Maka Cham testifies for CIDNY on disability enrollment gaps

Yes.

I apologize about the issues earlier.

My name is Mabaki Chang.

I'm the housing and health community organizer here at Center for Independence of the Disabled New York Advocate for People with Disabilities.

In the fabric of New York City to live independently.

So I'm here today, excited to join you and highlight the importance of the three programs for people with disabilities.

So I will start from, you know, mentioning the need

of the expansion of the programs.

So three and three are essentials, housing protection for seniors and people with disabilities.

Eligible New Yorkers, age 18 and older can receive three if they meet the income

and rent burden requirements and receive qualifying disability benefits such as SSI, SSDI, certain disability-related Medicaid.

or qualifying veterans or federal disability benefit.

Just like Scree for eligible New Yorkers age 62 and older.

DREAM is essential for our consumers as it helps freeze the tenants'rent and provides the landlords with a property tax credit for the exempted increase.

According to 2023 data, NYCDOF estimated that 158,218 households were eligible, but only 67,132 were currently enrolled.

That means that over 90,000 households, which is around 57 to 60 percent, are eligible but not enrolled.

So we need to promote the outreach strategies in order to expand the program.

That is why we strongly support the bills below.

Intro 934, Intro 978, Wisconsin Member Lewis.

Intro 1010, Wisconsin Member Martez.

Intro 470, Wisconsin Member and Chair Zhuang.

We also want to work in helping the city to make the program.

Your time has expired.

So I will just resume and say we also support intro 307 and 308.

and Resolution 55.

We look forward to working with the city in improving the screen entry programs.

And also may have...

Thank you, your time has expired.

Thank you.