BY COLE SINANIAN | cole@queensledger.com
More elderly and disabled New Yorkers could soon benefit from a City rental assistance program, thanks to new legislation sponsored by Flatbush City Council Member Farah Louis.
On Friday, September 18, the City Council’s Committee on Aging heard testimony on Intro 978, a bill that would raise the qualifying income threshold for the Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE) and Disability Rent Increase Exemption (DRIE) programs from $50,000 to $75,000 a year, expanding the number of New Yorkers who can enroll in the program.
SCRIE and DRIE ensures rent freezes to eligible senior and disabled citizens by providing landlords with property tax abatements equal to the amount of rent forgiven. According to the City’s Department Finance, 67,677 New Yorkers received SCRIE or DRIE assistance in 2024.
“For those who are enrolled, the program provides meaningful relief,” Louis said in her testimony Friday. “By raising the threshold to $75,000, we can extend this important protection to more New Yorkers and strengthen housing stability for people who have spent decades building their lives and communities here in New York City.”
First introduced in July, the legislation has received support from 30 council members, as well as organizations like Woodside on the Move, AARP, the Metropolitan Council on Housing, Tenants & Neighbors, LiveOn NY, the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board, the Cooper Square Committee and others.
The SCRIE program was established in 1970, and it was expanded to include disabled New Yorkers in 2005. Now, with rampant inflation nationwide and rising costs of living, supporters of the legislation argue that the program’s $50,000 income cap no longer reflects the lived reality of low and middle-earners.
“For older New Yorkers and New Yorkers with disabilities, these programs are the difference between remaining in your home and being priced out of your community,” said Brooklyn City Council Member Shahana Hanif — one of the bill’s co-sponsors — at a rally in support of the bill on the steps of City Hall Friday.
“SCRIE and DRIE are not doing enough,” she continued. “We know that New Yorkers who are part of these programs are still paying too much in rent and are rent burdened.”
A City Council report estimated that, if Louis’ legislation passes, 12,200 residential units would become newly eligible for SCRIE and DRIE, with a $1,470,724 reduction in property tax revenue for the City in 2027.
According to the NYC Department for the Aging, between 19 and 25% New Yorkers will be over 60 by 2030, while a 2024 report from the Comptroller’s office estimated that 1 in 6 New Yorkers have a mental or physical disability.
In addition to income caps, SCRIE and DRIE include numerous eligibility requirements. Recipients must be renter who live in a rent-regulated household and spend more than a third of their monthly income on rent. For a full list of requirements, head to nyc.gov/site/rentfreeze/index.page.
