William Jourdain testifies for Woodside on the Move
William Jourdain of Woodside on the Move, serving Queens for 50 years, supports raising the income threshold and emphasizes that expanding eligibility means little if eligible New Yorkers never enroll, sharing that his own mother benefits from Council Member Aldebol's constituent services but most seniors lack such family support.
All right, well, peace and love, co-chairs, committees, excuse me, members of the committees.
I just want to say thank you for taking this time to listen to all of us here today.
My name is William Jourdain.
I am the executive director for Woodside on the Move.
For 50 years, our organization has served residents across Queens, including seniors and people with disabilities struggling to remain in their homes.
Without a doubt, we strongly support increasing the screen injury income eligibility threshold from $50,000 to $75,000.
The current threshold simply does not reflect the financial reality of living in New York City.
Take, for example, someone earning $51,000 is not suddenly financially secure.
A senior receiving a modest Social Security cost of living adjustment or pension increase has not suddenly become wealthy.
Yet that increase can affect eligibility.
for a program designed to help that person remain in their home.
Raising the threshold addresses one major barrier, eligibility.
But we also need to address another key component to this, which is participation.
Recent city reporting estimated more than 158,000 households
potentially eligible for the rent freeze program in 2023, while fewer than 68,000 households were actually receiving scree or tree benefits in 2024.
While these figures come from different reporting years and should not be treated as a precise enrollment rate, they highlight a larger challenge.
Expanding eligibility means little if eligible New Yorkers never successfully enroll.
At Woodside on the Move, we see why this matters.
Our housing staff sit with residents trying to understand government notices
gather income documentation, complete applications, recertify benefits, and overcome language and technology barriers.
Government benefits should not require someone...
Geez, all right.
Well, how about this?
I'll give you 10 more, 15 more seconds.
Thank you, thank you.
Just really quickly, Shirley, my mother happens to live in your district, so I figured I should use at least a few seconds of my testimony to let you know your office has really great constituent services.
We called a few times.
But my mother has something many seniors do not.
She has someone like me who can step in when the numbers don't add up.
Our public policy cannot assume everyone does.
So as we consider expanding screen and DRE, our measure of success should not simply be how many New Yorkers become eligible.
It should be how many eligible New Yorkers we actually reach, how many successfully enroll, and ultimately, how many are able to remain in their homes.
And one more thing that I think we should really take into consideration as we're deliberating is how we can take these consortium of bills further.
We should really consider seniors being responsible for no more than a third of their monthly income on rent.
These are not New Yorkers who worked here.
These are New Yorkers who worked here, raised families, paid taxes here, and helped build our communities.
So they should be able to grow.
Old here, and this is what housing stability means.
It means that aging with dignity and aging with respect is ultimately how we can give back to those who gave to our city for so many years.
Thank you for the time.
Thank you.
See, Chair Lee, you did a wonderful job.
I gotta visit your mom.