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Testimony on Increasing Affordable Housing for Older New Yorkers and Improving Accessibility in the City’s Housing Stock
It is critical we address this crisis, as New York is aging rapidly and research shows that the majority of older adults would prefer the opportunity age in their community, surrounded by the networks of support built over a lifetime. Moreover, we’re all aging, and we all have a stake in ensuring there are affordable options to call home throughout the lifecourse.
New York City Council
Committee on Aging
Chair, Council Member Hudson
Committee on Housing and Buildings
Chair, Council Member Sanchez
October 3, 2022
Oversight - Increasing Affordable Housing for Older New Yorkers and Improving Accessibility in the City’s Housing Stock.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
LiveOn NY’s members include more than 100 community-based nonprofits that provide core services which allow all New Yorkers to thrive in our communities as we age, including older adult centers, home-delivered meals, affordable senior housing, elder abuse prevention, caregiver support, NORCs, and case management. With our members, we work to make New York a better place to age.
Background
Even prior to the pandemic, New York was in the grip of a housing crisis that made it difficult for tens of thousands of New Yorkers to find stable housing and make ends meet. Today, more than half of older renters are rent-burdened, as are a third of older homeowners. Further, roughly 2,000 older New Yorkers are living in homeless shelters, a number that is expected to triple by 2030 without significant intervention. LiveOn NY’s own research has found that there are more than 200,000 older adults languishing on waiting lists for affordable housing through the HUD 202 program, each waiting for 7-10 years on average for a unit to become available. This challenge is mirrored by the thousands of applications that come flooding in each and every time a new affordable senior housing lottery opens on Housing Connect.
This crisis is particularly acute for older adults as many rely on fixed incomes, making it difficult to afford the rent while other costs rise. Further, much of the City’s housing infrastructure is inadequate to accommodate an older adult’s health and mobility needs, with 70% of the City’s housing stock only navigable by at least one set of stairs. In addition, NYCHA is a well-known provider of affordable housing for low income older adults, and yet in many situations for many older tenants living in NYCHA, their living experience is plagued by poor ventilation systems, broken elevators, leaking roofs, and recurring mold.
It is critical we address this crisis, as New York is aging rapidly and research shows that the majority of older adults would prefer the opportunity age in their community, surrounded by the networks of support built over a lifetime. Moreover, we’re all aging, and we all have a stake in ensuring there are affordable options to call home throughout the lifecourse.
Recommendations
Firstly, we invite the City to utilize our aging policy agenda, Aging is Everyone’s Business, released by LiveOn NY in partnership with Hunter College Brookdale Center for Healthy Aging, which is a bold policy agenda that provides actionable policy solutions, including housing, to make New York a better, more equitable place to age.
LiveOn NY calls for a minimum target of 1,000 new units of affordable senior housing with services per year, as part of a total target to construct no fewer than 8,000 new units of housing dedicated to serving extremely low income and homeless households annually. As waitlists and limited housing stock pose an acute challenge for older New Yorkers, a considerable investment and consistent unit targets per year will be critical to paving a pathway out of this crisis.
Further, this investment would build upon the clear success of the City’s Senior Affordable Rental Assistance (SARA) program, which has created incredible community assets in every borough, including examples such as West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing’s (WSFSSH’s) Tres Puentes in the Bronx and HANAC’s Corona Senior Residences in Queens. These two building are clear examples of what is possible through housing, with Tres Puentes not only offering 175 new units of affordable senior housing, but providing space for a new Older Adult Center, health center and pharmacy on site, and the Corona Residences offering 67 affordable senior units that were built to the environmentally friendly Passive Housing standards, in addition to offering a new Pre-K on the ground floor.
LiveOn NY also recommends the City increase the per unit reimbursement rate for SARA services from $5,000 per unit, to $7,500 per unit, allowing for increased staff to more adequately address social isolation and significant case assistance needs. This increased reimbursement rate would make services better available to support an aging and formerly homeless tenant population, in turn enabling more older New Yorkers to age in place and avoid institutionalization.
Increasing capital funding for public housing to support upgrades throughout NYCHA buildings and improve infrastructure to accommodate older adults. NYCHA is also one of the largest sources of affordable housing for older adults, with 38% of households headed by an adult age 62 or older. However, NYCHA faces its own set of challenges. For one, the current condition of the housing poses a safety risk for older occupants. Poor ventilation systems, broken elevators, leaking roofs, lead paint on the walls, broken locks on the doors, and unattended water damage are just some of the challenges that older tenants continue to face. Further, community-based providers operating Senior Centers in NYCHA are not immune to these challenges, particularly when receiving fines for infrastructure related violations that are wholly out of the provider’s control.
Notably, the City must also invest in the workforce of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), by hiring new staff required to ensure that affordable housing goals can be met. While the pace of development has only quickened in recent years, hiring freezes and now PEGS have resulted in understaffing at HPD that puts the entirety of our City’s affordable housing goals at risk.
LiveOn NY encourages that attention also be paid to improving work order processes initiated by community-based organizations offering services within NYCHA facilities. Community-based organizations operating within NYCHA buildings, such as older adult centers, are critical resources for NYCHA residents and the community at-large. These spaces must also be considered when updating work order processes or should be funded directly to address maintenance concerns considered outside the purview of the authority.
Additionally, it is critical that the City prioritize public and institutional land (e.g., hospitals, libraries, etc.) for affordable senior housing. By prioritizing institutional land such as hospitals in particular, the City will reflect an understanding of the connections between health and housing, and a commitment to treating housing as the social-determinant of health that it is.
Improve the Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption “SCRIE.” The ability for seniors and individuals with disabilities living in certain housing types to freeze rents helps to ensure thousands of older New Yorkers will not be priced out of their housing as rents otherwise continue to rise. Despite the strength of this program, it remains underutilized and does not ensure affordability as it caps rents at the period of application, which may already be a place of severe-rent burden for the tenant. To respond to this, LiveOn NY recommends the City continues its strong outreach effort to ensure older adults know about and enroll in SCRIE.
Proposed Legislation
Intro. 676
LiveOn NY supports the intent of Intro. 676, which would require the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) to develop a list of universal design principles and require a percentage of dwelling units receiving city financial assistance to be universal design units. Much of the City’s housing infrastructure is inadequate to accommodate an older adult’s health and mobility needs, with 70% of the City’s housing stock only navigable by at least one set of stairs. This bill is an opportunity to incorporate universal design into dwelling units to ensure housing is accessible for everyone, regardless of age, physical ability or stature. However, LiveOn NY recommends the City gather input from nonprofit community housing providers and ensure adequate funding is allocated to support community-based housing providers with the ability to comply with universal design requirements.
LiveOn NY supports the intent of Intro. 584, which would require the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) to provide tenants with disabilities with information about legal services when such tenants are facing eviction. While this bill is a step forward to address the housing crisis among people living with a disability, we urge the City to work in coordination with community-based organizations with existing housing programs and legal services (ex. The Assigned Counsel Project) that are an additional trusted resource for older New Yorkers and people living with disabilities.
LiveOn NY supports the intent of Intro. 322, which would require the installation in multiple dwellings of certain protective devices for older adults and persons with disability in multiple dwellings. 35.5% of the City's older adult people 65 and older have reported having some form of disability. This is significantly higher than among the population at large, and is a reality that makes certain housing accommodations, such as protective devices including grab bars in the shower, crucial to support the independence of individuals living in the City. Nonetheless, the city should ensure that nonprofit housing providers receive the funding needed for these requirements.
Furthermore, LiveOn NY supports Council Member Caban’s Resolution 236 calling upon the New York State Legislature to pass, and the Governor to sign, S.5102/A.1475, which would allow municipalities and localities that have a senior citizen rent increase exemption program to establish an automatic enrollment program for eligible seniors to be automatically enrolled or automatically re-enrolled in the program. Currently, LiveOn NY offers a Benefits Outreach Program, which supports hundreds of older New Yorkers in applying for benefits each year. Through this work we recognize the opportunity to address under-utilization of benefits such as SCRIE by removing barriers in the application processes.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
Testimony to New York City Council on Housing and Buildings Preliminary Budget
Today, more than half of older renters are rent-burdened, as are a third of older homeowners. Further, roughly 2,000 older New Yorkers are living in homeless shelters, a number that is expected to triple by 2030 without significant intervention. LiveOn NY’s own research has found that there are more than 200,000 older adults languishing on waiting lists for affordable housing through the HUD 202 program, each waiting for 7-10 years on average for a unit to become available. This challenge is mirrored by the thousands of applications that come flooding in each and every time a new affordable senior housing lottery opens on Housing Connect.
New York City Council
Committee on Housing and Buildings
Chair, Council Member Sanchez
March 14, 2022
Oversight - Preliminary Budget Hearing - Housing and Buildings
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
LiveOn NY’s members include more than 100 community-based nonprofits that provide core services which allow all New Yorkers to thrive in our communities as we age, including older adult centers, home-delivered meals, affordable senior housing, elder abuse prevention, caregiver support, NORCs, and case management. With our members, we work to make New York a better place to age.
Background
Even prior to the pandemic, New York was in the grip of a housing crisis that made it difficult for tens of thousands of New Yorkers to find stable housing and make ends meet. Today, more than half of older renters are rent-burdened, as are a third of older homeowners. Further, roughly 2,000 older New Yorkers are living in homeless shelters, a number that is expected to triple by 2030 without significant intervention. LiveOn NY’s own research has found that there are more than 200,000 older adults languishing on waiting lists for affordable housing through the HUD 202 program, each waiting for 7-10 years on average for a unit to become available. This challenge is mirrored by the thousands of applications that come flooding in each and every time a new affordable senior housing lottery opens on Housing Connect.
This crisis is particularly acute for older adults as many rely on fixed incomes, making it difficult to afford the rent while other costs rise. Further, much of the City’s housing infrastructure is inadequate to accommodate an older adult’s health and mobility needs, with 70% of the City’s housing stock only navigable by at least one set of stairs. In addition, NYCHA is a well-known provider of affordable housing for low income older adults, and yet in many situations for many older tenants living in NYCHA, their living experience is plagued by poor ventilation systems, broken elevators, leaking roofs, and recurring mold.
It is critical we address this crisis, as New York is aging rapidly and research shows that the majority of older adults would prefer the opportunity age in their community, surrounded by the networks of support built over a lifetime. Moreover, we’re all aging, and we all have a stake in ensuring there are affordable options to call home throughout the lifecourse.
Recommendations
LiveOn NY is proud to support the recommendations of the United for Housing Coalition, which includes more than 80 organizations that have come together around a set of bold but attainable recommendations to address the housing crisis in our City.
More specifically, LiveOn NY joins the United for Housing Coalition in calling for a $4 billion annual investment to fund a comprehensive affordable housing plan.
This $4 billion capital investment must include a minimum target of 1,000 new units of affordable senior housing with services per year, as part of a total target to construct no fewer than 8,000 new units of housing dedicated to serving extremely low income and homeless households annually. As waitlists and limited housing stock pose an acute challenge for older New Yorkers, a considerable investment and consistent unit targets per year will be critical to paving a pathway out of this crisis.
Further, this investment would build upon the clear success of the City’s Senior Affordable Rental Assistance (SARA) program, which has created incredible community assets in every borough, including examples such as West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing’s (WSFSSH’s) Tres Puentes in the Bronx and HANAC’s Corona Senior Residences in Queens. These two building are clear examples of what is possible through housing, with Tres Puentes not only offering 175 new units of affordable senior housing, but providing space for a new Older Adult Center, health center and pharmacy on site, and the Corona Residences offering 67 affordable senior units that were built to the environmentally friendly Passive Housing standards, in addition to offering a new Pre-K on the ground floor.
This capital investment and overall affordable housing plan must also prioritize the preservation of public housing. By investing $1.5 billion in NYCHA, as part of the larger $4 billion capital investment, the City will take a serious step towards addressing the capital backlog that plagues these buildings across the City. In addition, this investment must prioritize not only the residential units within NYCHA, but support the community spaces such as Older Adult Centers that too have been harmed from decades of disinvestment.
Notably, the City must also invest in the workforce of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), by hiring new staff required to ensure that affordable housing goals can be met. While the pace of development has only quickened in recent years, hiring freezes and now PEGS have resulted in understaffing at HPD that puts the entirety of our City’s affordable housing goals at risk.
Additionally, it is critical that the City prioritize public and institutional land (e.g., hospitals, libraries, etc.) for affordable senior housing. By prioritizing institutional land such as hospitals in particular, the City will reflect an understanding of the connections between health and housing, and a commitment to treating housing as the social-determinant of health that it is.
LiveOn NY also recommends the City increase the per unit reimbursement rate for SARA services from $5,000 per unit, to $7,500 per unit, allowing for increased staff to more adequately address social isolation and significant case assistance needs. This increased reimbursement rate would make services better available to support an aging and formerly homeless tenant population, in turn enabling more older New Yorkers to age in place and avoid institutionalization.
The City must fully fund and implement a Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) for essential human services workers. Throughout the duration of the pandemic human services workers, including those providing services in affordable housing, have stepped up to provide critical services, from assisting in scheduling vaccination appointments, to combating social isolation. And yet, human services workers are consistently underpaid for their services as a result of City contracts. In order to rectify this, it is vital that these important workers receive a COLA in the FY 23 budget and in subsequent budgets.
Finally, LiveOn NY also encourages our City colleagues to join us in advocating on the State level for the passage of Senate Bill 4547 and Assembly Bill 4854, which seeks to legalize Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs). ADU legalization will help address our City’s affordable housing crisis, giving homeowners a new source of income, and providing more options for multigenerational families. Older adults especially stand to benefit from the legalization of ADUs, both because it would create more affordable homes, and second because it would allow more seniors to age in place by giving older homeowners the ability to have a live-in caretaker, or more income to pay expenses.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
ALERT: Off the Fiscal Cliff Campaign
Seniors are overburdened in housing costs. Often paying more than 50% of their income on rent, whether they are enrolled in NY Rent Freeze (SCRIE/DRIE) or not. Because the Rent Freeze Program is one of the key tools to preserve affordable seniors housing AND allows older adults' to remain at home as they age - we must ensure that NYC improve its policies to help seniors off the fiscal cliff.
LiveOn NY is starting a new Campaign - OFF THE FISCAL CLIFF - and we need your help today. Here are the details:
What we are advocating for: 1) Continued outreach efforts to spread awareness about the NY Rent Freeze Program AND 2) A policy change within the NY Rent Freeze Program so that rental costs are capped at 1/3 of a senior's income and for those already enrolled - a rollback to the 1/3 level.
Purpose: LiveOn NY works closely with key partners including the NYC Department of Finance, Department for the Aging & Human Resource Administration to make sure each eligible older person is aware of the NY Rent Freeze Program. The public-private partnerships that are addressing under-enrollment in the program are a critical way to spread the awareness. We want to ensure these efforts continue and expand outreach, as we know that seniors are overburdened in housing costs. Often paying more than 50% of their income on rent, whether they are enrolled in NY Rent Freeze (SCRIE/DRIE) or not. Because the Rent Freeze Program is one of the key tools to preserve affordable seniors housing AND allows older adults' to remain at home as they age - we must ensure that NYC improve its policies to help seniors off the fiscal cliff.
Who we are targeting: New York City and State Elected Officials, Policymakers and other key stakeholders
What you can do!
SIGN ON TO THE CAMPAIGN TODAY (Click here)
FORWARD THE SIGN-ON LINK TO YOUR CONTACTS
SHARE ON SOCIAL MEDIA (info below)
More Facts about the issue:
- 200,000 older New Yorkers are on waiting lists for affordable senior housing, for an average of 7 years
- 4 out of 10 seniors report not knowing about NY Rent Freeze
- Too many seniors find out about their eligibility during an affordability crisis
- Almost 60% of seniors who are enrolled in SCRIE continue to experience heavy rent burden, with average annual incomes between $11,000 and $12,000. They find out about the benefit too late and cannot have the benefit “rolled-back” to an affordable level.
- NYC must rollback and cap rents at 1/3 of household income to help seniors off the fiscal cliff.
- Click here to check out our infographics highlighting the alarming SCRIE statistics.
Sign our Campaign. Share on Social Media. Be an Advocate
MEDIA: Seniors applaud Mayor de Blasio’s affordable housing plan at rally
Seniors applaud Mayor de Blasio’s affordable housing plan at rally
By: MAGEE HICKEY
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
Publication & Publisher: PIX 11
ASTORIA, Queens— Helene Gwenn, 79, of Astoria says she's a prisoner in her own home. It's a fifth floor walk up on 30th Road that she has lived in for close to 40 years.
Helene, who has a heart condition and has trouble walking up five flights more than once a day, has been on a waiting list for senior affordable housing with an elevator for two years.
She is is one of 20,000 seniors in Western Queens waiting to get into affordable senior housing, said to be tougher to get into than Harvard.
"I limit myself to one excursion a day," Gwenn told PIX11. "My doctor would prefer I don't live in a walk up," she said.
Helene's city Councilmember Costa Constantides just voted in favor of Mayor de Blasio's zoning proposals because of the need for more senior housing in his district. The district includes Astoria, Jackson Heights, Woodside and Elmhurst.
"They are our mothers, grandmothers, fathers and brothers and they really need this housing," Costa Constantinides, the City Council Member from that section of Queens told PIX11.
The mayor's plan calls for a sweeping overhaul of the city's housing policy giving incentives to developers to include some affordable housing for seniors and low-income families in all projects that need city approval.
Right now, more than 200,000 older New Yorkers across the city are on waiting lists for affordable housing. The wait time is seven years.
Maria Pedemonte's brother has been in the waiting list for five years.
"He's been waiting and he really wants to live in Astoria," Maria Pedemonte told PIX11.
MEDIA: 20,000 Seniors Hold Out for Affordable Housing in Western Queens
There's more demand for affordable housing for seniors in areas around Astoria than any other part of the city
Stefan Schack
There's more demand for affordable housing for seniors in areas around Astoria than any other part of the city
By: EMILY NONKO
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
Publication & Publisher: Curbed New York
There's a waitlist of nearly 20,000 seniors hoping to secure affordable housing in Western Queens neighborhoods like Astoria, Woodside, East Elmhurst and Jackson Heights. The district, which has seven affordable housing buildings for seniors, has more demand than any other part of the city.
The senior advocacy group LiveOn NY released a survey, picked up by DNAinfo, that found 111,000 seniors are on waitlists for affordable housing in New York, with an average wait time of seven years. (It's been said that it's easier to get into Harvard than secure an affordable senior apartment here.) Despite three senior housing developments built in Astoria by HANAC, Inc. over the past 10 years, the waitlist numbers in Western Queens are far higher than any other district in the city. HANAC's developments have a total of 350 units but there's a waitlist of 13,000 for just those three buildings.
LiveOn NY released the survey in support of the mayor's controversial housing proposals, just approved this week. The City Council strongly supported Zoning for Quality and Affordability (ZQA) and Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH), which ensure more senior and affordable housing is included in denser buildings.
Claire Hilger, the senior vice president for real estate with Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens—which runs two senior buildings in Astoria with a waitlist of 1,300—told DNAinfo she believes a number of vacant parking lots at their developments could be used for more housing under the zoning change.
Councilmember Costa Constantinides, of Astoria, told DNAinfo that the dire need for senior housing convinced him to vote for the zoning changes this week. And Bobbi Sackman, director of public policy at LiveOn NY, sees the discussion around rezoning as a step in the right direction. "The whole ZQA debate, it opens a door, literally, to the city's awareness," she told DNAinfo. "You can't go backwards. You can't now close that door and say you never knew."