Chair Zhuang on affordability crisis facing older New Yorkers
Zhuang highlights DFTA's 2025 needs assessment finding one in four older adults lack stable housing, discusses rent burden on fixed incomes, and explains how SCRIE protects seniors from rent increases while providing property tax benefits to owners.
Affordability is an issue that so many vulnerable New Yorkers are struggling with.
And it often can make the difference between whether people are able to remain in this city or not.
This is especially true for older New Yorkers.
A, 2025, DFTA needs assessment of older adults found that one of four older adults
survey response, they lack of stable housing, either because they fear of losing their housing in the future or because they current lack of housing.
Older adults are often rent burdened, means that they spend more than 30% of their income on housing while living on fixed income.
This is why programs such as
Scree are
critical to assure eligible older adults are not overburdened by raising rents.
For so many older 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.
SCRI is intended to protect seniors from such rent increase, also ensures that property owners receive the
corresponding property tax benefits.