CM Cabán on Resolution 55 for automatic SCRIE enrollment

I will pass the microphone to Councilmember Caban to give a statement on her legislation.

Thank you so much.

My name is Councilmember Tiffany Caban.

I am a 39-year-old Latina female wearing a gray suit, glasses, and my signature ponytail.

I will keep it very brief so we can get this show on the road.

There are over 1.5 million seniors living in our city.

That's half a million more than we had in 2006, and many of them are living on fixed incomes as the cost of living here continues to soar amidst this historic affordability crisis.

And when rent and maintenance costs go up, too many senior citizens are forced to choose between housing, food, and medicine.

And the senior citizen rent increase exemption, or SCRI, can be life-saving by covering the cost of rent and maintenance increases for seniors struggling to get by.

I see it now.

My colleagues see it now when our constituents come into our offices.

And this has been a persistent problem.

You know, I saw it as a law student.

One of my very first legal internships, I worked at Lenox Hill Neighborhood House supporting seniors and people with disabilities with their SCRI and DRE applications.

And the challenges existed then, but they're exacerbated now.

Too many seniors don't know about SCRI or struggle to re-enroll year after year, and there's no reason for us to place this bureaucratic burden on senior citizens when enrollment could be automatic.

So that's why we're hearing this resolution today, and thank you that that's happening.

And the resolution calls on our friends at the state level to pass and implement.

Senate Bill 2220, Assembly Bill 5232, so that our city can automatically enroll our senior citizens in this life-saving program.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Now let me pass the mic to Councilmember Banks.