Councilmember Shahana Hanif, Chair of the Committee on Disabilities.
I'm a brown woman in my mid-30s, though I do look younger.
Today I'm wearing...
Today I'm wearing a full sleeve black coat.
I'm not wearing glasses, which I usually wear.
I'm in my contacts and I'm seated behind a dais next to my colleagues, council members.
All right, colleagues, it's okay.
Thank you.
Everybody's just looking at me.
I'm sorry.
Everybody's making fun of me right now.
Thank you for inviting the Disabilities Committee to join this important hearing where we will discuss the Disability Rent Increase Exemption, or DRI, program in New York City.
Nearly one in six New Yorkers lives with a disability, and New Yorkers with disabilities are far more likely to have lower income, to rent rather than own, and to be severely rent burdened.
For someone living on a fixed...
disability benefit, a rent increase is not an inconvenience.
It can be the difference between staying housed and not.
The DREAM program exists to stop that from happening.
It freezes rent for a low-income tenant with a disability and reimburses the owner through a property tax credit.