By ALBINA CEKA
Thousands of low-income senior New York City residents have been left in limbo as senior centers are dealing with crumbling infrastructure that they are legally responsible for but lack that authority to fix, according to testimony at a New York City Council joint hearing between the Committee on Aging and Committee on Public Housing on October 27.
The hearing exposed the harsh realities in the Older Adult Centers (OACs) operating inside New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) buildings. Community advocates and non-profit operators described the ongoing crisis of neglect, safety hazards, and bureaucratic “finger pointing” that disrupts the vital services OACs provide for vulnerable older New Yorkers.
Public Housing Committee Chair Chris Banks emphasized the impact of the repair backlogs these OACs face. “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,” Banks said.
OACs act as a lifeline for thousands of seniors, providing nourishing hot meals, mental health resources, and fosters social connections between its attendees at no cost. However, due to severe structural degradation, many centers have halted their operations entirely, leaving the seniors who rely on them estranged.
NYCHA Chief Operating Officer Eva Trimble confirmed that “three centers have been closed in the past year due to unsafe conditions,” including Glebe Avenue in the Bronx, Lattimer Gardens in Queens, and the JASA Throgs Neck Senior Center in the Bronx. Council Member Shirley Aldebol pointed out that the JASA Throgs Neck community has “been without a senior center for six years. That’s a long time.” Seniors, she added, “don’t like having to get on a bus or a shuttle to Co-op City so far away from their community.”
Susan Zhuang, Chair of the Committee on Aging, points out that these compounding issues come from broader structural failures in these housing projects. “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,” Zhuang said. “Leaking roof, failing pipe, failing HVAC system, or even fire panel, which are not maintained. All those issues cause disruption, and extreme cases can even present a direct threat to service recipient safety.”
The hearing also addressed the confusing division of labor between NYCHA, which acts as the landlord, and the NYC Aging formerly known as the Department for the Aging (DFTA), which oversees the structural repairs.
While senior center providers are responsible for minor interior fixes, such as a broken doorknob, major structural repairs are supposed to fall entirely on NYCHA. Yet, center directors testified that navigating the system takes hours of paperwork. Worse, non-profit senior center operators often experience steep financial and legal penalties for building hazards they are legally unauthorized to repair themselves. Chair Zhuang condemned this unfair legal burden on local operators
“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,” Zhuang said. “I’m sure we can all agree that an OAC provider should never be struggled on an oath court hearing because NYCHA and the DFTA have not remedied a critical infrastructure failure.”