“For older New Yorkers, these changes would be transformative. People are living longer than ever before, but our housing policies have not kept up.”
An early evening games of dominoes at Serviam Gardens, an affordable housing complex for seniors in the Bronx. (Adi Talwar)
Older New Yorkers deserve a safe, affordable place to live. Across New York City and State, our member organizations work daily with people living in homes they can no longer maintain—row houses and duplexes that feel impossibly large once children have grown or partners have passed away.
Meanwhile, younger families can’t find an affordable place to live. Someone in Kingsbridge told me recently that they wish they could move into a small apartment nearby to leave their house to a family that needs it, but they couldn’t find anything affordable. These are people who want to downsize, but who are stuck in place because there is nowhere else in their communities for them to go. This story is not unique. It is the story of tens of thousands of older New Yorkers.
The numbers are staggering: over 500,000 older New Yorkers are on the waiting list for affordable housing, with average waits stretching beyond a decade. For many, a decade is longer than they can afford to wait. Behind each number is a person facing the daily uncertainty of where they will live out their later years—whether they can age with dignity, or whether they will spend their final chapter in limbo.
This November, New Yorkers will have the chance to vote on a more stable, affordable future for housing in New York City. On the ballot are several proposals to reform our City Charter (essentially New York City’s constitution) that could accelerate the production of affordable housing. These changes won’t solve every problem overnight. But by voting yes, New York voters are taking an important step that cuts out the red tape that keeps desperately needed housing from being built.
Question 2 would fast track affordable housing. This measure would streamline approvals for publicly financed affordable housing. Right now, even projects with broad community support can spend years winding through a slow and cumbersome land use process. By moving applications through faster channels, this proposal would get homes built more quickly and ensure they are spread across every neighborhood.
Question 3 would speed up small-scale projects. In too many cases, modest housing developments, like small apartment buildings in lower-density neighborhoods, never get off the ground because the costs and delays of the review process are simply too high. This proposal would allow those smaller, much-needed projects to move forward, while still preserving opportunities for community input.
Question 4 would establish a housing appeals board. Too often, affordable housing proposals are sunk by politics. A mayoral veto or a single councilmember’s opposition can stop homes from being built, even when the need is obvious. This measure would create an Affordable Housing Appeals Board to ensure that good projects get a fair shot and aren’t derailed by political maneuvering.
For older New Yorkers, these changes would be transformative. People are living longer than ever before, but our housing policies have not kept up. Our seniors want to remain in their communities—close to friends, neighbors, faith institutions, and the neighborhoods that they call home—but they need affordable, accessible housing options to do so. Without that, they face choices no New Yorker should have to face: remain in unsafe or unmanageable housing, or leave behind the communities that sustain them.
Of course, building more affordable housing also benefits the city as a whole. When an older adult can move into a safe, affordable apartment, a family can move into the larger home they leave behind. That’s how we create a healthier housing pipeline that works across generations.
Of course, production alone is not enough. We still need targeted investments for older New Yorkers. Despite 20 percent of our city’s residents being over 60, housing funding does not adequately address older New Yorkers’ needs. Programs like the Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE) are lifelines that keep older adults in their homes, and LiveOn NY is actively working to maximize the program’s potential to benefit older New Yorkers, but even the best SCRIE programs will always fall short of our demand.
Our city government must continue to work to ensure that our housing budget serves older New Yorkers, and as we rethink our charter, we must also commit to equity in resource allocation.
But here is the truth: none of those supports matter if there are no homes available in the first place. The first and most urgent step is to unlock more affordable housing, faster. Questions 2, 3, and 4 will help us do exactly that.
Our community doesn’t want special favors. New Yorkers want fairness, dignity, and the ability to remain part of the communities we built as we age. We want the security of knowing they will not spend the last decade of their lives on a waiting list.
This November, I urge every New Yorker to vote yes on Questions 2, 3, and 4. A vote for these proposals is a vote to cut red tape, unlock affordable housing across neighborhoods, and give all of us the dignity of a home that we can count on, today and tomorrow.
Allison Nickerson is the executive director of LiveOn NY, a not for profit focused on senior services and aging in New York City and throughout New York State.
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