NYC Budget Is A Crucial First Step Towards A City Where We Can Age With Dignity
Aging Advocates Celebrate Meaningful Commitments For Home Delivered Meals, Older Adult Centers
New York, NY – Yesterday, the City of New York released its Final FY26/27 Budget. Allison Nickerson, Executive Director of LiveOn NY, released the following statement:
“While we still have a long way to go before we can truly age with dignity, New York City took important steps to let New Yorkers age in place,” said Allison Nickerson, Executive Director of LiveOn NY. “Critically-needed funding for Home Delivered Meals will ensure that our most vulnerable neighbors are taken care of, and renewed investments in our older adult centers will help combat older adult hunger and loneliness. We’re grateful to Council Speaker Menin, Finance Chair Linda Lee, and Mayor Mamdani for recognizing the importance of including older adults in our new era, and look forward to continuing to build a New York where we can all age with dignity.”
This budget season, LiveOn NY and the Age Strong coalition advocated for an affordability agenda for older adults: ensuring that New York has affordable housing, food, and community for older adults in need. Advocates worked with the New York City Council and the Mamdani Administration to secure a number of important victories:
$12 million for Home Delivered Meals: The city has agreed to baseline the amount needed for providers to deliver six meals a week to homebound older adults at a sustainable cost. LiveOn NY specially thanks Finance Chair Linda Lee and Aging Chair Susan Zhuang for their partnership and advocacy.
$5 million for Older Adult Center repairs: The City Council has committed $5 million for its second year of OAC capital repair funding in a row. These repairs will ensure that New York’s older adult centers remain a safe place for all of us to get the meals and community we need and deserve.
Freezing the rent through SCRIE: Comptroller Mark Levine has championed full funding for S2451A, which raises the Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE) income threshold to $75,000, saving thousands of seniors from being evicted when their Social Security COLAs bring their incomes slightly above their thresholds.
1,000 affordable senior housing units per year: NYC HPD has included a commitment to develop 1,000 affordable senior housing units per year as part of the Mamdani Administration’s Block By Block housing plan.
More information about our advocacy can be found on the Age Strong NYC website: https://www.liveon-ny.org/city-advocacy
For more information, please reach out to Frank Shintaro McMullin, Communications Manager at LiveOn NY, at fmcmullin@liveon-ny.org.