Gov. Hochul has proposed expanding an initiative that freezes rent for senior and disabled tenants in exchange for property tax relief. But the program has a low uptake rate, and stagnant enrollment. Can the state get tenants to use it?

Apartment buildings in Manhattan. (Adi Talwar/City Limits)

Rarely are tenants, landlords, legislators, and executives all in agreement. But in New York State, they appear to be on the same page when it comes to freezing the rent for low income seniors and people with disabilities.

In her State of the State address last month, Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed expanding a lesser-known program that freezes the rent for seniors or people with disabilities who have low incomes. The lost rent increases are offset by a property tax credit for landlords. 

Not to be confused with Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s promised rent freeze for all rent stabilized tenants, the Senior and Disability Rent Increase Exemptions (known as SCRIE and DRIE, respectively) are targeted to eligible households with incomes below $50,000.

Now the governor wants to raise eligibility to $75,000. But supporters of the program say that won’t be enough: the city needs more to get people to actually use the exemptions. “Many, many people who are eligible are not aware of them… and don’t apply,” said New York State Senate Housing Chair Brian Kavanagh.

A 2025 report from the city’s Department of Finance estimated that just 42 percent of households eligible for the program were using it in 2023, down from 56 percent in 2019.

Total enrollment fell from 75,000 recipients in 2019 to 68,000 in 2024, despite DOF’s estimates that there were more eligible households. Participants have to be living in rent-regulated apartments and pay more than 30 percent of their income in rent to be eligible for the freeze.  The report notes that utilization rates have gone down in part because buildings owners reported more rent stabilized units to the state.

Kavanagh helped put together a package of bills in the New York State Senate that would tie SCRIE and DRIE eligibility to inflation, ensure no tenant in the program pays more than 30 percent of their income in rent, and require notice be sent to all eligible tenants.

While Hochul backs raising the eligibility cap to $75,000, she would not say if she supports the suite of bills that supporters say are critical to getting the program to work.

“Governor Hochul will review any legislation that passes both houses of the legislature,”  a spokesperson said in a statement to City Limits.

Barbara Collins, a senior who lives in a Mitchell-Lama apartment, said that she was pushed just out of eligibility range because the city’s formula counts her Medicaid premiums as income. In addition to raising the income threshold and tying it to inflation, Collins called for excluding those premiums in income calculations.

“This is crazy. It’s so hard for seniors in New York City,” said Collins, who has also been pushing lawmakers to help seniors better understand the program’s complicated application.

Even if officials vote to raise the income threshold, advocates worry that having a hard cap on eligibility might kick tenants off the program later on as they get cost of living adjustments.

“Without tying the income threshold to cost of living adjustments for seniors and folks with disabilities, this will be a temporary fix,” said Genesis Aquino, executive director at Tenants & Neighbors. “Tenants will continue to lose eligibility every year as rents and basic expenses rise, and the state will be back here again while more low-income people are pushed toward displacement.”

Landlord groups like the New York Apartment Association also support expanding eligibility. CEO Kenny Burgos said that his group tries to educate landlords about the program but thinks the city can do more to reach tenants who may be eligible.

His group opposes the broader rent-stabilized rent freeze that Mamdani championed as part of his affordability-focused election campaign. But it supports the SCRIE and DRIE programs in large part because they offset the costs of rent freezes with property tax credits.

“We’re supportive of it because this is a policy that actually tackles affordability and doesn’t defund buildings,” said Burgos.

Burgos said that rent freezes without accounting for increased costs to landlords lead to distress in rent stabilized properties. Tenant advocates, on the other hand, have argued that a 12 percent rent increase under former Mayor Eric Adams pushed vulnerable households out of the city. 

Mamdani presenting his preliminary city budget on Tuesday, where he floated the possibility of a property tax hike. (Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)

Since SCRIE and DRIE actually take property tax revenues off the city’s roll, it won’t help with what Mamdani is calling a “fiscal crisis” in New York City. The mayor is trying to plug a $5.5 billion hole in the city’s budget and threatening to increase property taxes by 9.5 percent if he can’t convince Albany to raise taxes on the rich.

The larger rent freeze for tenants in stabilized units looks likelier this week after an Adams administration holdover rent guidelines board member resigned. Mamdani on Wednesday appointed six new members to the nine-person board, which is expected to vote on the next round of rent adjustments later this spring. 

But a rent freeze, and the existing SCRIE or DRIE benefit, only does so much to help elderly or disabled renters on fixed incomes who are already rent-burdened.

“I want to make sure that I am not forced to go into my savings. Because right now, I’m paying 78 percent of my income in rent,” said Fitzroy Christian, a tenant in his 80s living in the Bronx. “I have not much left for [electricity] and my groceries.”

Even freezing his rent at that price, he added, “is not a true benefit.”

One of the bills on the table in Albany this session would not just prevent rent increases for SCRIE and DRIE recipients, but lower their rent to 30 percent of their income (while still offsetting the cost through property tax credits).

Such a policy would lower the rent burden for elderly and disabled tenants even under a promised citywide rent stabilized rent freeze. “We have many tenants in rent stabilized housing taking 40 or 50 percent of their income in rent,” said Kavanagh.

Supporters think that the common sense changes will help enrollment. But they’re also calling for better outreach efforts so tenants can learn about the program. Elderly and disabled folks, who may be more likely to be at home, might be harder to reach. One bill would send a mailer to every eligible tenant.

“Tenants don’t know when and how they can help themselves, and there’s no way for them unless they can afford to hire a very astute tenant landlord lawyer to work for them,” said Collins.

To reach the reporter behind this story, contact Patrick@citylimits.org. To reach the editor, contact Jeanmarie@citylimits.org

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The post Hochul Wants to Expand Rent Freezes for Senior & Disabled New Yorkers. Can the State Get Them to Sign Up? appeared first on City Limits.

A fleeting wonder, indeed.

After opening to the public for the first time in more than a decade on Monday, it looks like the ice caves of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in Wisconsin will be closed for the season after a winter storm blew through.

“The ice shelf near Meyers Beach at Apostle Islands National Lakeshore was broken up during a winter storm that began on 2/17,” the National Park Service reported. “The stretch of sub-zero temperatures and calm winds that formed stable ice is unlikely to return before spring.”

Webcam images from wavesatseacaves.cee.wisc.edu show the change between 4 p.m. on Tuesday and 8 a.m. on Wednesday.

Before Monday, the last time the caves were open to the public was 2015.

Watch for more updates at nps.gov/apis/mainland-caves-winter.htm.

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By JOSH FUNK, Associated Press

More than 550 commercial driving schools in the U.S. that train truckers and bus drivers must close after investigators found they employed unqualified instructors, failed to adequately test students and had other safety issues, the federal Transportation Department planned to announce Wednesday.

The move marks the Transportation Department’s latest effort to improve safety in the trucking industry. And unlike its previous actions last fall to decertify up to 7,500 schools that included many defunct operations, this latest step is focused on what it deemed were active schools with significant shortcomings that inspectors identified in 1,426 site visits.

The department has been aggressively going after states that handed out commercial driver’s licenses to immigrants who shouldn’t have qualified for them ever since a fatal crash in August. A truck driver that Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says was not authorized to be in the U.S. made an illegal U-turn and caused a crash in Florida that killed three people. Other fatal crashes since then, including one in Indiana earlier this month that killed four, have only added to the concerns.

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Duffy said 448 schools failed to meet basic safety standards. Inspectors found shortcomings such as employing unqualified instructors, failing to test students’ skills or teach them how to handle hazardous materials and using the wrong equipment to teach drivers. Another 109 schools removed themselves from the registry of schools when they learned that inspectors were planning to visit.

“American families should have confidence that our school bus and truck drivers are following every letter of the law and that starts with receiving proper training before getting behind the wheel,” Duffy said.

The list of schools that officials want to decertify now are generally smaller ones, including a number of programs run by school districts. The bigger, more reputable schools were generally not included in this action. Another 97 schools are currently under investigation for compliance issues.

Part of the problem in the trucking industry is that schools and trucking companies can essentially self certify themselves when they apply to begin operating, observers note, and questionable operations might not be caught until much later when the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration gets a chance to audit them.

It wasn’t immediately clear how many students were enrolled at these schools that are being decertified. But there is some cushion in the industry right now because there are currently more drivers than needed in the midst of a 10% drop in shipments since 2022 because of the economic uncertainty. Although many trucking companies still struggle to find enough well-qualified drivers with clean records.

In addition to threatening to withhold federal funding from states that don’t clean up their commercial driver’s license programs, the Trump Administration has been focused on making sure truck drivers meet English proficiency standards. California is the only state to lose funding so far with the federal government planning to withhold $160 million.

The long-held playoff mantra of “survive and advance” aptly describes the 2025-26 Lakeville North girls’ hockey season, which concludes this week with the Panthers back in the Class 2A state tournament for the first time since 2023.

The “advance” portion has been marked by notable drama.

Lakeville North players Allie Ablen (lett), Maizee Storey (center) and Mali Carlson (right) celebrate a goal during the Panthers’ 2026 sectional playoff run.(Courtesy of Mark Hvidsten)

Seeded third in their section, the Panthers got a 1-0 overtime shutout from junior goalie Beth Bigalke to knock off No. 2 seed Rosemount in the semifinals, then required two overtimes and another clean sheet from Bigalke to beat top seeded Apple Valley in the section final.

“She let one (puck) go in all sections, so she’s been amazing,” said senior defender Carly Hanson of Bigalke, who brings a .925 saves percentage and a 1.58 goals against average into the Panthers’ quarterfinal matchup with defending champ and top-seeded Hill-Murray at 11 a.m. Thursday at Grand Casino Arena.

The “survive” part came last fall, when head coach Buck Kochevar’s 21st season behind the Lakeville North bench looked unlikely for a time. A complaint was filed against Kochevar by a small group of parents regarding the coach’s communication with his team, and was fueled by disagreements over playing time.

After a six-month investigation by the school, Kochevar was asked to resign his coaching position in early October. He declined, and was placed on administrative leave.

Just a few days later, a Lakeville School Board meeting witnessed 19 Panthers players and several parents testify publicly in support of Kochevar staying on as coach. His administrative leave was lifted the next day.

“All I know is that’s not the way I wanted to go out, and it wasn’t going to be that way if I had anything to do with it,” Kochevar said, stressing that he felt it was vital to push back against what is seen as a growing youth sports culture where coaches have been targets. “That’s when you have the community back me, the school board back me, the girls, the parents and my staff. I did it for all coaches. If you live the job, you’re gonna fight for it, and hopefully that sent a little message to everybody.”

With that drama in the past, the team quickly jelled on the ice. Kochevar brought together an interesting mix of senior leaders like Sidney Petterssen, who leads the team with 20 goals and 18 assists, and a group of raw but talented eighth-graders who have delivered a dynamic element to the team.

The section tournament drama was nothing new for Lakeville North, which brings a 17-9-2 record to the tournament. The Panthers are battle tested, having played in 15 one-goal games this season.

“They seem like they’ve done it before,” Kochevar said when asked about the level of nerves in facing powerful Hill-Murray. “Maybe the 15 one-goal games have something to do with that. We didn’t win all of those games, but we sure made it interesting.”

Kochevar is the son of an Iron Range sports legend. His father, Bobo, coached football, hockey and baseball in Eveleth, including the 1993 Golden Bears team that won the state Tier II boys’ hockey title. In a nod to his hometown, and to other coaches who have found success on the ice and in the face of critics, Kochevar said on Thursday he may wear a pin commemorating the life and career of the late Willard Ikola, the Eveleth native who coached the Edina boys to eight state titles, and sometimes dealt with off-ice challenges from critics who questioned his style.

And after all of the drama, he and the Panthers are three wins away from fulfilling another dream of a proud Iron Ranger, to hoist the traveling trophy shared by the state’s four prep hockey champions each summer.

“I’ve set a lot of coaching goals, but the one I’ve always wanted to hold up high is the Eveleth Trophy,” Kochevar said. “I have dreams about it, but it hasn’t come to reality. I told that to my mom and she said, ‘I think your dad’s looking down.’ He raised the player and the coach.”

It all sounds like a screenplay-worthy scene in the Panthers’ cinematic season.

Thursday’s Class 2A quarterfinals in St. Paul

No. 1 Hill-Murray (23-3-1) vs. No. 8 Lakeville North (17-9-2), 11 a.m.

No. 4 Edina (20-4-3) vs. No. 5 Bemidji (20-5-1), 1 p.m.

No. 2 Centennial/Spring Lake Park (24-3-1) vs. No. 7 Farmington (22-4-1), 6 p.m.

No. 3 Holy Family (24-3) vs. No. 6 Andover (17-10-1), 8 p.m.

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