File #: Res 0985-2025    Version: * Name: Retroactively freezes the rent at which a SCRIE or DRIE enrollee pays at the level it was when they first became eligible, or at the level it was two years before they entered the program (S.2534/ A.7851)
Type: Resolution Status: Committee
Committee: Committee on Aging
On agenda: 7/14/2025
Enactment date: Law number:
Title: Resolution calling on the New York State Assembly to pass, A.7851, and the Governor to sign, S.2534/A.7851, which retroactively freezes the rent at which a SCRIE or DRIE enrollee pays at the level it was when they first became eligible, or at the level it was two years before they entered the program, given that entrance into the program occurred more than two years after they first became eligible.
Sponsors: Adrienne E. Adams, Crystal Hudson, Gale A. Brewer
Council Member Sponsors: 3
Attachments: 1. Res. No. 985, 2. July 14, 2025 - Stated Meeting Agenda

Res. No. 985

Resolution calling on the New York State Assembly to pass, A.7851, and the Governor to sign, S.2534/A.7851, which retroactively freezes the rent at which a SCRIE or DRIE enrollee pays at the level it was when they first became eligible, or at the level it was two years before they entered the program, given that entrance into the program occurred more than two years after they first became eligible.

 

By The Speaker (Council Member Adams) and Council Members Hudson and Brewer

 

                     Whereas, The Senior Citizens Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE) and the Disability Rent Increase Exemption (DRIE) programs were established in 1970 and 2005 respectively in order to provide assistance to older tenants and tenants with disabilities who reside in rent-controlled and rent-stabilized apartments; and

                     Whereas, SCRIE and DRIE assists enrollees by freezing their rent at the rate they were paying upon their enrollment in the program, protecting them from skyrocketing living costs; and

                     Whereas, The eligibility requirements for SCRIE and DRIE are mostly the same, with both programs requiring the tenant to live in and be named on the lease or rental agreement of a rent-controlled, rent-regulated, or rent-stabilized apartment, to have a total annual household income less than $50,000, and to pay more than one-third of their total household income towards rent; and

                     Whereas, The only differences in eligibility requirements between SCRIE and DRIE are that the age requirement for SCRIE is 62 and the age requirement for DRIE is 18, and that DRIE has the added requirement that a tenant must have been awarded one of the following: (1) Federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI); (2) Federal Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI); (3) U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs disability pension or compensation; or (4) disability-related Medicaid, if the tenant has received either SSI or SSDI in the past; and

                     Whereas, According to data from New York City’s (NYC) Department of Finance (DOF), who is responsible for overseeing almost all of SCRIE and DRIE, there were a total of 61,260 beneficiaries enrolled in the programs in 2023; and

                     Whereas, Despite the availability of these benefits, the Office of the New York State Comptroller reports that 60% of older tenants were rent burdened in NYC in 2023, spending 30% or more of their gross income on rent, and even if an older New Yorker is enrolled in SCRIE or DRIE, they will often still pay more than 50% of their income on rent, according to LiveOn NY; and

                     Whereas, In order to alleviate this burden on vulnerable New Yorkers, Senator Robert Jackson and Assembly Member Linda B. Rosenthal introduced S.2534/A.7851, which will freeze the rent a SCRIE or DRIE enrollee pays based on the rent they were paying on the day they first became eligible for the program, or, if they enter the program more than two years after their initial eligibility, the rent they were paying two years before they entered the program; and

                     Whereas, This bill will serve to protect vulnerable New Yorkers by shielding them from rent hikes that occur after they become eligible for the program, ensuring that they are not penalized for not knowing about the program or not applying quickly enough; and

                     Whereas, S. 2434 has already passed the New York State Senate; now, therefore, be it

                     Resolved, that the Council of the City of New York calls on the New York State Assembly to pass, A.7851, and the Governor to sign, S.2534/A.7851, which retroactively freezes the rent at which a SCRIE or DRIE enrollee pays at the level it was when they first became eligible, or at the level it was two years before they entered the program, given that entrance into the program occurred more than two years after they first became eligible.

JN

LS 15188, 15307, & 19771

7/1/2025