RVT: Let’s Help Ourselves!

QUESTION: How does SCRIE help River View Towers cooperative corporation and River View Towers cooperator-shareholders?

ANSWER: The SCRIE (Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption) program allows eligible Mitchell-Lama shareholders aged 62 and over to “freeze” their monthly maintenance by providing the Mitchell-Lama cooperative corporation with a tax abatement that equals the difference between the frozen maintenance and future increases in maintenance for the apartment. This means River View Towers SCRIE-eligible senior citizens can stay in their homes, even with future maintenance increases, and River View Towers Inc’s yearly total tax bill is lowered by that difference. The SCRIE program expanded to include the same exemption for disabled citizens known as DRIE (Disabled Rent Increase Exemption).

QUESTION: What can all RVT cooperator-residents do to support SCRIE/DRIE legislation in Albany, New York?

ANSWER: The New York State budget has a deadline of April 1, 2026, and our Senator Cordell Cleare and Assembly Member Jordan Wright are in Albany working on it right now. We need to let them know what current legislation is important to us and urge them to support that legislation. ACT NOW. HOW? Make phone calls to their Albany and New York City offices, email them, and most important:  tell them why it is important to us – how it affects us personally.  Every resident at River View Towers should act now because current SCRIE/DRIE legislation will help River View Towers stay affordable and whatever is put in place to support senior citizens now will support all of us sooner or later – because we’re all getting older every day. The “ABC” of Advocacy: When communicating, use the Ask (specific bill number), Because (logical reasons for support), and Connect (personal stories about how the bill affects you).

Key 2025-2026 Legislation:

Income Threshold Increases: S1764 seeks to increase the maximum income eligibility from the current limit to up to $75,000 to keep pace with the cost of living. How it affects us: More of our senior citizens who live on fixed income will be eligible for SCRIE and able to stay here in our River View Towers community with us as costs continue to rise. They are our grandparents, our neighbors, our friends, our teachers, the people we go to for advice, the people who have taken care of us. Our cooperative River View Towers is struggling to meet its expenses, and this will help lower one of those expenses: our cooperative’s tax bill.

Automatic Adjustments (CPI): S1457A aims to automatically adjust income limits annually based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), rather than relying on periodic legislative updates. Why support this: River View Towers senior citizens’ incomes are not rising as fast as the costs to operate our cooperative are. Automatic increases keyed to the Consumer Price Index just make sense and save time so our elected representatives, so you can discuss and vote on other issues that are important to us.

Retroactive Benefits: S2534 allows the rent freeze to be retroactive to the date the applicant first became eligible, rather than just from the date of application submission. How this will help: River View Towers senior citizens are seeing their fixed incomes cover less. My neighbors are having to choose between buying what their grandchildren and families need, and/or taking care of their own health by eating or taking medications – both critical to their health and quality of life. Making our eligible seniors’ monthly maintenance freeze at the lowest level will make their fixed incomes go further.

Rent Reduction Proposal: S2451A permits municipalities to reduce rent payments to one-third of household income for eligible DRIE/SCRIE participants. Why this is important: If our eligible River View Towers senior citizens know their monthly maintenance will never go above one third of their fixed income, they can budget that cost for life, giving them a greater sense of security, and our cooperative will also benefit from the tax abatement for the difference as operating costs will continue to rise.

The Time to Act is NOW!

1. Direct Communication with Legislators. The most effective way to influence a bill’s success is by contacting your specific representatives in the State Senate and Assembly:

• Call or Email: Call elected representatives in Albany or New York City. Phone calls are often counted more formally than mass emails.

Call and email Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie:
Email address: Speaker@nyassembly.gov
Phone numbers: 718-654-6539 (Bronx); 518-455-3791 (Albany)

Call and email Assembly Member Jordan J.G. Wright:
Email address: ad70@nyassembly.gov
Phone numbers: 212-866-5809 (Harlem); 518-455-4793 (Albany)

Call and email Senator Cordell Cleare:
Email address: dist30@nysenate.gov
Harlem phone numbers: 212-222-7315, 212-678-0001
Albany phone numbers: 518-455-2441, 518-426-6809

• Share Personal Stories: Personal experiences are highly valued by legislators as they help “humanize” the policy and demonstrate real-world impacts.

2. Digital Participation via NYSenate.gov. The NYSenate.gov Citizen Guide offers several tools for tracking and supporting legislation:

• Vote “Aye”: On any bill page, you can click “Aye” to officially register your support, which is shared directly with your Senator’s office.
• Follow Bills: Click “Follow” on a bill (e.g., S1457A for DRIE/SCRIE updates) to receive email alerts on its status and upcoming committee hearings.
• Sign Petitions: Many Senators create official petitions on the website to rally public support for specific causes.

3. Grassroots and Group Advocacy. There is “strength in numbers” when attempting to sway legislative priorities. Work to influence your RVT neighbors by going to meetings of RVT’s Community Relations Committee and:

• Join with Advocacy Groups: like Cooperators United for Mitchell-Lama, Mitchell-Lama Residents Coalition, the Community Service Society of New York and Volunteers of Legal Service to preserve the Mitchell-Lama program and amplify the push for stronger tenant protections and Citizen Action of New York that coordinates “Days of Action” and bus trips to Albany for face-to-face lobbying.
• Social Media: Tag your representatives in posts regarding specific bills. While not a substitute for direct contact, high volume on social media can draw significant attention from legislative staff.

Photo credit: CC-BY-SA-3.0/Matt H. Wade at Wikipedia