Committee on Public Housing

Okay, start. Are you ready? Yeah, I'll call the— this hearing is called to order, and I'll— Good morning and welcome to next city council hearing on Committee on Public Safety, Joint with Agents. At this time, we're asking everyone to silence all electronic devices, and at no point in time no one should approach the dais. If you do wish to testify in today's hearing and haven't filled appearance card, please see a sergeant at the back reception table.

Chair, you may begin. Thank you.

And we know we have a tradition. Start this year, we're going to have pictures showing some situation in all the senior centers. Unfortunately, we are not able to get new pictures. A lot of senior centers are afraid to submit the pictures. But that's still ongoing issues. Okay. Good morning. I'm Councilmember Susan Zhuang, chair of the New York City Council's Committee on Aging.

I want to thank you all for being here today for this important oversight hearing on older adults, seniors, older adults centers in NYCHA facilities. I want to thank my co-chair, Councilmember Banks of the Committee of Public Housing, for agreeing to hold this hearing with me. For thousands of older adults in New York City, older adults centers OACs provide vital services.

We— they offer hot meals, provide a sense of community, and promote physical and mental well-being. Beyond that, the dedicated staff and the caseworkers employed at OACs assist older adults in assisting services, provide education on deed theft, and elder abuse, and they ensure that each older adult they work with is equipped with knowledge they need to live safely and securely.

However, OACs face a number of unique challenges. When things break, when aging infrastructure finally begins to fail, repairs can often take substantial time. In that time, OACs may struggle to provide services older adults rely on, if they are able to remain open at all. And for OACs that operate in NYCHA property, these issues are especially acute. I know NYCHA has longstanding infrastructure challenges, which I'm sure my co-chair will touch on.

These issues often extend to the facilities provided by NYCHA to OAC providers. Leaking roof, failing pipe, failing HVAC system, or even fire panel which are not maintained. All those issues cause disruption, and in extreme cases can even present a direct threat to service recipients' safety. OAC providers Have told us when those issues rise, the process for addressing this issue addressing them is unclear.

The division of labor between NICE and the DEFTA is blurry, and that they are sometimes left to deal with those issues such as damage from burst pipe on their own through. They have to do their own fundraising. Furthermore, OAC providers can even find themselves facing fines from agencies like FDNY because failing infrastructure, which they are often not allowed to repair on their own, has left their facility fundamentally unsafe.

And that is a big issue. I'm sure we can all agree that An OAC provider should never struggle on an oath court hearing because NICA and DFTA have not remanded a critical infrastructure failure. We are here today to provide clarity for OAC providers located in NICA facilities on the process for getting those such needed repairs and to hear from agencies themselves where collaboration has failed, where this is working, and what improvement can be— need to be made.

The council and the committees look forward to hearing how we can assist the agency in clear whatever hurdles they are facing. And I want to thank both Commissioner Dr. Lisa Scott McKenzie and Chief Operator Officer Eva Trimble for being here today. Before I pass the mic to my co-chair, I also want to highlight the bill we are hearing today, Intro 1083, sponsored by Councilmember Hudson, could require Commissioner of Aging to designate at least one financial literacy advisor to serve in each OAC for at least 20 hours a month.

This advisor would provide older adults general information about financial literacy, end-of-life preparation, tax preparation, and how to avoid and handle legal issues and scams, which commonly affect older adults. This is often overlooked issue. And I want to thank my colleague Councilmember Hudson for her leadership on this issue. I also want to thank my staff, Jennifer Thomp Moscon, Jade Nash, and the committee staff, Amita Kalawang, Josh Newman, Julia Hamas, Margaret and Colby Porter for their work in preparing for today's hearing.

If I mispronounce anyone's name wrong, please forgive me. I would also like to recognize the following council members who have joined here today: Councilmember Anna Strong, and Councilmember Marte, and Abdul. Thank you, Councilmember And Areola on the Zoom. Now I give the floor to my co-chair, Councilmember Banks, for his opening remarks.

Thank you, Chair Hsuang, and good morning to everyone and welcome to this joint hearing. I am Councilmember Chris Banks, chair of the Public Housing Committee, and I would like to also again thank Chair Hsuang for co-chairing this important hearing with me. Older adult centers are critically important to provider— I'm sorry, older adult centers are critically important provider for thousands of older New Yorkers, especially those residing in public housing.

They provide essential social services while also serving as a regular touchpoint of community and otherwise are crucial to contributions to improving older residents' quality of life. However, the older adult centers have been forced to provide services in far less than ideal conditions. And with NYCHA facilities, they are used to being consistently neglected or in disrepair. Leaking ceilings, broken elevators, pest problems, mold issues, outdated kitchens and bathrooms and more have not only affected the older adult centers, but also the residents receiving their services.

Often the conditions are so bad that the OAC services have to be suspended or halted altogether, leaving both providers and recipients in limbo as they wait for repairs. NYCHA unfortunately does not have a good track record when it comes to maintaining its buildings, and this extends to their facilities that they that are used by the older adult centers.

Importantly, while NYCHA has been under federal monitorship since 2019 to improve its operations and facilitate a baseline standard of hability for NYCHA residents, it has no such monitor when it comes to its commercial facilities that get leased to community service providers like the OACs, And I've received and have heard of countless complaints around the persistent problems that these older adult centers and older residents face because of NYCHA's lack of timely, transparent operations when it comes to repairs.

Further compounding this issue is the lack of clear communication on what is NYCHA's responsibility versus what is the OAC's responsibility. for facility management, leading to additional delays. And it has gotten to the point where the older adult centers resort to paying for repairs out of their own pocket just to resume providing their services to the community instead of waiting on NYCHA for more months.

You know, I'm aware that NYCHA is endeavoring to improve its operations, And I appreciate that we all share the same goal in providing a communal benefit for NYCHA residents, but sentiment only goes so far when actions fail to deliver, especially when the population impacted are our older adults, where the efforts of delays are magnified, and when residents' trust is low.

Thank you. thanks to issues surrounding the PAC conversion process. We must push for more clarity and transparency so that we can all be on the same page. Today's hearing is important for several reasons, not the least of which is establishing with definitive clarity how the OACs can ensure more timely repairs from NYCHA and the distinction between drifters And NYCHA's responsibility.

I'm intent— I intend to— I intend— oh, sorry. I am intent on finding out why NYCHA continues to struggle with meeting the needs of its older residents and with issuing clear lines of communication despite previous council hearings on this issue and legislation creating a liaison. I'm also keen on the understanding of what can be done now to have more immediate relief for the issues presently plaguing the OACs at NYCHA, and what we can do so that moving forward, the older adult centers do not have to bear the undue burden of repairs and can dedicate their focus on their original purpose, which is serving the older adult population.

This hearing will also be a chance to hear how NYCHA is handling the facility repairs and related communications when it comes to developments undergoing and completing PAC conversions. I look forward to hearing from NYCHA, DFTA, and those present today to gather more insight on this issue. I want to also continue to work together with the older adults and the older NYCHA adult residents so that they can live lives with dignity, community, instead of with confusion and hostility.

I would also like to thank my staff, Michael Lambert, Kyle Graham, and along with the Public Housing Committee staff, Jose, Samia, Charles, Spencer, James, Noah, for all the hard work that you've put in in making this hearing Okay, thank you, my co-chair Chris Banks, Councilmember Chris Banks.

Now we will hear from pre-panel older adults, NYCHA residents. And 2 people— Okay, the first one we will have Sarah Mugridge Are you there?

She's all on. Thank you and good morning. Uh, thank you for the opportunity to present testimony today. My name is Sarah Morgridge, and I'm speaking as a board member of Riverstone Senior Life Services. Some of you may already know me as a staff member to Robert Jackson for the 12 years he served as a council member. I currently work as the Senior Manager for Advancement at Literacy and Community, or LINC, where we provide early literacy programming for families with children from birth through 5 years.

So kind of the opposite end of life's bell curve. LINC is the backbone partner for Cities First Readers, the council's only early literacy initiative. Full disclosure, several members of these committees support LINC, and that funding is deeply appreciated. Riverstone is located in Washington Heights and provides really engaging older adult center programming. The art classes are fabulous. The center vibrates with energy, but to tell you the truth, I think it's the pool tables that bring in more men than is usual at a senior center.

There is a very effective social services department and a vital health homes program. Uniquely, Riverstone also operates the borough's only bilingual adult day program for those with dementia or other memory impairments. We would welcome a visit from any of you on these committees to see our programs in action. Riverstone turns 40 this year and has been housed at NYCHA's Senior Development 99 Fort Washington Avenue the whole time.

I joined the board in 2016, but I was also involved with Riverstone through my council staff responsibilities from 2002 to 2013. So I think I have a good background view of the organization. Under NYCHA management, we had a fairly typical nonprofit experience. including no rent since we were a mandated service to support a senior housing development. But under the RAD program, things have shifted dramatically.

So our issue is slightly different than what has been described because our landlord is not NYCHA, but a private developer. So our written testimony that will be submitted later today will provide a lot more detail, but I want to emphasize 4 things today. First, we understand that RAD is intended to benefit the residents. The nonprofit service providers are clearly an afterthought.

I suspect many are individually— many other older adult centers or nonprofit service providers in RAD buildings are individually encountering similar challenges as Riverstone is. Item 2, our relationship with our for-profit developer, Pact Renaissance Corporation, or PRC, has been contentious for many reasons. Among the issues we've faced, they have caused us to lose our property liability coverage twice.

As a board member, operating without insurance is a very perilous situation. The first time we lost coverage was because PRC insisted that repairs from water damage they caused should be claimed against our policy. And when you start working in a building that hasn't been maintained for many years, leaks are inevitable. Our coverage with a longtime vendor was dropped because of too many claims.

For 2 years, PRC carried us under its own policy. We paid the premium, but our deductible soared from $1,000 per incident to $25,000 per incident. PRC refused to continue that arrangement, and we were without property liability insurance from November 25th through February 26th. The coverage we obtained then was canceled in May because outmoded and illegal fire panels were found in the ceiling.

PRC has refused to remove them, which effectively keeps us from obtaining new coverage. Third point, after written assurances by DFTA That signing any lease was voluntary. That was administratively reversed, and PRC is pressuring us to sign a very unfavorable license agreement. Ironically, one stipulation in that agreement is that Riverstone is subject to eviction if we fail to maintain required insurance coverage.

So sit with that for just a minute. They cause us to lose our insurance, and then they can use that as justification for evicting us if we sign their agreement. There are numerous other onerous conditions, such as giving a for-profit contractor the right to change the name of the organization. PRC's license agreement template was provided by NYCHA.

And appears to be framed with for-profit enterprises in mind. There's a lot of language about not being able to operate a funeral parlor or a tattoo parlor or a liquor store. Our objections to the proposed provisions are numerous, and they're spelled out in our written testimony. Fourth point, all of this has diverted the time the energy and the resources of the staff and board from the normal challenges of running an older adult center and serving our community.

It's been a stressful and combative experience. We are at the mercy of a very bottom-line enterprise that has clearly under-budgeted its Manhattan bundle of RAD properties and has its profit margin as its main, if not only, consideration. In fact, the PRC representative once told us that they would need to get the approval of their investors to replace a faulty HVAC system in the memory center.

Riverstone paid for the repair, but surely HVAC comes under the heading of building systems and should be PRC's responsibility. I'm grateful for the opportunity to speak today, and I would be very happy to answer any questions you may have about our experiences, and I'd be very happy for our organization to be involved in formulating whatever next steps take place.

Thank you so much. Thank you. And then next we have Patricia Lynch.

Hi, how are you? Uh, good morning, uh, Councilmember Chris Banks and Duong, members of the Committee on Aging, New York City Aging Commissioner Dr. Scott, Mackenzie, and all distinguished members of New York City Council. My name is Patricia Lynch, and I am the older adult supervisor at Millennium Development. We currently operate 3 older adult centers within NYCHA facilities, with a 4th opening next month.

First, I want to sincerely thank member— City Council Member Chris Banks and New York City Aging for fully supporting our programs, and more importantly, for truly caring about the older adults we serve. Your continued support and understanding of how important these centers are to our community is not going unnoticed, and I am grateful for the opportunity to speak today.

When I think about our older adult centers, I think about the people who walk through our doors every day. People who have worked their entire lives, raised families, contributed to their communities, and now deserve a place where they can simply enjoy this chapter of their lives. For many of our older adults, the center is more than somewhere to go during the day.

It's where they see their friends, share a meal, laugh, participate in activities, and feel like they belong. For some, it may be the only part of the time of the day that they get to conversate with anyone or feel part of something. And that's why these centers mean so much to us. Thank you. We work hard to make our centers feel like a second home, but how can we truly provide that feeling when we are constantly dealing with building issues that seem to have no clear resolution?

I want to be clear that the issues I'm raising today are not the only challenges we face, but they are concerns the most of overall lack of communication, accountability, and responsibility when problems arise. Something as simple as a leak becomes an ongoing issue. Every time it rains, we should not have to worry about water coming into a center where older adults are supposed to feel safe and comfortable.

We should not have to close those sections of the center because there is no heat, leaving us to figure out how to continue programming while keeping our participants warm and comfortable. These are not luxuries we're asking for. We're talking about basic conditions, conditions that every older adult deserves. And what makes these situations even more frustrating is that when we reach out for help, it often feels like no one wants to take ownership of the problem.

We make phone calls and emails, follow up, and try to get answers. Sometimes we are directed from one person to another, and before we know it, So much time has passed and the original problem is still there. Even something as basic as putting a repair ticket can be difficult. We understand that buildings are older and repairs take time.

We understand that there is a process that must be followed, but there needs to be more communication. There needs to be more follow-through, and most importantly, there needs to be someone who takes responsibility for seeing an issue through the end. I also want to speak about the RAD PAC and the challenges that come with these transitions. I understand that there are budgets, contracts, and financial responsibilities involved in managing a program, but there sometimes feels like it's overlooked in terms of the dollar amount instead of looking at the actual people it's being affected.

When an older adult walks into a center, they should not have to worry about whether the ceiling is going to be leaking when it rains, or whether the room they're enjoying their activities will be closed because there is no heat. They don't see the contracts, the budgets, or the agency or the management company that are responsible. They only know that the place they look forward to coming to every day is not what it should be.

And that is what we need everyone involved to remember. Behind every repair request is a person. Behind every unresolved building issue are older adults who deserve better. Whether a building is managed by NYCHA or through RADPAC, there should never be confusion about who is responsible for addressing these conditions. The responsibility should not be passed around while older adults continue to wait.

Another challenge we face is none of the current locations have a place of assembly, and many of our older adult centers operating in NYCHA facilities do not have formal MOUs or lease agreements in place. These issues may sound like paperwork or administrative matters, but they affect our ability to make improvements in our centers. Without proper agreements, capital projects can be delayed or cannot move forward, and OACs are often written up by New York City Aging and FDNY.

And once again, our older adults are the ones who lose out. We see that our centers could be— we see the improvements that could be made. We see the potential to create a brighter, safer, and comfortable space, but too often we find ourselves spending more time trying Navigate the system and getting answers than actually moving forward with these improvements.

As providers, we want to focus our energy on the people we serve. We want to create programs that make them happy, keep them active, and support their independence, and give them somewhere to look forward to. We should not have to spend so much time trying to fight the basic building issues and address these issues. Our staff should not have to constantly find ways to work around the problems and should be able to have them resolved.

We are not here to point fingers or say that everything is wrong. I know there are people within these agencies and management organizations who care and really want to help. We are asking for better communication, clear responsibility, and a genuine commitment to working together. When there is a leak, someone needs to own that issue until it is resolved.

When there is no heat, there should be some urgency. When paperwork is preventing a capital project from moving forward, there needs to be a plan to get it done. We cannot continue to allow our older adults to be caught in the middle of systems that are not communicating with one another. Our older adults have already given so much of their families and communities.

They should be able to come to their center, sit with their friends, enjoy a meal, take part in activity, feel comfortable without worrying about the conditions of the building that they are in. They deserve that peace of mind. We often talk about aging in place, helping our older adults remain independent and improving their quality of life. But we also need to make sure that the places they depend on are being cared for, because at the end of the day, our older adults should not have to ask for the basics they have earned the right to expect them.

Thank you for listening and giving me the opportunity to speak today. Thank you.

We just joined by Councilmember Brewer. We will now hear from our administration. Oh, I forgot. We will now hear testimony from administration. We will now turn it to the committee counsel, Amita Kalawang, to administer the oath to the representative of the administration. Good morning. Would you all please raise your right hand? Do you affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth before this committee and to respond honestly to councilmember questions?

Dr. Lisa Scott McKenzie. I do. Eva Trimble? Yes. Kathleen Corradi? And Abigail Fradkin? Thank you. You may begin when ready. Thank you. Thank you.

Good morning, Chair Zhuang, Chair Banks, and members of the New York City Council Committee on Aging and Committee on Public Housing. I am Dr. Lisa Scott-McKenzie, Commissioner of the New York City Department for the Aging. I appreciate the opportunity to testify before you today about older adult centers in New York City Housing Authority facilities and to speak on Introduction 1083.

Throughout the New York City aging portfolio of programs, there are 105 OACs primarily serving NYCHA residents across the 5 boroughs. These represent a range of OAC types, including some of our largest and smallest centers. As we have discussed in past hearings, OACs are a critical component of the many services and programs offered to older New Yorkers. In addition to the important work of providing more than 6.3 million meals at OACs in partnership with the council, older adults also need to be connected to other critical programs which address their needs.

These include workforce programs, mental health services, or elder justice. and elder abuse services. Nearly 150,000 older adults attended an NYC Aging OAC throughout New York City in FY 2026. Around one-third of those are NYCHA center attendees. Because of that fact, we are constantly working to ensure that the services in these centers are efficient and meet the needs of older NYCHA residents.

As with NYCHA facilities themselves, We understand the unique challenges of repairs and maintenance in these buildings and work with our partners at NYCHA to address complaints when they are filed and rectify any pressing concerns when they may arise. Just wanted to briefly mention the photos and, and thank you. I know it has become part of the tradition, but I'd really like to believe that there are fewer new photos because older issues are being resolved.

I am joined today by Eva Tremblay, NYCHA Chief Operating Officer, who we work with closely at New York City Aging to address repair and facility needs at the many OACs within NYCHA complexes. The NYC Aging Bureau of Community Services oversees the 300+ OAC and NOARC programs in the 5 boroughs, and they work closely with NYCHA and their team to ensure that OACs are functional and problems or repairs are addressed quickly.

That working relationship is pivotal to the success of NYCHA OAC locations and how we ensure that we deliver the best services for older New Yorkers possible. Additionally, NYCHA has been part of the Cabinet for Older New Yorkers since the inaugural meeting in September 2022, and their partnership has led to a number of improvements in programming at these spaces, such as intergenerational initiatives, public safety, and transportation-related enhancements.

Like many partner agencies in government, NYCHA and NYC Aging work every day to better serve New Yorkers over 60 in our OACs, but also in ways beyond serving meals and programming at centers. NYCHA— excuse me, NYC Aging has managed OACs located at NYCHA facilities since the founding of our agency and the establishment of centers through the Older Americans Act.

As you know, the nation's first OAC, William Hodson Older Adult Center in the Bronx, is located at Daniel Webster Houses and serves the older adult population in that complex as well as the surrounding community. While NYC Aging always has had some OACs in NYCHA sites, newly added OACs came from NYCHA to NYC Aging in 2 distinct tranches.

First, During the Bloomberg administration, NYC Aging took on a number of centers which NYCHA was no longer able to run independently and folded those into our current network based on a range of factors, including size, space, and capacity, as well as budgetary needs for our agency. Then in 2018 through 2019, NYC Aging assumed oversight over all remaining older adult centers still managed by NYCHA.

A similar situation occurred with other NYCHA social programs for children, where the Department of Youth and Community Development took on new programs as well. It is noteworthy that during these transitions from NYCHA to NYC Aging, not one center was closed.

In order to provide older adults at OACs a safe experience, we have a formal system in place with our partners at NYCHA to report and address issues or complaints when they arise. First, the center itself should report an issue to NYCHA by calling the Customer Contact Center. NYCHA-located OACs maintain the relationship with property managers for facility repairs like any other center would with any other landlord.

For center issues reported to NYCHA's CCC, NYCHA will issue a ticket to the number— a ticket number to the individual who reported the problem and the issue is either addressed by property management or by a NYCHA vendor based on complexity. Major issues such as roof and ceiling leaks or flooded spaces will still receive a ticket number but will be triaged differently based on the severity and impact to the space, OAC, or older adults themselves.

In all cases, NYC Aging prioritizes service continuity and safety and we do everything we can to ensure that centers remain open. To better monitor these repairs and determine which needs to— which need to be escalated, the NYC Aging and NYCHA liaison, Agnes Mack, who is the Senior Director of Community Services, regularly reviews reports of open tickets and needs at individual centers.

Our goal is to create constant communication and open dialogue between our agencies to ensure that repairs do not languish And needs are addressed quickly. During repairs, if a center is closed for whatever reason, older adults at those locations will clearly know that they have other options for meals and programming at nearby centers or any other alternatives that best meet their needs.

When a repair ticket remains open, a second inquiry is made or a visit to the property manager takes place to escalate the complaint. NYC Aging is then notified of a repeat issue and has the option to raise the issue to NYCHA's Office of Public-Private Partnerships, where we regularly address issues with NYCHA facility staff and work toward a quick resolution for that center.

Because we are in NYCHA space, while NYC Aging may wish to fix an issue ourselves, we are not always able to do so and must rely on NYCHA to escalate the matter further in order to remedy the situation. Thank you. situation. We do much of that escalation through the NYCHA liaison at NYC Aging, who manages the process for meeting with NYCHA and ensuring that we appropriately escalate matters in order to avoid center closures or alterations to programming.

It is imperative that we monitor and respond quickly to repair issues so that there is no disruption to services for older adults. Ultimately, this is really about the working relationship between NYCHA and NYC Aging. The size of the portfolio within NYCHA Spaces is too large to ignore the great need that older New Yorkers have in these spaces and experience on a daily basis.

And it is incumbent upon us to ensure that we maintain a productive working relationship between NYC Aging and NYCHA. We are happy to report that in FY26, NYC Aging has completed 56 projects across the OAC portfolio And many of those were made possible because of the $5 million council grant that has been included in the FY26 budget.

We also did complete collaborations with NYCHA Spaces for a kitchen renovation at Bronx River OAC and a roof and AC replacement at Samuel Tilden OAC. These improvements are impactful for older adults, and we are grateful for our partnership with NYCHA as we address these concerns. As I know council is aware, overarching throughout the discussion today is the need for federal investment in NYCHA facilities.

New York's older adult population continues to grow, and as I've said before in today's testimony, roughly one-third of our overall OAC portfolio is located in a NYCHA facility. Because of that need, NYCHA and NYC Aging teams have committed to meeting quarterly to address persistent and acute issues affecting this portfolio of OACs. Additionally, NYCHA has pursued the Rental Assistance Demonstration, RAD, through their Permanent Affordability Commitment Together programs, PACT.

NYC Aging has needed to work more closely with NYCHA as the relationship with our centers has evolved or changed with these programs. When a NYCHA development converts through their program, OACs remain at those locations with licensing agreements between them and the new landlord once NYCHA has relinquished control of the site. This agreement also outlines the space needs for that location and the interaction between the provider and landlord.

As the PACT program continues to develop through NYCHA, more OACs are being involved in those changes and approach these transitions on a site-by-site basis. Additionally, we take seriously NYCHA's relationship with the resident association presidents at NYCHA and their commitment to their developments in the community of residents who utilize common areas and shared spaces like OACs. NYC Aging OACs are required to maintain advisory councils of older adult participants who host regular meetings and hear complaints or suggestions regarding how these centers are run and managed.

We recognize that there can be some inevitable overlap between the RA presidents, resident councils, and the advisory councils serving older adults in those locations. That is why we recently convened the first ever of NYCHA RA presidents at NYC Aging to begin working through these longstanding issues. We plan to continue these meetings to ensure an open line of communication with our RA partners who we value as fundamental to successfully running centers in NYCHA spaces.

Additionally, I am here to speak on Introduction 1083, sponsored by Councilmember Crystal Hudson, regarding the designation of financial literacy advisors to serve in older adult centers. This bill would require the Commissioner of Aging to designate at least one financial literacy advisor to serve in each older adult center for at least 20 hours a month. We agree with the shared intent to improve the personal or financial livelihood of older adults.

That is fundamental to our work. As with any programmatic change, we are reviewing for any concerns with our agency partners which may have an impact on our providers. We look forward to ongoing discussions regarding how we can best support older adults in managing their financial and legal well-being. At New York City Aging, we are pleased to provide services to the nearly 150,000 older adults served in FY 2020-21. through our OACs, including those within NYCHA Developments.

And we look forward to continuing these efforts to address the needs of a growing population in New York City. NYC Aging and NYCHA have a very strong relationship, and we look forward to continuing to further strengthen the relationship for the benefit of older NYCHA residents through our work in the Cabinet for Older New Yorkers and our daily interactions on facility needs and improvements to the overall network of older adults Adult Services.

I am grateful to Chair Zhuang and Chair Banks of the Aging and Public Housing Committees for your advocacy and continued partnership to support our older New Yorkers. I'd now like to turn things over to NYCHA Chief Operating Officer Eva Trimble, who will further— who will speak further on NYCHA's relationship with OACs at their developments. Thank you.

Thank you, Chairs Banks and Zhuang, members of the Committee of Public Housing and Committee of Aging. and other distinguished members of the City Council, NYCHA residents, community advocates, and members of the public. Good morning. I'm Eva Trimble, Chief Operating Officer at NYCHA. Thank you to Commissioner Scott McKenzie for your testimony and partnership, and thank you to the Council for this opportunity to discuss older adult centers at NYCHA developments across the city.

NYCHA's campuses are home to 77 older adult centers, and there are additional 28 centers at PACT developments. These sites offer a range of recreational, health, and cultural programs that enhance the lives of NYCHA residents and other seniors in the community. On any given day, seniors benefit from meals, exercise classes, discussion groups, counseling, social services, technology classes, blood pressure screenings, and much more.

Our belief is the power of partnership drives our efforts to transform our organization and how we deliver services to residents. And it also drove NYCHA's decision years ago to transfer the operation of most of our older adult centers to NYC Aging and other partners who provide programming. NYCHA and the service providers share responsibility for maintaining the centers.

As the landlord, NYCHA is generally responsible for repairing building systems, coordinating with the service provider for the— to complete those repairs, and the provider is generally responsible for all interior maintenance and repairs. The PAC program is one of our critical tools for NYCHA to drive comprehensive modernization and renovations to community centers in addition to renovating apartments, removing lead, mold, and completing other comprehensive building improvements, all while keeping the buildings and land publicly owned and maintaining key resident rights.

Last week, we joined the mayor and Edenwald Houses Resident Association and PAC partners to celebrate the reopening of the Edenwald Senior Center after being inoperable for 25 years. NYC Aging is just one of our many critical partners. NYCHA participates in the NYC Cabinet for Older New Yorkers, which convenes nearly 30 New York City agencies to help address the needs of aging adults.

We also connect NYCHA seniors to services right where they live. The HUD-funded Elderly Safe at Home program, for instance, offers on-site assistance at several NYCHA developments, supporting older adults through home visits, connections to services, workshops, and help from floor captains— residents who volunteer to support their neighbors. At NYCHA, we support older adults as they age in place with grace and dignity in a variety of ways, from older adult center programming provided by our partners to the dedicated services at our senior-only buildings.

New affordable housing for seniors developed on our campuses. We are very proud of this work, and we are always eager to do more in service to the community, especially in partnership with stakeholders like NYC Aging and the City Council. Thank you for your support and for this opportunity to dialogue with you on this important topic. I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. And we do have— I'm going to ask some questions. We just also joined by Councilmember Ressler and Councilmember Hudson. And I'm going to ask some questions and then I'm going to give to you the floor. So Aside from location, is there any location about nature allocated? So from the testimony, I see there's 105 nature oases allocated in nature buildings.

How many seniors we actually serve from that 105? There are— sorry, there are 12,686 older adults that receive NYC Aging Services who we know live in NYCHA across all programs, including our OAC participants. Only 12,000? 12,686. Okay.

What challenges have the OAC providers in NYCHA facilities reported to you are unique to those OACs? I wouldn't say the issues are unique when it comes to repair and maintenance because we know throughout New York City there are many buildings, buildings that are very old and they have extensive maintenance and repair needs. But I would say that there were some, as many of you know, I've embarked on a tour, provider tour of all of our sites.

And I've visited quite a few of our OACs that are located in NYCHA facilities, and I'd say there are many things that we've considered to be just-do-its that are smaller, minor repairs that can be effectuated pretty quickly that also add significantly to the quality of life that our older adults experience. So we've been able to complete 88% of those, and that's through the framework that we've developed with NYCHA, where we're sitting quarterly with NYCHA leadership, including the CEO Lisa Bova Hyatt, many of the leadership that are represented here today from NYCHA and from NYC Aging, where we're able to discuss the escalation of some of the tickets that we consider to be critical.

If there's leaking in senior OAC in NYCHA building, what's the process? Thank you, Councilmember. So when a provider has a condition in their site, their first step is to put in a work ticket through our CCC, our Customer Contact Center, and then NYCHA will send out a maintenance worker to assess the condition. As I mentioned in my testimony, external conditions such as the facade, roof, and major building systems are typically the responsibility of NYCHA.

So if the leak is caused by a roof issue or a major pipe issue, leak from above, which is very common in our buildings, then it will be NYCHA's responsibility to fix it. If it's a leak underneath the sink or something within the center, then it is the provider's responsibility to fix it. So if the maintenance worker comes out and determines it's something that we will fix, then we will typically sequence it to our skilled trades and start working on the repair.

Do you familiar with LaGuardia and the Dyckman older adult centers? I'm familiar with those centers, but not any specific conditions there. I heard they have leaking on their second floor. The pipe has leaking. They haven't been able to fix there for years. And they— if there's anyone shower second floor, they have to put a bucket there. I just don't know what's the process and what's the status in that location.

Sure. I can certainly follow up on That's at LaGuardia and Dyckman, the same condition? Yeah. Sure, we can follow up on that. Because this is what complaint we usually hear, not only just them, but this has just come— they were there in previous testimony. I also want to share that we, as Commissioner Scott McKenzie mentioned, our staff meets every 2 weeks to review repair requests, and so we'll check whether that is on our list. if it hasn't been escalated, we will go and we'll take a look and see what those conditions are.

I hope I can hear from you very soon about these 2 locations' leaking issue.

Can you describe the process for opening and operating OAC located in NYCHA property? Who makes the proposal and to who? And how is NYCHA looped in that process? What is the timeline for proposal to opening? I'm sorry, Councilmember, are you referencing a new center, opening a new center? Yes, new center. Any center. Like if you open new center, who you are propose to?

Well, all of our centers are contracted, and that's usually in response to the RFP process. As you know, we have an OAC RFP that's scheduled to come out perhaps later this year that we're discussing. But for any new sites where we deem there may be the need for a new site, we would have to follow that same process, the RFP process, then a contract process.

So I'm assuming then that it would be NYC Aging. And as the older adult population in New York City is growing significantly, is there any plan for expanding the number of older adult center within NYCHA facility? Well, we have looked at where our older adults are now residing. Obviously, there's been a lot of change, and NYC Aging did provide heat maps to our council partners to advise them of where we've seen some of the migration of older adults.

And so obviously, with this new RFP process, we will be able to look at where the needs are, who's interested in serving those the increased population in those areas, and there could potentially be new centers and OACs at NYCHA facilities, but we don't know that yet.

What's the metric or evaluation process in place to assess the impact of OACs on the overall well-being of older adults in NYCHA housing? I'm sorry, can you repeat the question? What metric or evaluation process are in place to assess the impact of OACs on the overall well-being of older adults in NYCHA housing? In OACs in NYCHA housing, the well-being of older adults?

We have— for NYC Aging, Obviously, there are several metrics that we use to look at the health and well-being of our participants in our programs. And, you know, obviously they're listed in the mayor's management report. We have several other reports in which we report our statistics on the services and programs that we provide and whether there's a waitlist or case management, caregiver services.

There's so many services. I'm not sure if there's anything specific you're looking for. Any service you guys provide in those locations? In the OACs? Yes. Many, many, many services. Surveys. There are some surveys that we do conduct. And again, I'm trying to get at the root of the specificity because obviously there's surveys pertaining to food and you know, programs.

So I don't know if there's anything specific that you're looking for, but we'd be willing to share, obviously, what we've seen. I'll talk a little bit about what we've done recently with the surveys for food, because obviously we've had a lot of feedback from older adults about some of the meals, and some of them are not as pleased right now, we know, with the plant-based meals and so on.

So we've been talking with them across the city. In fact, We've conducted food town halls in every borough so far except Brooklyn. Brooklyn is tomorrow. But we've received some really, really robust feedback. As we know, older adults are very vocal and they're not shy, so they've shared their thoughts about our new recipes that we're proposing because at each one of these food town halls, we've also provided taste tests and samples for older adults to try.

And we've had some real-time surveys right at the site. So we've been able to share with the older adults too what they've said about some of these meals. So we like to, and I think many of you know, have a very collaborative stance when it comes to our older New Yorkers. We like to get their feedback and to be able to provide them with services that not only meet but hopefully exceed their expectations.

So those are the types of surveys that NYC Aging conducts.

Are there any staff shortage or challenge for retaining qualified staff at work at the centers based in NYCHA facility compared to regular other OACs? We haven't heard any specifics on staff at OACs that are in NYCHA facilities not wanting to work there. I've been pleasantly surprised by the commitment that I see across all of our OACs with the staff that work there.

They're really mission-driven. People that are passionate about the work of protecting older adults. So I haven't heard any specific complaints. Okay. Overall, how many case managers are present at OICs located in NYCHA facilities? I'll have to get back to you on the number of case managers, but we do have adequate staffing at most of them. I have heard of maybe one or two where they are right now recruiting additional case managers, so we'd have to provide you more information.

Okay, do case managers at NYCHA OACs receive specialized or tailored training to prepare them for unique experience of older adults in NYCHA housing? Well, all of our case managers receive customized training based on the site that they will be assigned to, the population that they will be serving. that would extend to folks that are in NYCHA facilities as well.

What's the difference between the case manager working in NYCHA facility and the case manager not working in NYCHA facility? Well, we don't base the training on the facility. We base it on the population served and what would be the unique needs of the older adults in that particular area. Okay.

What does— what is administration's long-term vision for OAC's NYCHA property, and how does it align with broader effort to support NYC aging population? Well, I know that there's a very strong commitment from the administration to support older adults, to make sure that they're living their best possible life here in New York City, and to provide the supports necessary for them to be able to thrive and live with dignity and respect.

So that's what we expect at each one of the older adult centers that we're operating, that our older adults find them welcoming places where they can come and really enjoy the services there in a safe, functional environment. Do you have any particular case, say next year we're going to do more food pantry or caseworker in those facilities?

I feel your answer is very general. Can we have a better, like, detailed vision? Well, I think I've been very clear about the vision for NYC Aging. I know that many of you are aware of the food— the food pop-up produce events that we held in August, which is in response basically to the fact that many of our older adults had issues with their SNAP benefits, and also that we received less than half of the farmers market vouchers that we normally receive.

So that's how we responded in August, and we were able to distribute over 18,000 bags of fresh produce. We're planning again now to do this for the holiday period because we recognize that this is another time of strain for older adults when they may want to share in family meals and have others over. So from mid-November through the first 2 weeks of December, we're going to do this again.

And during August we had 10 pop-up locations. This time we're going to go for 20 pop-up locations to make more locations available for older adults. So of course, making sure that we address those core elements in our revised mission, which is that we're combating food insecurity. We're also providing access for affordable housing wherever we can, addressing healthcare and making sure that there's access to quality healthcare.

And ensuring that our older adults are safe. Do you have— how many food bags do you provide the NYCHA facility senior OACs versus the other OACs? We can break that out for you. I didn't break it out for this meeting, but we can break that out. But obviously, because someone lives in NYCHA doesn't mean that they have to pick up a food bag in NYCHA.

They can go wherever they want. So as long as they are 60 or older, regardless of income, immigration status, or residency where they live, they can go to any one of those sites and receive the same treatment as anyone else. Okay, thank you.

And then let me turn the floor to Co-Chair Banks. Thank you. Thank you, Chair. And again, thank you for your testimony. Specifically on the OAC infrastructure complaints and agency, obviously, the responses, we appreciate you to be concise with your response. Are there any OACs on NYCHA's property considered common areas or commercial spaces? No, they are not considered commercial spaces.

They are community spaces. They're community spaces. Are the OAC providers considered tenants? OAC providers are not tenants. So they're not tenants of this. Okay. So there's no agreement between them. So if it's a co-located dual-use center, center, like, you know, now you have centers that are now dual use. You have youth on one side and you have the seniors on the other side.

Is there any framework or agreement internally between the 2 agencies or entities that are occupying the community center? We can double-check any specific sites that may have co-locations. But in general, you know, we have some license agreements in place for older adult centers. For the most part, we don't have any leases. Right. So it's very, it's very much on a case-by-case basis depending on the conditions at the site that might have warranted a license agreement at some point.

So those license agreements are with the actual— We have just a handful of them, yes. Okay. What is the specific status of the OACs and the OAC providers, and how does this affect the way NYCHA works with the OACs on their property? So as we've been explaining, we work very closely in coordination with NYC Aging, as well as the providers, to coordinate any type of repair issues or certain programming issues.

Our staff meet regularly with NYC Aging, and with the providers, they speak to NYC Aging as well, as they are contracted by NYC Aging. So there are multiple ways that information is shared. Has there been any scenarios or situations where NYCHA or DFTA had to mediate a relationship or any controversy that may have come up between the youth provider and the aging provider or the older adult provider, to your knowledge?

I'm not aware of any instances. I'd say that our sibling agency, we have very good relationships and collaboration. So if there is an issue where we need to be able to talk to one another, that line of communication is very open. We would be able to work it out. And specifically on responsibilities? Well, it depends on the site.

As Ms. Tremble mentioned a moment ago, there's a handful of sites that do have different agreements. But when it comes to responsibility for any issues that occur inside the site, our providers are very clear as to that it is their responsibility for minor repairs within the site.

Okay. So then how many facility-related complaints were filed by OACs in NYCHA buildings over the past year, and how many of such complaints were resolved by DFTA or by NYCHA? Thank you, Councilmember. Over the past year, we've had approximately 1,700 work orders submitted by older adult centers. Almost all of those were closed and completed by NYCHA. We have about 250 that are still open right now.

Some of those that are still open may still be in the process of determining responsibility between NYCHA and the provider. NYC Aging doesn't do any direct repairs themselves outside of their commitment that they— with the funding they received from the council last year, but even that is transferred through their providers. So it's really about meeting with the provider and determining whose responsibility the repair is.

And of these 1,700 tickets that were put in, or repair tickets, Is it differentiated between what's on the center, the aging side, or the older adults center side, or the youth center side? Or is it just for that particular center? When it's a dual youth center. Yeah, I'm not that familiar with how many sites we have that actually have those co-locations.

So the number— Well, if we can get that number. We can definitely follow up with you on that number. The 1,700 that I'm quoting is specifically from older adult centers. So this is specific? Okay. Yes. So that 1,700 is just— Just on the older adult center side. How many of the outstanding complaints are— well, you already gave that already.

Do we have a breakdown of the facilities of those outstanding 250 tickets? We can send that to you. Is DIFTA evaluating the infrastructure concerns to NYCHA and coordinating with NYCHA on these issues? And what does that coordination look like? I can start if you want. So we, as I said, we meet regularly to go through open repair requests.

Our staff meet every 2 weeks. We have a shared tracker that we're using to follow up on certain repair requests. They said most of the repairs come in through our CCC. We'll send a maintenance worker to assess. We'll determine whether we think it's our responsibility or the provider. If it goes back to the provider, they may reach out to aging for help or escalation.

That may come back to us and we can take another look. But for the most part, if it's anything that is a major system improvement or something from the building envelope, like I said, the roof or the facade or major piping, then NYCHA will take care of it. Okay. And can you please describe the process that the OAC staff must go through to report a facility or maintenance issue in a NYCHA facility?

So they call the CCC, we'll send out a maintenance worker, we'll assess the condition and determine the next steps. We're also joined by Councilman Jose.

Okay. NYCHA has stated that the OAC staff report repairs to the CCC and may escalate to the neighborhood administrator if the ticket stays open past the scheduled date. What is the average response time for maintenance and repair requests at these OACs, and how are they prioritized? Thank you, Councilmember. Our average response time is about 12 days, and they face similar prioritization as our residential units.

So leaks from above, any type of flooding conditions are always some of the highest. Anything that's a life-health safety condition. Things that are lower priority tend to be things like door hinges or, you know, something that's just not life-health safety related. Thank you. Okay. And we were also joined by Councilmember Wong. Since 2021, the designated liaisons have handled the OAC complaints.

Can you please describe the role of the public housing liaison in this process? Who is the public housing liaison? How many staff support this liaison, and what offices does the liaison regularly engage with within DFTA and NYCHA, and how often? Well, on the DFTA side, we have a senior director assigned to the role of liaison for NYCHA, and there are approximately 2 or 3 people that support that role along with the senior director.

That senior director now is also joined by many members of leadership at DFTA because we do have those 2 meetings now, one that is a senior leader meeting along with the senior leadership at NYCHA, and then that secondary meeting that takes place every 2 weeks with the liaison between NYCHA and our senior director. Okay. What determines whether NYCHA facility-related complaints is logged into the older adult metrics report as required by Local Law 140 of 2018?

I'm sorry, would you repeat that question? What determines whether a NYCHA facility-related complaint is logged into the older adult center metrics report as required by Local Law 40 of 2018? Well, for us at DFTA, it would be any safety concern. Anything that's going to disrupt operations would be reported. Are there any outstanding complaints logged or any resolved complaints or issues that you're aware of?

Well, there are— 88% of the complaints that we receive that we consider to be just-due-its that need to be addressed immediately have been. Of those, there are some of the issues that Ms. Trimble mentioned earlier. There are some outstanding tickets that are still open, and we're working together to get those resolved as soon as possible. Okay. Thank you.

The OAC staff have reported that they sometimes can spend hours navigating facility requests and are often unsure of which agency is responsible for handling a particular facility. issue. Other staff have reported that DFTA and NYCHA engage in finger-pointing, seeking to assign responsibility for repair requests to other agencies. Please explain to us which facility infrastructure and repair requests are handled by, and which agency, and how the agencies work together to determine where responsibilities lies for each issue of an OAC report.

Thank you, Councilmember. I'm definitely troubled to hear that you're hearing that from providers, as I can commit that our relationship with NYC Aging has never been stronger. Our staff meet every 2 weeks to review a shared tracker of repair requests. We've both been making site visits. 2 centers. There's, you know, never been better communication. So we work hard to make sure providers know where to go to find answers, to make sure that those repairs are logged.

As you know, with our residential repairs, sometimes it can take a while to complete the repair. But there should be no question as to whose ball the court is in. So can you give us a quick— NYCHA does work that is related to the building systems, and the providers are responsible for all work inside the center. And we do provide additional support for the providers as well.

I meet with them on a monthly basis, um, in addition to our tour where we're out, uh, in the site with our providers asking questions about the maintenance or any issues that we pick up while we're there. So, um, from what I've heard thus far from our providers, they're very pleased with having these very open collaborative talks, and they know they can lean on us if they do need any additional supports.

And I think we have an excellent framework together with NYCHA now to be able to address anything that is considered a concern. So I'm surprised to hear it as well. All right.

Well, what requests are handled by DFTA? I just want some clarity on that because I didn't get— Anything that would be considered inside The unit and a minor repair. We don't handle anything that's a capital need. We don't handle anything that has to do with the building's physical infrastructure. Can you give me an example? A broken doorknob.

Broken doorknob, okay. Right, something like that. Or something, maybe a wall that someone wants to have painted, but very, very minor repairs. And an HVAC system would be NYCHA? Absolutely. Absolutely. A hole in the ceiling, would it be NYCHA? More than likely, depending on what the hole is due to. You know, sometimes there are some minor— if it's one ceiling tile, we might prefer to do something like that ourselves.

If it's an entire ceiling, you know, obviously that would be NYCHA. Tiles on the floor, NYCHA or DFTA? Depends on the amount and also what it contains. Many floor tiles could be asbestos. If it's asbestos, obviously we don't want to touch it. that would be something larger that NYCHA would handle. I should also mention, you know, I spent several years in facilities management myself.

So some of these things, as I'm walking through these sites, I can tell if it's something that, you know, we can handle this or if it's something that we cannot handle, and then we know to call in NYCHA to give us that assistance and support. Okay. And what about bathrooms? It depends on— if it's a toilet that's leaking, something that might be a system, a plumbing repair, that would go to NYCHA.

If it's just repairing the bulb inside the bulb, we might decide to take on something like that. It's very small. You could go to Home Depot and fix that within half an hour. Something like that we would handle. Something larger would go to NYCHA. So are you aware of the leaking issue that has been taking place for 2 years at LaGuardia?

We now have to go back and take a look at what tickets are still outstanding, but I can tell you I have personally been to Dyckman recently. And there was no evidence of a leak there while I was there. So again, we need to take a look at some of the issues, and perhaps you're hearing of something that happened in the past that might have been resolved.

So we need to confirm that for you. So you're saying that the leaking issue at LaGuardia has been taken care of? I didn't mention LaGuardia at all. I said Dyckman. That was my question. Well, my answer was that I've been to Dyckman, And that we would take a look at LaGuardia and get back to you on it.

Okay. Well, we know that based off of reports that there's been an ongoing leak issue for the last 2 years, and hopefully we can get some resolution for that. Absolutely. It would be our pleasure to resolve something, especially if it's been going on for 2 years. I think everyone is aware of how passionate I am about our older adults having safe, functional spaces that are also welcoming to them.

So if there's a leak going on for 2 years, definitely that's something we want to look at immediately. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you for that. What instructions does DFTA and NYCHA provide to the OAC staff on which kinds of repairs or facility requests are handled by each respective agency? Well, as I mentioned earlier, we do meet quite regularly and we look at the open tickets And as we're looking at those open tickets, we can determine whether there's something that, again, NYCHA would have to take on, or if there's something that, in looking at the list, it's so minor that DFTA might be able to take a look at it and see what we can do.

I also want to mention and go back to my previous testimony about the 56 projects that we've just completed. That's right. So our last meeting a couple weeks ago was that we wanted to take a look at some of those open tickets and determine whether or not some of them have also been resolved by these major capital improvements that we've made over the last year.

So there may be a further reduction on those tickets that are outstanding. Yeah, if you could provide the list of the 56 projects, you know, we always welcome any progress, and congratulations on that. More work to be done. Well, thank you, and thank you so much for the investment from the council. As you can see, we've made good use of the money.

Excellent, excellent, excellent. When a repair or facility request is passed on to NYCHA, does DFTA have a formalized process for following up with NYCHA to ensure that the issue is resolved? Absolutely, through the same framework that we talked about. If the issue is not resolved by the 2-week mark or the 1-month mark where we are all sitting together, then obviously we need to come up with a correction.

Corrective action plan that addresses it. And that would prevent a situation like a leaky situation from going on for 2 years, right? It should. And if, if it has not prevented that, then we need to look at where there's a gap or deficiency that needs to be corrected. Okay, so if there's obviously a situation that has been going on for 2 years, that means obviously the system is not working.

Well, we have to take a look at what that condition actually is. So I also want to be clear, it's possible that we repaired a leak at LaGuardia. As you know, our leaks come back, right? These are the original plumbing systems in our buildings, which are extremely old and outdated. So it's possible that we've repaired the leak and it keeps returning over the course of the 2 years.

So it's not that the system isn't working or that we're not responding. It could just be a symptom of the ongoing problems with our infrastructure. Thank you. So I think we have to take a look at Okay, thank you. What is the liaison's role in this process? The liaison is critical. They sit in that meeting, the biweekly meeting, along with the liaison from— on the NYCHA side, and they literally go ticket by ticket to ensure that those tickets have been either resolved or if they're outstanding, they can give us specifics as to why it's still outstanding. standing.

And the report that they give us after their 2 meetings is reviewed by the senior leadership when we meet regularly on a quarterly basis. And is there a— is this division of responsibility written anywhere? We do have, obviously, functional job descriptions for the liaison. I know that the council also has mandated that there is this liaison. So, yes, we're using all of that framework to ensure that the work meets the needs of our older New Yorkers.

Yeah. Is there an agreement between NYCHA and DFTA on the responsibility of the liaison? In my opinion, the framework that we have now is even greater than having an MOU or waiting for an MOU process. I think what we've done immediately is to start to hit the ground running with making sure that we agree that we're going to meet quarterly, that we do have the framework for our liaisons to meet, and that we are reviewing tickets regularly and also resolving issues right away.

So no, I think the written agreement couldn't be better than what we have right now. Okay. NYCHA has stated in the past that it does not have a repair agreement, and I think we touched on that. agreement with DFTA, but one similar to what it has with the DYCD agreement. Is that still accurate? Yes, that's accurate. Okay.

Does NYCHA have a repair agreement with DFTA? We do not. You do not? Okay. And has NYCHA sent a proposed agreement to DFTA, and if so, Oh, is there— well, let me say, is there a plan to send an agreement to DFTA? It's an ongoing conversation, but as Commissioner mentioned, in the meantime, we are doing all of the things that we would do under such agreement anyway.

Our staff are meeting biweekly between the liaison and my staff in operations. We're going through all the repair requests, and leadership is meeting on a quarterly basis to review that work.

If a complaint is outstanding, what are the main hurdles or challenges that prevent the complaint from being resolved? It depends on the nature of the complaint. similar to our conditions across our buildings. If it's a significant leak problem, it may be that we are tracing the leak, that we are working on a larger plumbing initiative. It really depends on the specific issue.

As you know, we have a significant delay specifically to our plastering work. So if the complaint is about plastering, they could be waiting 6 months or so for a plasterer to come and make that repair. Right. We were also joined by Councilmember Thank you. Does NYCHA track the OAC tickets separately from the apartments or the common space area repair tickets?

Yes, they are marked to the OAC. To the OAC, okay. And what is the average amount of time from when a complaint is filed to when a complaint is resolved across the OACs at a NYCHA facility? Our average days to close a work order at OACs is 12.8 days. Okay. And is this information tracked perhaps in any online portal?

And where requests can be logged in or monitored? All of that information is tracked in our internal asset management system, our Maximo system, just like our work tickets for the residential units. So an OAC provider is not able to They should be able to look up their open work tickets on our service page on our website. Does NYTRA/ADFTA track how many OACs closed repairs in the past year?

Sorry, closed for repairs in the last year. Sorry about that. Oh, closed for repairs. Yes. There are 3 centers that have been closed in the past year due to unsafe conditions: Glebe Avenue, Latimer Gardens, and Randall Avenue Balcombe. I know recently there's been some remediation that's been done to some of the centers, which has caused some of them— operations to be moved or closed. to some degree.

Is there any update on the amount of centers that have received their remediation? We are currently working on lead abatement at our daycare centers. Right. And I don't know if that's what you're referring to when you say remediation. Well, I know there was a— I know at Cypress Houses, I know there was a concern, and I think I had spoken to Brian, about the remediation that was needed to be done at that particular center.

I think it was mold remediation or asbestos remediation. I forget exactly which one. But there was concern about a possible closure because of the need to remediate. So our priority is always to maintain center operations while we're doing repairs. And, you know, we work to make sure that can be done safely. If for some reason the work is extensive, or if it has a life health safety component like asbestos or lead, then we may have to close down programming for the time of the repair and relocate programming somewhere else.

And we'll work with NYC Aging and our partners and the providers to make that happen. If it is a larger issue, like we had at Let's say Latimer Gardens, where we're not able— it's not about a repair, it's about a major capital project, then we have to do a permanent shutdown. Well, how many times over the past year or the past 5 years has the solution been to shutter OAC due to unsafe infrastructure concerns?

I have just those 3 examples: Glebe, Latimer, and Randall Avenue. Okay. If an OAC is closed, how will How long, on average, does it take to reopen? It really depends, again, on the conditions. Like Haber Center in Coney Island got closed down during Sandy, and we're still working on opening that. We're on the last piece right now, which is the place of assembly permit.

So, you know, that one is obviously a very extreme example. Glebe Avenue was closed down due to significant leak and mold conditions. Luckily, that is going through the PACT program and will receive comprehensive modernization and will be able to reopen, just like we were able to reopen Edenwald after 25 years thanks to the PACT program. Congrats on that.

Yeah. Could a provider make the repair or seek reimbursement if they needed to, you know, go ahead proactively and repair? I would say it depends on the type of repair. And as you know, as I just mentioned about the projects that we've completed, sometimes there is additional funding that comes in that allows us to be able to move forward with a repair.

And then, you know, we'll work together with NYCHA to be able to remove that from their listing. But I also want to just mention, when we do have to shutter one of the sites, we make sure immediately that our older adults do have alternatives. You know, they're not missing out on meals or programs, that we will help them even by providing transportation to nearby sites.

So that they do have programming that's available to them. Okay. And my last question before I turn it back over to Chizwong, are the agencies aware of any OAC providers who received fines and old court summonses due to unresolved infrastructure issues at the OAC facilities located on NYCHA properties? We are aware of some violations that are tagged to the older adult centers.

Some of those violations are in relation to repairs that are NYCHA's responsibility or part of a capital program. Some violations are assigned due to provider— due to the provider's responsibility to make a repair or resolve a condition. So again, it depends. Okay. And how does the agencies assist the providers When this occur? We will, we will meet with the provider and determine responsibility and how to, how to cure the violation.

Okay. Can you give us a breakdown? I will find that information for you. Yeah. All right. So right now we have 60 FDNY violations and 2 DOB violations at older adult centers. Okay. And how are you working to ensure that this stops happening? I don't know if we can ever. fully stop. These are important enforcement agency activities, but we— once we are aware of a violation, we will work with the provider to understand the conditions that are— that have resulted and determine the best path forward to cure that violation.

Okay. I think this kind of goes back to the response and the timeframe on when a complaint is put in and how quick you respond back. to bring in some resolution to whatever the complaint may be. I think that would be a much more appropriate response in making sure these types of things stop where these providers have to be dragged into old court for this.

So hopefully you take that into consideration.

I'll turn this— turn it back over to the chair. Thank you. Thank you. And then we'll give a chance to our other council members to ask questions. The first one we have, Councilmember Encarnación. Hello. So sorry, I was not— I didn't know I was the first one. Okay, so, uh, you know, my predecessor, Deputy Speaker Ayala, she was the older adult whisperer, so she had a lot more knowledge about older adults and what happens at the centers.

I don't have that much knowledge, so I just— excuse me for asking some basic baseline questions about the contracts. When it comes to the OAC contracts, can you explain how, like, funding is allocated for each center? Is it based on enrollment like it is in school? Is it based on square footage? How many people live in a development?

I just— to get an idea of how much. I'd say all of the above. There's quite a few metrics and parameters that are included in the contract that would determine how much funding is allotted for each site. We could share with you the criteria for that so that you have more information on it, but it's a lot more than just, you know, a couple of words.

Based on— okay. And then the services on the RFP, which ones are like mandatory throughout each of the programs? Are there any? Yes, case management, obviously food delivery, activities and programs, several again. So we'll share that with you as well. Perfect. And then I noticed that you mentioned that the RFP for the OACs is coming up soon.

Yes. Are there info sessions that inform the RFP with older adults at the table? Absolutely. There were several sessions and Obviously, there was also a concept paper. There was a lot of information and times for folks to collaborate along with older adults. Even now, we're still speaking with some of our advocacy groups and some elected officials and so on on some of the concerns related to the upcoming OAC.

And so we are planning to have a meeting with them as well to further discuss some of their concerns. Okay. And then— and how long is the RFP for that contract with the OACs? Are they different? Do they vary? Yes, they do. But it's usually a year or 2. So— And through that year, there's— I don't know what— I don't want to call them supervisions, but like— Yes, there's oversight throughout the period of the contract.

There are also audits and obviously assessments. by program officers on a periodic basis. Can you share some of the assessment points that you look at when, you know, after awarding an RFP, what are some of the top-line things that you look at when you go in for those assessments? Sure. And it's not a surprise thing. It's also included in the contract.

Okay. I thought you were going to share some top-line right now. Oh. Just like one or two things that you look at. Safety, volume, you know, how many older adults are actually being served, if there are complaints, issues. I think my time is up, up. Okay. No, I'm good. And just, I'm really glad to hear that you're looking at the meatless options.

The seniors and My district cannot— they don't go to the senior centers when it's meatless day, and the options after that is terrible. So just, I'm glad you're looking into that. Well, thank you so much. The older adults have, again, been very vocal about that, and they've also shared that, you know, they will find sites where meat is being served, and some of them may go there that day.

So we really want to be sure that we're meeting their needs at the sites they prefer. Thank you. Thank you. We have Councilmember Abdul have questions. I'm so sorry. Before that, I just want to correct. The contracts are for 3 years, and they have an option to extend year by year.

Good morning. And thank you for being here today. Um, so I have a question about the Jozef Drogneck Senior Center. I always have a question about the Jozef Drogneck Senior Center. Um, it's faced an extended closure. I mean, they first— they closed during COVID and then they tried to reopen, closed again because they discovered mold. Uh, looks like the repairs started, uh, a year later, but they stopped because there was additional— there was damage to the roof and additional structural damage and needed roof repair and a replacement of the HVAC system, from what I understand, just to start with.

And so they've been without a senior center for close to 6 years. That's a long time. If you know the Throgs Neck area, it's very, you know, kind of remote and far away, not easy to travel from. And there was a temporary solution. They were using the Kispay Boys and Girls Club, but then they were unable to use that because of the kitchen situation and because the children, you know, especially during the summer, they use the facility, you know, all day. every day for summer camp and have been trying to find a solution ever since nearby and have not found one.

The senior— many of the seniors— I won't even say many because many don't want to go all the way to Co-op City to the senior center there. They don't like it. They don't like having to get on a bus or shuttle. to Co-op City, so far away from their community. And where the senior center is housed is in Randall Balcombe, where it's, you know, senior housing, but the entire Throgs Neck community really uses that senior center.

So you have over 3,000 residents in Throgs Neck Houses and Throgs Neck Addition. And I'm using a low number here, but probably about 1,000 seniors right now don't have access to, to a, to a center. Uh, so I just want to know, what is the— you know, because it's, you know, we were told it's, it's now, uh, underpacked.

What's the situation there, and when can we expect there to be repairs? When can we expect to have that senior center reopened again? Yes, thank you, Councilmember. I'm familiar with the center and, and the decision to close it a few years back due to the significant conditions there. The center is slated to go through PACT and will receive full renovations as part of that.

That project is anticipated to close later 2027, so it's still a little while away, and then Construction would start soon after. Okay. So through DFTA's mental health initiative, we know that over 80 AOCs in New York City offer on-site and virtual mental health services. Could you provide some information on where the split of those 80 OACs are amongst the 5 boroughs and how many are located in the Bronx?

I don't think I have it. I'll have to get back to you on the split of how many are located within the Bronx, but I would say that yes, it is another area that we're looking at to enhance geriatric mental health services. The sites that can have a center on-site or provide those services on-site are moving forward with that, but we do know that based on some of the requirements for this specific space, we will not be able to provide some of those services on-site.

So where that's not possible, we do have a hub-and-spoke model where we make sure that folks that are located in areas that may not have an on-site center can access access services through nearby services at other sites, or they can receive those services virtually. And we also provide supplemental service through Aging Connect at NYC Aging. And one of the things that we're exploring is also looking at what we can do mobile, especially for those sites that will never be able to have an on-site care program because of the constraints of space or privacy and so on.

So we are exploring that option as well because it might be something that I think could add to the services that are being provided to allow an older adult to be able to access a service at that trusted space but in a private space somewhere nearby. Back to the senior center in Throgs Neck. There are other senior centers that are closer, but they're not run by JASA.

Is there any way to allow for those seniors to go to, like, Northeast Bronx Senior Center, which is located right on Bruckner Boulevard, not far from I mean, it's far, but not as far as Co-op City, and it's a little easier to get to. Any one of our OAC participants can attend any one of our programs, any one of the 308 throughout the city.

They may opt to stay with JASA, but if they don't, they can go to any one of the centers and receive the same service. Okay. Because JASA is not— only offering to transport them to Co-op City where their other site is, or I believe Glebe, maybe JASA as well, but Co-op City is the one that they're transporting people to.

It's something that we'll look into to see if there's some other services we can provide to ensure that older adults get to the centers they prefer. Yeah. Thank you. I would absolutely like to follow up with you on that. Thank you.

According to DFTA's latest annual report on older adult center metrics across 109 AOCs located in NYCHA-owned property, there were 27 documented complaints regarding living conditions. Could you elaborate on the kind of complaints you were mainly receiving? How were they resolved? And how long do specific I'm sorry, are you saying these are living conditions? Yes. OACs. Locate— I'm sorry.

This was the conditions in the OACs. I apologize. Okay. I think we've talked about the fact that it takes on average 12.8 days for any issue that's picked up at the sites. I'm not sure if we're speaking outside of that framework that we've been talking about earlier, or is there something else? No, just want to have a sense of what kind of complaints have you mainly been receiving and how long do those take typically?

So our typical complaints mirror some of the conditions in our residential buildings as well, right? Paint issues, floors, walls, ceilings, and doors are the top 5 categories of complaints that we receive. Okay, thank you. Thank you, Councilmember. And then next we have Councilmember Hudson.

Thank you so much. And good morning. Good morning. When I chaired the Committee on Aging, I had the privilege of visiting many older adult centers across the city, as I know you have. And one of those was the William Hudson OAC at Butler Houses up in Councilmember Stevens' district in the Bronx. It also happens to be, I suppose, arguably the first senior center in the United States, and so certainly something to be proud about.

And so I'm wondering how you determine a pipeline for OAC facilities that are in need of capital improvements, and my question really stems out of the conditions that I saw at the William Hodson OAC. Everything from floorboards coming up, holes in the ceilings, lack of heat, I think, at times. And so I'm just wondering what it takes for the pipeline to be created for, or how you identify specific sites to be on the pipeline, if there are some facilities that are given priority. how the money is moved, et cetera?

Thank you, Councilmember. We do not have a pipeline for capital improvements at older adult centers. We are very grateful to the support we receive from the City Council as well as other federal and state earmarks to support capital projects at our community centers. So once funding is allocated, then we can implement the capital project. And the funding is typically identified for a specific site.

It's not necessarily a pipeline that we choose. So it comes from the elected official directly saying, I'd like to give money for this community center or this older adult center. So that is right now the primary resource we have for doing comprehensive improvements outside of our PACT conversions. And so no emergency funds for So emergency immediate repairs would be different than a comprehensive capital improvement, just to be clear.

If there's immediate repair needs that are life, health, safety, those are things that NYCHA does respond to based on the level of severity. But a comprehensive improvement is— and a capital project is based off of the allocation of funding. Do you know how many— or do you know how much has been invested in or set aside for earmarked for the William Hudson OAC?

I'm not sure if I have the information for that specific center, but we can check. Okay. We'll get back— we can get back to you on any funding for that specific center. Okay. That would be great. Thank you. Thank you. I have a follow-up question. For leaking, it's emergency funding or it's a regular capital? It depends. So for the most part, a leak is something— is a repair that we will respond to and make, again, especially if the repair— if the leak is caused from a leak from above in our piping system and our plumbing system or a leak from our roof, that is something we will respond to and repair.

If it's a leak that's within the center, like under the sink type leak, then the provider would get a plumber to fix that leak. Okay. Thank you.

Next we have Councilmember Brewer. And followed by Councilmember— Thank you very much. A couple of things. One is with the RAD PAC, because as you know, on the Upper West Side, I think we're pretty— getting very RAD packed. So my question is, if there's a center where there's a RAD PAC, how does that impact, if at all, the issues at that center in terms of repairs?

So as part of our PAC program, we work hard to ensure that the centers also receive a comprehensive modernization just like the apartments. We will scope that out and do our best to include that in the financing. Sometimes it's not always possible to do a full modernization or a full scope. Sometimes we've had to take out the center.

It really depends on the funding that's available for that project. We cannot use Section 8 rents to support a community center renovation, so it would require city subsidy. So as long as we have enough funding in the project, we will include the scope for the center to ensure that's part of the project as well. We understand it's an important community resource.

We want to see it improved just alongside our apartments. So do you have any sense of how many conversions have included senior centers where you have been able to do that? I can confirm that number for you. Number 2, not under your leadership, but it took 5 years to get the kitchen at Clinton at Harborview. So my question is, it's great to be— sounds like things are somewhat going well in terms of current requests, meaning the leak and so on.

But what about people and centers who want new things, proactive? Do you have a list of those? How does that get handled? Kitchens would be one example of what I've always heard about. In other words, how are we planning for the future? More seniors, obviously, and more needs. I don't know if it's expansion, if it's a kitchen, if it's whatever.

How do we think about the future that way? And thank you. We have a running list of projects that we'd like to complete that we are actively seeking funding for. I was able to mention earlier that we have completed 56 projects, and we're going to share a listing of those projects. In fact, I was able to speak with some of your colleagues in reference to— I think we should actually go and share with you some of the before and after of what's been accomplished by many of these repairs and projects that include kitchens and bathrooms and things that seniors really appreciate.

So absolutely, there's a list of additional projects and areas we'd like to take a look at, including William Hodson, where I have visited. And at William Hotsen, they recently did have some upgrades to bathrooms and things like that. Obviously, there's more work to be done, but the work that can be done, we want to accomplish as quickly as possible.

Can you get to the chair that list of what you'd like to accomplish? Absolutely. We can share with you. Okay.

And the other question is, maybe you sort of discussed this, but so what are the metrics for assessing the well-being of this infrastructure? Like, how do you look at, you know, what you're doing and how do you measure that in terms of the centers? Well, I'll say on the DFTA side, obviously we do have an environmental checklist that we use, things that we look at while we're there, which includes things like leaks and plumbing and— But you're not there all the time.

I'm sorry? You're not there all the time. You're just one person. Oh, no. This is included in the assessment also that the program officer is performing when they go out to the sites as well. You know, I'm a redundancy. You know, they're really the frontline. line staff that are carrying out the important critical work every day and every week that they're out at the centers.

So yes, those are the things that we look at when we're there to ensure we have a safe functional environment. So where does that list go? Does it— is it like a list that goes on open data or is it kept internally? How does— how do you address that list? It's included in the evaluation process for each of the sites, which is public.

It's included in the portal on Passport. So we have that information. Okay. And does DFTA do the same in terms of metrics? I mean, does NYCHA do the same in terms of assessing metrics for the centers? So we are— we have— we track our open work orders, and just like we do with our apartment repairs, are tracking the work through that mechanism.

We also have our P&A, which estimates a need of just over $900 million for our older adult centers. So again, this is really a capital conversation more than a repair conversation. One other quick question. Individual apartments. I think a lot of your centers have apartments over them. Not all, but many. And so I do. I have a lot of centers with apartments over them.

So my question is, as part of this discussion, are we also discussing the individual apartments? In other words, when people have complaints, and they do, they bring them to us. then what— is that part of this overall metrics and how are we fixing them and, you know, that kind of thing? Do you look at that at the same time?

From the DFTA side, only if it impacts our center. So if it's something, a leak, then of course— That's NYCHA. Right. Then we would deal with NYCHA. But if there's a noise complaint or something else that might impact services, obviously, yes, we would work along with them. But if your case were, of course, here, that Mrs. Jones' mold is not being assessed and fixed, and I guess you would also hear about it.

You'd bring it to NYCHA and we would go back and forth, then you call Gail. Yes. So I'm just saying, so how do you get some sense from your caseworkers that there is a responsiveness to the individuals living upstairs, et cetera? Absolutely there is, and if they are not responsive, then that's where we fall into the framework that we discussed earlier where we have those biweekly meetings with our liaison and also with NYCHA leadership and DFTA leadership so that we can address something that may be outside of our purview, obviously, if an older adult in one of our centers is having a problem that's a NYCHA-related issue, but we would certainly escalate it to NYCHA's attention that this older adult needs help and these are the issues that are concerning them.

Okay. All right. Thank you.

Thank you. We have Councilmember Thank you so much, Chair Zhuang and Chair Banks, for this important hearing. Good to see you, Chief Operating Officer and Commissioner. Appreciate you guys being here today and for your hard work. Could I just get clarification? There was a pause placed on council allocations for NYCHA capital projects a few years ago. What's the status of that?

Yes, thank you. I'm going to call up our Deputy Chief Asset and Capital Management Officer, Abigail Fragkin, to talk about that. Thank you, Councilmember. We are currently accepting all funding that the City Council is able to provide for capital work at NYCHA, including older adult centers. There was a temporary pause on projects that had previously been funded due to a staffing shortage, and we've been able to restart all of those projects and are currently accepting any funding that is available to us.

Great. So, I'm fortunate to have a great borough president in Brooklyn, the best borough president in the best borough. Sorry, Gale. And he allocated $6 million in FY24 for upgrades to older adult centers primarily on NYCHA campuses, but he's got no information, no updates on the timeline for those projects. Is that standard practice 2 years later to not have updates on capital allocations that are made to NYCHA older adult centers?

That is not standard practice. If you could share the specific list of allocations, we can definitely look at that. Sometimes there is insufficient funding that has been allocated to address the needs at a center. And so in that case, we might be working with the borough president or city council member to ensure that there is the full amount of funding available before we actually accept the funding and move forward with initiating a project.

Okay. I mean, I'll just be clear, in going back and forth with him, his budget director, his senior staff, they've had no communication or updates from NYCHA on this. So if there's a funding gap, it would be news to them. But we're happy to hear that you will be moving forward on them and that you'll be providing updates to the Borough President's office this week on those projects.

So thank you very much for your willingness to work with us on the follow-ups. Those cover my questions for today. I want to thank everybody— thank both agencies for their hard work here. I know that this is not an easy topic. And want to congratulate the rat czarina for landing on her feet. And it's always good to see Brian Honan.

Thank you. So thank you all. Thank you. Please send the list to us also. Thank you.

And also we have Councilmember Chiu. Thank you so much, Chairs. Uh, nice to see you all this morning. I wanted to first start by obviously addressing how this federal government is not investing in public housing, and obviously that's impacting NYCHA across the board. And I was just interested In the lack of funds that we are seeing from the federal government, how is that tangibly impacting our older adult centers on our NYCHA campuses?

Thank you, Councilmember. Obviously, we are always advocating within D.C. for additional funding. The HUD appropriations— and Brian can correct me if I'm wrong— were cut by 14% last year. And so it is a struggle for NYCHA to continue the same level of operating with decreasing federal funding. And that filters down to everything we do. So if we have needs for plastering or plumbing at an older adult center, that is competing with the same plasterer and plumber that needs to respond to a resident in their apartment.

So it will mean that the time to respond will continue to get longer. I appreciate that. And, you know, obviously I hope things change within that regard because we know that NYCHA does need that support from the feds. But I did wanna ask, because we are going into a cold winter, maybe hopefully not as cold as last year, I wanted to ask how many rounds of HVAC inspections NYCHA is doing across the board, but mostly within our older adult center centers on the grounds of my district.

How often are those inspections taking place? So we don't— we do not conduct HVAC inspections. The HVAC is the responsibility of the provider for the most part. There are some, some instances where NYCHA would be involved, but for the most part, the HVAC system is the responsibility of the provider. And does NYCHA provide any oversight over the providers?

No, the providers are contracted by New York City Aging. Okay. But at New York City Aging, we do perform pre-tests before cooling season and before heating season to assess if there are any issues that would prevent us from providing heat for the winter. We're in that process right now, and we have not been made aware of any projects or needs that would keep us from providing heat at our sites.

And furthermore, how many rounds of mold inspection take place, or how often does the mold inspection at our older adult centers take place? We will inspect based on a mold request work ticket. So if the center submits a work ticket to NYCHA for mold, we will come and we will do that inspection. I don't have the timeframe to respond, but I will get that for you.

Does Department of Aging do that as well for OAC, or— It would be a surface inspection during our environmental checklist. If there were mold or any material that we find that needs to be investigated. Obviously, we wouldn't make— we wouldn't determine that it's mold. That's something that we would ask NYCHA to do. All right. Thank you so much.

Thank you, chairs. Thank you.

And for a follow-up question, so we tested the heat and the cooling system. If there's any emergency outreach, power outage, what— do we have any way to deal with that? Yes, thank you, Councilmember. When we experience a power outage, NYCHA's emergency services works with the provider to provide information. We send out robocalls just as we do with our residents.

And, you know, depending on the length of outage, we will work with NYC Aging and the provider to make accommodations as needed. This summer we had quite a few instances of power outages. And so we'll sometimes refer to nearby centers as needed, and we'll, you know, really depends on the length and the condition of the outage. So this is always— does DFTA handle this issue, or does NYCHA handle this issue?

It's in partnership. So if it's an outage that's impacting our buildings, we will coordinate with the provider and with NYC Aging to ensure that programs can continue somewhere. And then we'll make sure that we're giving them information as to the length of the outage, the cause, and any restoration times. Are all OACs on NYCHA campus ADA compliant?

No, they are not all ADA compliant. Is there a plan in place to bring those facilities up to standards? I'd say as many as possible. Again, it would be a capital investment for some of the sites to be able to bring them up to ADA compliancy. So for the sites that are not ADA compliant, we do work along with the older adults there to see if there are any interim measures that we need to put in place.

But the plan would be to make that investment, obviously, when funding is allotted, and to continue with the projects. Can we put that to next year's budget? If you're willing, absolutely. We'll ask the mayor, right? Also, from 105 OAC facilities located in NYCHA, how many are not ADA compliant? We don't have that number, but we can— I can see if we have that information.

Okay. How is DFTA coordinating with NYCHA to ensure ADA compliance? And make the necessary change? Through the capital enhancements. And again, if we're able to effect any projects that would allow us to be able to resolve the issue of ADA compliance, we're willing to do that with the available funding. And also, are you able to provide us all the detail, what's— how much funding we need, how many centers?

already ADA compliant, how many not, how much the cost? Not at the moment. Obviously, along with NYCHA, we'd have to look at the number of sites and what are the circumstances at each one of those sites to determine how much each project would cost, and then you would get an overall cost from that. And we can also discuss with the council what that means.

There's different levels of compliance with ADA requirements, whether it's You know, wheelchair accessibility or bathroom accessibility, there's different components and that would require different levels of scope. So we'd, we'd have to do a pretty significant assessment of all the centers to determine the full need. Thank you. And given recent concerns about safety at some NYCHA properties, what security protocols are in place to protect older adults at those OACs?

NYCHA does not provide security at the OACs. So for our sites, most of them, we are in collaboration with NYPD for patrols of those areas. In addition to, most of our centers are secured by some type of door locking mechanism, whether it's intercom system or it's door swipes, to ensure that we're just not allowing everyone in without someone being aware of who's coming into the center.

So we look at different security precautions. We do have training for our staff. We also speak to them about some of the issues in the neighborhood. Obviously, our older adults will let us know if there are issues in the neighborhood, and we would collaborate with NYPD. Does NYPD have— each precinct has a person assigned for senior issues?

No, but they have a Community Affairs Division that would allow us to have patrols of those particular sites that might have some issues. Okay.

Can you provide outline of risk— of current state of facilities housing OACs and then what measures are being taken to address infrastructure concerns? I'm sorry, could you repeat that? Can you provide an outline of current state of facility housing OACs and what measures are taken So the entire— the overview of the environmental assessment of all sites? Yes.

How many are— you think it's in good condition? How many you think it's not in good condition? Do you have any information about those? We could share that with you. I don't have it on hand today. Okay. Recent reports highlight There are issues in one of the OAC centers in NYCHA campus, like Vladimir Garden OAC, which serves around 700 seniors in Flushing, was closed due to persistent roof leaks.

How did NYCHA and the DFTA respond? Yes, we were— it was unfortunate that we had to close that facility. We had been working to make repairs for a while, but the repairs were significant, and it was determined by Aging and the provider that it was the best resource right now was to relocate the site and the programming.

When did you guys start to notice the leaking issue in that center? I don't know when. It's a roof— it's an issue with the roof. It would require a full roof. How long take to do the repair? The roof project is not currently funded. So you are not doing anything in that project? Just people just have to move to other centers?

That's correct. The center is closed. We're currently in discussions for— with a funder to identify funding for the full roof replacement, but that has not yet been confirmed. If the funding for the full roof replacement were to be confirmed, it would be a project that would take about 4 years. 4 years? Correct. If there's funding, take 4 years?

Yes. So that's going to run the same problem as a senior center in Councilmember Audubon's district? That's correct. Capital work is typically extensive. spanning from, you know, the planning and design phase to the procurement phase to the actual construction work. Okay, what's the response of DFTA if this is a situation like this? Well, it's unfortunate that this situation occurred, but obviously recognizing that leaving the older adults at that site would be a severe health and safety concern, we did act to relocate those older adults to a center that was safer for them, and they're receiving the same programs and services at the relocation site as they would at the closed site.

So 700 seniors get the same service? They may not be at the same relocation site. Obviously, there may be more than one that they've— that they are availing themselves of the services, but they are availing themselves of the services at another site. For me, the DFTA response is primarily to keep our older adults safe. And that's what we did.

Is there any plan to inspect every single OAC located in NYCHA campus to prevent this type of situation happening? We don't have a plan to do an inspection of each of our sites, but as I mentioned before, right now as part of our physical needs assessment, which is our overall capital assessment for all of NYCHA, We estimate the capital improvement costs for our older adult centers to be approximately $900 million.

We know there's 105 property OACs located in NYCHA property. Do you have how many in each borough? Yes, Councilmember. The 105 breaks out as Bronx, 26. Manhattan, 30. Brooklyn, 35. And Queens, Staten Island, 14. How many in Brooklyn? 35. Okay.

How many are at PAC sites and how many remain in Section 9? We have 77 centres in NYCHA's Section 9 portfolio and 28 in our PACT portfolio. Has the number of OAC at PACT sites increased or decreased over the past 5 years? Yes, as we continue to convert sites through PACT, the number of centres will decrease in the NYCHA Section 9 portfolio and increase in the NYCHA PACT portfolio.

What counts for any change? The PACT conversions. Only because conversion, we have to change the senior centre? We don't change the senior centre. It's just part of the PACT program versus part of NYCHA's Section 9 program. Got it. How many older adults are served by OAC located in NYCHA property? That's— We have the citywide breakdown. By borough, I mean.

In Bronx, it's 35.5%, or 8,212. In Brooklyn, 8,314, 22.3%. Manhattan, 14,540, 41.7%. Queens, 6,490, or 14.1%. And Staten Island, 2,095, or 32.8%. How many meal services and mental counseling and other related services in each center or each borough? Was that meal service and services? Yeah. We'll give you more of a breakdown of them. Obviously, we know we're providing 6.3 million meals overall.

So we have to give you the breakdown. And also mental health counseling. And mental health services. Yeah. Okay, does this— so you're gonna send us the data, right? Yes, we will. Thank you. Definitely. Do these older adults typically live in NYCHA facility which the OAC is located, or do some travel from other locations such as NYCHA facility or private housing?

We wish there were more participants that are residents in the NYCHA facilities, but we have noticed that there's a dip in the participation from persons that are living right in the building, and these centers are servicing more of the surrounding community, which is one of the reasons why we convened the first-ever meeting along with the tenant association so that we could work together to boost those numbers and find out what are the barriers to people that are right in the same building coming down to our centers.

What are current ratio of staff to OAC members to OAC located in NYCHA campus? I don't have the ratio of staff. I'll get that for you. Okay. How can city ensure the staff meet the needs of these older adults? What role does DFTA play in staffing? OAC? And again, it goes back to the monitoring. As I've mentioned, we have staff on site daily.

We have weekly supervisory staff that are out at the centers. Obviously, I'm visiting the centers as well, and we're closely monitoring the metrics. One additional provision that we provided very recently, I've onboarded the very first Chief Quality Officer for DFTA so that we could take a deeper dive into the data that's available. Obviously, we have an extensive amount of data, but we want to be sure that we're focusing on the outcomes and how we're really affecting the lives of older adults.

Okay. So you guys are already doing, like, feedback from NITHA and also OASIS? Okay. Absolutely. Is the feedback shared with NITHA? Yes. At our meeting where we meet with the senior leaders, we speak about issues that impact the OACs and also ways that we can improve and enhance our services together. Is there any issue or example you can give to us after you get the feedback from the OACs and communicate with NYCHA and any improvement?

I can give you 2. One is where I mentioned that we've resolved 88% of the issues that we've escalated to NYCHA and that those issues have been resolved, some of them even earlier than the 12.8 days that it typically takes to improve something. And then also in the fact that we've been able to look at issues together, we have been able to look at capital projects where perhaps there's a portion of the project that we might be able to effect the repair.

So we feel in this collaboration, in this enhanced relationship that we have, it not only presents opportunities but is also helping us to provide better service. Okay. How often are you guys doing outreach efforts to engage with older adults and NYCHA residents at OICs? On the DFTA side, it's continuous. And as I mentioned, we had that first-ever meeting with the tenant association, and several of the residents of the building also attended to help us to better understand what we could do to meet their needs and enhance way.

Okay.

Let me turn the floor to Council Chair Banks. Thank you, Chair. I guess I want to dive right into RADPAC, particularly, you know, with the conversions that continue to take place. I guess more obviously down the line. For developments undergoing PAC conversion— well, let me back up, because I needed to get this on the record as well.

Going back to the OACs that have received fines or been dragged or been going into oath, when a fine is issued to an OAC provider and it's paid by the provider, Are they reimbursed? It depends. I'd have to understand the specific incident. But again, there are certain violations that are the provider's responsibility. So if they do not correct it, it is their fine to pay.

Okay. So it's case by case based on what— okay. Thank you. And for nitro ones? I'm not familiar with reimbursement. They probably wouldn't pay. We'd work to correct it. Okay, thank you. For developments undergoing PAC conversions, does NYCHA coordinate with the new private management company to ensure that the OAC services are maintained post-rehabilitation? Yes, so as we do with our residents, we conduct extensive outreach and engagement prior to a conversion, and that includes making sure our partners in the development are also connected.

So if there's an OAC or community centre or any other type of community facility, we work to make sure they are connected with the incoming development team, which would be their new landlord, to make sure they understand how to escalate, how to work together, and make those connections. The centres will not— do not experience any gap in operations as part of the PAC conversion.

Everything continues. Because they are funded by NYC Aging to continue to operate their services regardless of the conversion. Boulevard Houses went through a long gap, I think close to 2 years of being— about a year and a half probably of being outside their center. There was a gap in services there because the location where— and this is not a DFTA-funded program, But nevertheless, it's under RADPAC.

The services where they were moved to, or the building that they were moved to, obviously it was an apartment. In a situation like that, what is NYCHA doing to assist those particular entities that are in their— that's in the community center to get the services back? What's the conversation with the RADPAC partner? What's going on? Because sometimes it feels as though they're just forgotten about.

No, they're definitely not forgotten about. Our intent is always to ensure continuity of services and programs, whether it's a senior center or, or another community facility. There are situations where we have to have a relocation or a break in service in order to do the important modernization work that the buildings are undergoing. So if we're replacing full plumbing, electricity, Things like that, we may have to shut down services to a building, and that would involve relocating a program during that construction period.

When we are relocating a program, we are working closely with the city agency, whether it's NYC Aging or DFTA, and the providers to identify alternative locations for that program to make sure that the residents are still able to benefit from it during the construction period. And each deal I mean, are they modeled after the same between the community center from each RADPAC program?

Are the deals normally shaped the same or the agreements? No, they are very deal-specific. Okay. How many NYCHA developments have been rehabbed that are— well, sorry, how many PAC developments have been rehabbed? Out of the 28, how many have been rehabbed, have gone through a renovation? I will have to get you that number. I don't have that available today.

Is that part of the agreement? Was that one of the requirements? It's not required, but it's always our intent to improve the community spaces alongside our residential apartments. We know, we understand the importance of that. So we work to include the scope of work for those centers as part of the overall comprehensive modernization of the site. Right.

However, it really is deal-specific as to what the deal can cover and the cost of those renovations. So, for example, the The Section 8 funding cannot be used to cover the cost of a community center, so we have to rely on city subsidy to cover the costs of community spaces. So it really depends on how much funding the project can support in order to see how much work we can do in the centers.

So there are centers or community centers that have OACs in them that have not been rehabbed? Or have not received funding. It's possible, but I'll get you those numbers. Okay. So how was the RAD PAC partner then dealing with the needed investments that's needed in those particular centers? Were they just allowed to just exist? They would continue to make the repairs in order to ensure continuity of services.

So the RAD PAC partner would be responsible for making those repairs? Yes. As the new landlord, they would be responsible for making the repairs in the centers. Okay. Yeah, that's really interesting that that's not a requirement to rehab these centers, because obviously if you're rehabbing the apartment, it would make sense that you would rehab the centers or just like any other commercial spaces that may be a part of the NYCHA development, whether it's a daycare.

Absolutely. It's always included in our scope at the start. However, again, The resources that are required to do these projects may mean that we don't have enough funding to do a full scope for the centers. Our priority is the apartments. Okay. And then what about when it comes to— when a conversion is done, what happens to capital funds allocated to the NYCHA development that were approved by the council?

for an OAC site, if that development then later transitions to RAD PAC, what happens to those funds? So similar to what we said before, on a case-by-case basis, each PAC site is different and eligibility for capital improvements varies between the sites. So it needs to be determined on a case-by-case basis. We will take a look at what was allocated, what the need is, and we will work together to try to ensure that those funds can go to the site.

But we can't guarantee it. But is there— I mean, obviously, you've been converting developments. There should be a track record or at least something that exists already to show how you've dealt with, you know, those situations where there has been monies allocated. I just want to make sure that these centers are not losing funding when a conversion does take place.

Yeah, I mean, it does depend on— It is done on a case-by-case basis. So if there is already a renovation that is where funding has been allocated and the work has begun at the older adult center, then that work would continue and would be coordinated with the renovation work happening as part of the PAC conversion. If the funding was allocated but the project has not yet begun, then on a case-by-case basis, we would work with the city council member or the other— whoever the funder was for that work to determine whether that funding should continue to be allocated for that center as part of the conversion or whether it should be repurposed for another project in our Section 9 portfolio.

Wow. So there's a possibility that the center could actually lose funding through a conversion that's supposed to help the development? And then keep in mind, too, that you said that the— it's a possibility that there may not be enough funding to do the rehabs in the census. Is that taken into consideration, too? Everything. All of the above.

Anything is possible, but our intent is to always work to leverage all of the resources we have for the benefit of our properties, both community and residential. I can't guarantee that no site has ever lost money, but that That's definitely not something we would ever like to see happen. So we work with the City Council, we work with OMB, we try to make these deals work as best as we can.

But again, it depends on the scope and the timing of the funding in comparison to when the project is going through construction. Has there been any situations where funding has been taken away or lost? I'd have to get back to you. I'm not as familiar with that. Thank you. In the past, NYCHA has stated that PAC partners and OAC providers signed lease agreements that assign repair responsibilities.

How many of these lease agreements are in effect? So we do encourage the providers and the PACT partners to work together to finalize a lease agreement. There's only a handful in place right now. It's not a requirement that the providers sign the agreement, but we think it's good business practice and we encourage it. We've shared a template that we've worked on with NYC Aging as well.

So there's a template, okay. So that we think it's an important tool, but it's not required, but we do have a handful. Does NYCHA monitor compliance with these agreements? Or whatever agreement that they come to, does NYCHA monitor those agreements? We're not a party to those agreements. So, you know, in our— When do you provide oversight? We provide oversight of the PACT program.

And so if there are issues that are escalated about an older adult center, then You know, we would— those issues would get escalated. We'd take a look at them and we'd work together with the provider, NYC Aging, to resolve them. So the components of the agreement is not monitored, you know, by NYCHA. There's no oversight over the different components.

No, we're not a party to that agreement. How many disputes have been reported? I don't have information on any disputes. Can you get us those numbers on the disputes? I will see if we have that information. Okay. And I'm going to turn this over back to my chair. I think I had one more question. Oh, are there any surveys taken from these particular centers that have been converted over to RADPAC just to get a sense of if the experience has been good, bad?

We haven't taken a survey of it yet on the New York City Aging side, but I can tell you, having visited some of the recently converted, the older adults were thrilled. It is a much enhanced environment. Early on you mentioned some of the complaints and Councilmember Hudson mentioned having floorboards coming up and holes in the ceilings and those types of things at some of the sites that she's visited.

Right. The environment is greatly, greatly enhanced by the RADPAC program. And I'll say, as we're on our tour, the RADPAC manager, whoever it is for that particular site, has also joined us on the tour. They seem very invested in making sure that they're protecting the property and also providing a great environment for the older adults So thus far, we're very pleased with what we see.

But we'll continue to monitor it. It would be nice if you can survey them. I would love to hear what they have to say. Absolutely. Thank you, Chair. Thank you.

I have some questions about the budget. A large amount of city capital funding that NYCHA receives goes towards lump sum projects such as lead abatement, which funded at $221.9 million in fiscal 2027 adopted budget. Other examples of these are asbestos abatement, comprehensive approach to mold, general construction, and building improvement. We want to know which and if there's a large part for capital funding are being used for facility repairs in older adult centers.

Thank you, Councilmember. For the most part, those, those line items you're referencing are for our apartments and not for our community centers. As I mentioned earlier, the community centers primarily benefit from direct allocations from elected officials in the council or state or federal partners. They are not part of our capital plan. So even if you get the money, you guys are not going to improve any senior center?

Even in the same building, you are doing second floor, you will not do first floor? The centers obviously benefit from work we're doing on our buildings. If we're repairing our roofs, if we're repairing our heating systems, if we're doing building line initiatives for replacement of plumbing stacks, centers in those buildings would benefit from it. But those funding lines that you mentioned are primarily for the benefit of our apartments.

Okay, and will you guys do anything for the community center? Yeah, I can add to that. So, um, those are the— as Eva mentioned, the, um, uh, direct allocations from city council members, other elected officials, um, are going directly to older adult center comprehensive renovations. Um, we have completed 7 of those, um, primarily city, uh, discretionary funded in the last year and a half.

We have 16 active projects with a total budget of $57 million, and we have 6 planned that are currently in discussion around funding. So across those completed, active, planned, that covers about 30 of our Section 9 older adult centers currently in our portfolio. But that is separate from the city funding that you mentioned, the city funding lines that Okay.

Similarly, in FY27 executive budget, the administration added $20 million FY27 to FY30 for critical repair initiative and $10 million over this year and the next year to addressing long outstanding mold and leak complaints. Is this money able to use for the Timier Garden OAC? No, those allocations, which we're very grateful for, are significant funding that's going to help us make progress on old repairs, both mold and leaks and others in apartments.

So in NYCHA's budget, there's nothing allocated to older adult centers? The older adult center allocations are the discretionary allocations of the elected officials. We are focused primarily— our priority is to resolve conditions in resident apartments, and we are putting our funding towards those priorities right now. So that doesn't make sense to me. You said in the beginning of testimony, you said, well, we're going to do the repairs, like some senior center has some leaks.

Now you say, oh, we have money, we cannot Let me clarify, Councilmember. Repairs are different from capital improvements. So the funding that you're talking about right now are primarily capital improvements. The mold and leaks and the critical repairs initiatives are special allocations we received from this administration to focus on very old apartment conditions, and those are repairs.

And the other pots of funding you were talking about were capital improvements. So we will continue to respond to repairs and In older adult centers, when we get the work orders, we respond to them, but we don't have a specific funding source dedicated to that repair. So you can do the repair for the older adult senior center, but you cannot do repair for Latimer Gardens OAC?

But Latimer Gardens requires a capital improvement. It's not a minor repair. But it's leaking. Start with leaking. You just got— It's leaking from the roof. The roof needs to be repaired, and that's significant capital. We are working with funders right now to hopefully get funding for that roof capital repair. But if it's— they have leaking, you repair it right away, should not become a huge issue.

That's always happening in OICs. We get complaints all the time. Yes, we have significant infrastructure challenges. We will repair a leak and the leak will come back in a different part of the pipe, or we'll patch up the roof. But we're talking about a roof that's probably past its useful life and needs a capital project, a new roof, not just continuing to patch and Band-Aid the old holes in that roof.

That is why the leaks keep coming back. Okay. There's no plan to say every 20 years or 30 years the roof have to be updated? Unfortunately, NYCHA's apartments, let alone their older adult centers, are not capitalized with ongoing So who is responsible for that? The federal, state, or city? I would say all of the above. Okay. And what's the DFTA capital budget allocate with NYCHA this year?

DFTA does not have a capital budget. It is something— because we don't effect any capital projects on our own. We— the projects that we've completed are in consultation with or have come from funding that comes from either elected officials or discretionary funds. I mean, sorry, I mean the improvement you guys with city give the money, how much you guys allocated to nature-related oases for capital?

As I mentioned, we're only covering minor repairs. So it would come through the budgets at the individual site for us to be able to repair something that's very, very minor. If it's larger than that, then we're working on projects that have been funded separately. Okay. Thank you.

Let's switch the gear. We have some questions about Intro 1083. What financial support does DFTA currently offer older adults in New York City? Are there any programs currently? I know you mentioned that you have Well, we have several programs that help train our older New Yorkers and provide assistance to them for long-term care planning and things like that, as you mentioned, that can help them to protect their funds in retirement and also just to protect them from being defrauded and scammed and so on.

So we do have some of those programs available now. And I think that's a great question. We do also agree with the intent of having a financial literacy advisor at every one of the sites. We just need to review the implications of that. What would it take to actually provide that at all of the sites, and what would be the cost?

And are DFTA case managers already equipped to assist older adults with financial concerns and assume the role of financial literacy advisor, or would pass this bill require further training or hire new staff? In my opinion, at this moment, while we're still negotiating and reviewing, I would say it probably would be someone new because, you know, finance is, you know, a very specific discipline.

It's not something that normally a case manager would be well-versed in. They could help you to be able to find certain programs that they could sign up for and services across the city. But typically, that's not the role of a case manager. What does DFTA imagine implementing this bill could look like? Like financially, how much do you think is going to increase for each OAC?

We have some preliminary numbers that put us at about between $2 to $3 million to roll it out across all sites. They're not confirmed and we're still reviewing. So as you mentioned, imagining, that's exactly where we are right now. We're imagining what it would take for us to be able to do this. If you are not able to have each delegate person in each center, is there any other way you guys can help those seniors?

Perhaps. We do provide training, as I mentioned before, so it It could be possible to have someone that could move between sites, as I mentioned about the mobile geriatric mental health services that we're looking to. There could be a way to have certain centers share financial literacy advisors. So we have to review all options and find out what would be the most responsible thing for us to do.

Okay.

And Chair Banks has Couple more questions. Sure. Just 2 more. On the side of the capital side, I know a briefing that I had with the capital improvements team at NYCHA, it was suggested that— well, we know that NYCHA is pretty slow when it comes to bringing down the money or making capital improvements. Sometimes it can take years.

It was suggested that we give money to the sponsors. Is that something you would suggest or you think would work better since NYCHA hasn't been as efficient with making those capital investments to our centers? For any substantial capital work, NYCHA, you know, if it's a major capital renovation to the space, upgrades the building system, NYCHA would prefer to manage that work.

Any capital work is necessarily typically an average of 4 years because there is an extensive scoring and design process. But it seems like it's taken longer than even the timeline that you just mentioned. And some of these, you know, some of the repairs and the things that are needed are dire. And some of these centers, it's been going on for years on top of years.

I mean, if NYCHA is not able to, you know, do it, would it be okay that we give it to a sponsor or the sponsor of the development or, I mean, of that particular center or the CBO? If you have the CBO samples, we're happy to work with you to kind of identify the best way forward. Typically, our providers are not able to manage capital Okay.

And so that is why NYCHA manages the work once full funding is allocated. And the reason why I say that, because I know that it was said that the ADA accessibility, that a lot of the centers are not ADA accessible. Is that a project you think we should be better served if we were able to give the monies to a sponsor and it will be done much quicker and efficient?

It depends on the level of work that is needed. So all seniors or all older adults could be able to have have access to this government-funded— these government-funded centers? If the work that's needed rises to the level of capital work, so making, you know, the bathrooms or other spaces wheelchair accessible or accessible in other major ways that require changes to the floor plan or to major structural— requires structural work within the center, That is work that NYCHA would manage.

If it's a ramp outside the center, that's something perhaps the provider could cover. All right. Thank you. Thank you. And we like to see more centers in NYCHA facility get fixed. We don't like to hear anything is leaking or something like that. And thank you everyone for the testimony. Thank you. Thank you.

And then now we're going to move to public testimony. Okay. I now open the hearing for public testimony. I want to remind members of the public This is a government proceeding and the decor shall be observed at all times. As such, members of public shall remain silent at all times. The witness table is reserved for people who wish to testify.

No video recording or photography is allowed from the witness table. Further, members of the public may not present audio or video recording as testimony, but may submit transcripts of such recording to sergeant-at-arms for including in the hearing record. If you wish to speak at today's hearing, please fill out an appearance card with the sergeant-at-arms and await to be recognized.

When recognized, you will have 2 minutes to speak on the oversight topic, Older Adult Center in NYCHA facility Or legislation on today's agenda. If you have written testimony— written statements or additional written testimony you wish to submit for the record, please provide a copy of the testimony to Sergeant-at-Arms. You may also email written testimony to testimony@council.nyc.gov within 72 hours of this hearing.

Thank you. Audio and video recordings will not be accepted. Now we're going to call everyone for the testimony. The first one is Bridget Lee. Bridget Lee is here. Anita Kwa. And Christopher for Lee Johnson. You can begin.

Good afternoon. My name is Bridget Lee, and I'm here on behalf of the Weinberg Center for Elder Justice. We are a multidisciplinary team of attorneys, social workers, medical professionals, and public health specialists who have spent more than 2 decades serving older adults experiencing mistreatment, including financial exploitation. In addition to operating the nation's first elder abuse shelter, we provide comprehensive direct services and conduct extensive outreach and training, much of it focused on scam prevention, financial security, and preventing exploitation.

We thank the committees for their— we thank the council and their— and the committees for their attention to the financial well-being of older New Yorkers, and we support Intro 1083. Thank you. Financial security is not only an economic issue but an elder justice issue. More than 1 in 5 older New Yorkers live in poverty, and more than— and many more live on fixed incomes with no room to absorb a loss.

In NYCHA, 45% of all households are headed by someone 62 or older. For these residents, a single scam or an exploitative family member can mean losing their housing, their medication, or their next meal. Financial exploitation is the most common form of elder abuse in New York State, occurring at a rate of 41 per 1,000 older adults, yet only 1 in 24 cases of elder abuse is ever reported to a government agency or community-based service provider.

A New York State study of verified financial exploitation cases found that 67% of perpetrators were family members, most often adult children. The people most likely to take an older adult's money are often the very people they trust and depend on. Scams are a distinct but equally urgent threat. In 2025, Americans Ages 60 and over reported almost $8 billion in losses to the FBI, a nearly 60% increase from the year before, with an average loss of $38K per person.

While scams differ from abuse by family members or caregivers, they often rely on the same emotional manipulation. Scammers fabricate relationships posing as a romantic partner, a grandchild in trouble, or a trusted official, and they prey on social isolation and so many other So many older adults experience. They prey on the social isolation so many older adults experience.

In our work, we see that financial instability is frequently the first visible sign of abuse. An unpaid bill, a sudden change to a bank account, or a new name on a power of attorney can signal that something is wrong. A financial literacy advisor sitting with an older adult to review a budget or plan for end of life may be the first person to notice and the first person the older adult trusts enough to tell.

That is why we urge the council to strengthen Intro 1083 in 4 ways. First, require that the advisor training program include elder abuse and financial exploitation, which include the red flags, the dynamics of exploitation by family members and caregivers, and how to respond safely when an older adult discloses harm. Okay, can you wrap it up in 10 seconds, or you can submit to the written testimony?

Yes. Second, we would just require that advisors be trained in scam intervention strategies. Third, we would name elder abuse service providers among the contacts advisors share to older adults. And fourth, we would direct DFTA to consult with elder justice providers in developing advisor qualifications and training.

Hello. Thank you, Councilmember Juang, for the opportunity to testify. My name is Anita Kwok. I am a policy analyst at United Neighborhood Houses. Many of our members run OACs and NYCHA facilities that deal with a bunch of challenges such as unresolved repairs and unclear site control. So from plumbing to kitchen equipment to electrical work, providers have to choose between paying for repairs without the resources to do so or spending countless hours chasing a contact at NYCHA that could possibly help them with their issue.

Even if a provider has outside resources and the ability to conduct major capital improvements, the unclear or total lack of site control slows down or makes these efforts impossible. Solving these challenges requires a strong interagency approach with NYCHA and NYC Aging, but we do not believe that this relationship has materialized in practice. In our experience, NYC Aging and NYCHA often defer these responsibilities to each other without a solution in sight.

Our members question if a NYCHA liaison exists, and there's often no resolution for for the tickets that they submit to NYCHA. Sometimes projects have been paused for years due to lack of funding, and that leaves OACs without operating without critical systems. This poor bureaucratic process leads to prolonged repair timelines and uncertainty for providers to serve older adults safely.

Site control issues are also a huge barrier to resolving repair needs in NYCHA community spaces. Our members have been asked to take on responsibilities such as extermination, or signing leases without city funding to cover rent, even though rent is an allowable cost under most human services contracts. Providers cannot be expected to assume significant maintenance at a site that they do not control and have the funding to maintain.

As a landlord, NYCHA is responsible for OACs and should pay for routine maintenance and services such as extermination, particularly because OACs also serve the older adults in NYCHA facilities. I also want to say that a first step towards resolving community needs in NYCHA community spaces is ensuring that every human service organization operating in a NYCHA facility has a lease, and these leases must fairly divide the responsibilities between the provider and NYCHA, and most crucially include funding for the rent from the service contracting agency like NYC Aging.

Without addressing this underlying issue, capital needs in NYCHA spaces will go unresolved for years. And lastly, I want to add that a dedicated funding stream for fully funded capital services is really important, and we thank you for your advocacy in the past budget year for the expansion of a capital fund at OACs, and we look forward to doing it with you next year.

Thank you.

Yeah, hello, Chair Hudson. My name is Christopher Leon Johnson. I support Intro 1083. I want to say this right now that I think the city council need to amend that bill to make it where that it'd be at least 40 hours a month. I want to say this right now that the issue with that is that family, when family gets involved, it's always a problem.

You have some family members that they real aggressive, especially when it comes to money, and they'll just tell their family member to disregard whatever the financial advisor tell them to do. That creates a big-time vulnerability to the older adult. But I want to say this right now about the adult centers. But I know community centers is not really in the topic, but I think a big problem with these community centers is that the Wi-Fi.

I think that the bars, the signal bars at these centers are horrible. It's like I have Metro by T-Mobile, still T-Mobile. I think a lot of you guys have like AT&T, Verizon. Every time you go to a nature center, the signal is trash. And I think the city council needs to find a way to allocate some capital funding and put more towers on top of the the buildings because I do media and it gets kind of frustrating to do media in those facilities because it's like you can't get— you can't get no signal.

And it's like it gets annoying to go outside and try to get signal. I, I think it's kind of annoying. The city gets a lot of money for NYCHA. They need to at least buy some towers, put on top, or to the point where, um, they work with some like, like Link NYC to put like a tower right by the centers because it's abysmal.

So that's about all I got to say so far, and thank you so much. I know you got to go. I heard like 100 people downstairs. So thank you. Enjoy your day. Thank you.

Um, is there anyone else in the room want to testify? If not, we're going to move to virtual testimony. Please wait for your name to be called to testify, and please select unmute when you're prompted. Um, first one, we have Rosemary Salazar. Are you there?

I am. Good afternoon, everyone. Um, uh, so good afternoon to the committee. My name is Rosemary Salazar. I'm program director for University Settlement's Older Adults Program, serving New Yorkers age 60 and above. And thank you so much for providing the space to discuss our experiences. I'm testifying to ask that NYCHA take responsibility for tasks that fall under the domain when older adult centers are located on NYCHA property.

Specifically, I'm speaking about fire panel systems, which in our experience have been monitored by NYCHA. However, now that one of our centers requires a functioning and properly connected fire panel, NYCHA is removing itself from that responsibility. We know Sorry, we know this affects other centers as well, and as part of University Settlement, a settlement house in the Lower East Side that works diligently for its community members as well as with its partners, we're aware of the challenges that OACs face when NYCHA does not act to maintain these spaces.

I oversee 2 older adult centers in the Lower East Side, including the Neighborhood Center. which has been part of University Settlement since 1974. My goal is to ensure that these sites are comfortable, they're engaging, and that our spaces are safe for older adults. Like many centers throughout the 5 boroughs, our sites are located on NYCHA property, and that presents some challenges.

For instance, our fire panel at the neighborhood center is not connected to the FDNY alarm system or any monitoring company, and NYCHA has refused to take action to correct the issue. They say the responsibilities lie on the community-based organization that occupy this— occupy the space. So for as long as I can remember, and even staff before myself, NYCHA has partnered with FDNY Fire Safety to conduct and inspect and monitor the fire panel And the safety of our center.

In 2024, when the panel developed serious issues, FDNY inspectors repeatedly reported the needs to repair, replacement to NYCHA because of the functioning— Thank you. Your time has expired. Thank you.

Okay. Um, there's no more. Albino, are you there? No. No? Okay. Um, thank you to everyone who has testified. If there's anyone present in the room or on Zoom that has not had the opportunity to testify, please raise your hand. Seeing no one else, I would like to note that written testimony, which will be reviewed in full by committee staff, may be submitted to To the, to the record up to 72 hours after the close of this hearing by emailing it to testimony@council.nyc.gov.

Thank you. Thank you.