If you or someone you love is a senior citizen or disabled resident, and they are on the city’s Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE) or Disabled Rent Increase Exemption (DRIE) program, a bill sponsored by Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz (A.7914-A) to strengthen SCRIE and DRIE is currently awaiting the Governor’s signature. Recently, the New York Department of Finance, which administers SCRIE and DRIE, determined that about 5,000 seniors and disabled residents who depend on these programs were either facing rent hikes or were declared ineligible for the programs. They only learned about the mistake after being notified by the city that they’d have to pay back rent to their landlords as a result.Assemblyman Cymbrowitz’s bill, which was sponsored in the Senate by Senator Diane Savino, will prevent seniors and persons with disabilities from being dropped from SCRIE or DRIE due to recent changes in the administration of the program by the New York City Department of Finance. Rather than penalize those who reapplied for the program and followed the applicable guidelines, this bill would grandfather those individuals into the program with their frozen rent as of January 1, 2015. Going forward, new applicants would be subject to the 1/3 ratio of rent-to-income.Assemblyman Cymrobowitz’s legislation creates a bridge for individuals whose rent increase exemption expired on or after December 31, 2013, and whose income made them ineligible to renew the benefit, but who were eligible under the increased income limit that took effect on July 1, 2014. This bridge would allow these individuals to regain their previous frozen rent amount as if they had not left SCRIE or DRIE, rather than the higher rent that was set under the new income limit.As Chair of the Aging Committee, Assemblyman Cymbrowitz also sponsored two other bills which would:
- make certain tax abatement forms more accessible to seniors and authorize certain entities to assist in the completion of tax abatement forms (A.5320); and
- allow SCRIE or DRIE participants to get back to their previous frozen rent if they reapply after a non-recurring item of income makes them temporarily ineligible for SCRIE or DRIE for a year (A.8228).
For more information, contact MDC’s Bilingual Housing Counselor Nina Akopyan at 718-376-0999, or Assemblyman Cymbrowitz‘s office at 718-743-4078. |
