Lloyd Feng testifies for AARP supporting Intro 978
Lloyd Feng of AARP New York, representing 750,000 city members, supports raising the SCRIE/DRIE income threshold from $50,000 to $75,000, citing a 2025 report showing 41% increase in older adults in poverty and 250,000 older New Yorkers below the poverty line.
Thank you, Committee Chair Zhuang and Co-Chair Li and members of the Committee on Aging.
My name is Lloyd Feng, and I am the Associate State Director of Advocacy for AARP New York.
I'm here today on behalf of our 750,000 members in New York City and the millions of older adults who called the city home.
We're here to support Intro 978, which would raise the maximum threshold income eligibility for SCRI and DRI from $50,000 to $75,000.
As you know, older New Yorkers are working harder today to make ends meet.
Our 2025 report with the Center for an Urban Future reveals the dire financial crisis facing older New Yorkers.
Over the past decade, the number of older adults living in poverty increased by nearly 41%.
Today, more than 250,000 older New Yorkers live below the poverty line.
That same report finds that nearly 60% of New Yorkers over age 70 reported no retirement income at all.
Meanwhile, the number of New Yorkers age 65 and older who are working increased.
by 66%.
So after a lifetime of contributing to the city, older New Yorkers deserve better than to be left behind by it.
If we want New York City to remain a place where people can afford to grow older, our policies must wake up to the harsh realities older adults face.
Raising the eligibility threshold is a logical, necessary, and compassionate step to achieve that.
AARP New York has long advocated for strengthening and expanding SCRI and DRI.
Increasing eligibility is critical to ensuring these lifelines keep pace with the cost of living and serve more of the people they were created to protect.
We urge the Council to pass Intro 978 now.
Thank you all so much.