Community-based groups in the northwest Bronx care for their senior citizens!  Significant local efforts to assist low-income seniors include the creation of new affordable housing for seniors, the promotion of city programs to keep rents affordable to seniors and a wide array of health, social and recreational services offered by religious institutions, community groups and senior centers.  Affordable, safe and decent housing remains an urgent need for all Bronx residents, and more so for seniors who have limited incomes and often growing physical needs in terms of accessibility and safety.

New York City recently increased the income limits for its NYC Rent Freeze Program also known as SCRIE (Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption) and DRIE (Disabled Rent Increase Exemption), run by the NYC Department of Finance (DOF) and has been actively partnering with elected officials and community groups to increase enrollment.  The program can freeze the rent of a senior or disabled person (in a household earning under $50,000) and exempt them from future increases caused by lease renewals.  In an effort to address under-utilization of the program (see map),  UNHP, Fordham Bedford Housing Corporation (FBHC), West Bronx Housing, POTS and CSS recently worked with the DOF to sponsor  a SCRIE event and assisted over 60 seniors ──similar successful events are being held all over the City.

Hundreds of affordable housing units for low-income seniors have been built in the northwest Bronx using HUD’ s Section 202 program by community -based developers, including  FBHC, the largest community-based developer in NYC and UNHP.   These developments are handicap accessible, provide community space, on-site recreational and social services and rents are capped at 30% of the senior’s income.  Unfortunately, this program has essentially been discontinued, since there have been no new 202 capital funds for 5 years despite high demand  ──according to a survey done by LiveOn NY over 100,000 seniors are on waiting lists for HUD 202 housing in NYC, with over 5,000 seniors from Bronx Council District 15 alone. The need for affordable senior housing will only continue to grow in the years ahead as the number of senior renters nationally is expected to more than double from 5.8 Million in 2010 to 12.2 Million in 2030 (Urban Institute).  Currently in NYC more than 65% of seniors are severely rent burdened, paying more half of their incomes on rent (Enterprise Community Partners, Inc.).

Government at all levels must make a substantial investment to keep seniors in their rental units, and to create new developments with services for seniors to be prepared for the upcoming “Silver Tsunami”.  Let’s do more to assist struggling seniors  ──restore and expand the Federal HUD 202 program, create a new State supported senior housing programs and on the City level continue effort and outreach around the SCRIE and DRIE programs and  increase the level of subsidy to reduce senior rent to 30% of their incomes.

Catherine Clarke works for University Neighborhood Housing Program (UNHP), a community-based group working to create and preserve affordable housing and bring resources to the Northwest Bronx.  If you are a senior (62 and older) or a person who is disabled (18 and over and on SSI/SSD), and live in rent regulated apartment, UNHP can review your eligibility and help you enroll in SCRIE or DRIE (718)933-2539.  Freeze your rent today!

admin

Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.