Marcus Jackson testifies for Encore Community Services
Marcus Jackson of Encore Community Services, supporting older New Yorkers for nearly 50 years, supports Intros 307 and 978A, emphasizing that housing affordability is inseparable from aging in place and urging sustained community outreach funding for older adult centers, case management programs, and trusted CBOs.
Good afternoon, Chair Zhuang, chairs and members of the Committee of Aging and Finance and Disabilities.
My name is Marcus Jackson.
I'm the Director of Advocacy and Government Relations at Encore Community Services.
For nearly 50 years, Encore has supported older New Yorkers through home-delivered meals and congregate meals, case management, benefit assistance, supportive housing, social connection, and other services that allow people to age with dignity and independence.
Thank you for holding today's hearing on SCRI injury.
For the older adults, Encore serves.
Housing affordability is inseparable from the ability to age in place.
Every additional dollar spent on rent is a dollar that may not be available for food, medication, transportation, utilities, and other necessities.
Programs such as SCRI can provide critical stability, but a benefit cannot protect an older adult who does not know it exists, cannot navigate the application, struggles to produce the required documentation,
encounters language or technology barriers, or lose assistance during the recertification.
Encore, therefore, supports efforts to make those programs simpler and more accessible and easier to maintain.
We particularly support the goals of Intro 307, and we also support Intro 978-A.
These reforms recognize both the administrative
barriers facing applicants and the economic realities confronting older New Yorkers.
But legislation should be accompanied by sustained community outreach.
Older adult centers, case management programs, housing providers, libraries, and trusted community-based organizations should be equipped and funded to help eligible New Yorkers understand these benefits, complete applications, gather documentation, and
successfully recertify.
Our message today is simple.
New Yorkers should not lose housing stability because a benefit intended for them is too difficult to find or navigate.
Encore looks forward to working with the Council, New York City Aging,
DIFTA, of course, and our community partners to ensure older New Yorkers can access these benefits.
Protections, their housing protections, and all the benefits that they have earned.
Thank you for your time, and I'll pass it over to my colleagues.