Senior Citizen Tenants Need Your Help

Hello Folks,

Times have been very difficult for all of us; everyday spent wondering how we might make ends meet. Ever since the economy collapsed and we entered the great recession it has been more and more difficult for each of us to survive. It is
hard to not have our thoughts consumed with our own personal struggles and self
interests. But if just for one moment, if you can try to imagine yourself to be old beyond the years of being productive, with little or no retirement benefits and living alone totally dependent on social security. How bleak and lonely your existence would seem. Your rent is continually rising; your social security benefits just don’t keep up. Food, fuel and medicine costs just keep increasing and you just can’t seem to make ends meet. You wish you were what you used to be, independent, self-sufficient; a productive member of society, but the truth is your way past your prime. Physically you are a shadow of what you used to be. At times it seems that death would be a welcome relief, but you just don’t have the courage to end it all, so you patiently wait for God or fate to play its hand and hope that it will be a merciful end.

There are countless old folks within our midst who are alone and desperate. They are silent in their desperation. They are proud in their silence. Yet within their souls they weep with sorrow and are consumed with fear of facing the question, how will I survive tomorrow? Should not we as a society reach out to them with
a helping hand? Some folks have pointed out that if we acted on behalf of the elderly we would be asked to act on the behalf of the people who had their unemployment insurance expire, or others who found themselves in dire
situations. Well, I’m not sure that we shouldn’t help them also, but there is something different about the old folks and that is their age. Younger people’s situations can change they have time on their side. New opportunities may still exist for them, and if nothing else there is hope, but for the elderly, their time has passed. There is no bright spot on the horizon of their future.

I started a petition to help the senior citizen tenants in our state. The following is the Petition Background:

Many of the senior citizen tenants in our state are staring into a financial abyss;
they are often dependent on Social Security as their only source of income. In
2010 and 2011 there were no cost of living adjustments in their social security
benefits, but for many their rent was increased each year. In 2012 they
received a COLA increase, but their Medicare premiums were also increased.
Consequently their disposable income remained the same at best and yet their
rent increased again. In 2013 the COLA increase is 1.7%. Even in areas of the
state where rent control ordinances are in effect, the rent increases are
larger than 1.7%, the old folks fall further behind. Also in 2013 the Medicare
part B premiums are increasing by 5%, the part B deductible is rising by 5% and
the Part A deductible is rising 2.5%, once again life becomes more of a burden
for our senior citizen tenants. They are faced with rent payments that increase
faster than their social security cost of living adjustments, year after year.
With the economy still struggling as far as main street America is concerned, a
slow recovery if any predicted, the poor financial health of the Social
Security and Medicare programs, the huge deficits and debts that the State and
Federal Governments are currently experiencing, and the demographics of the
baby boomers, it is very likely that in the future we will see more years when
there is no increase, if not cuts in Social Security, more increases in
Medicare premiums and deductibles, and cuts in programs that were designed to
aid seniors in need. Many of these folks are making the difficult decisions on
whether to pay their rent or purchase food, medicines, or other necessities of
life. It is just a matter of time before they will be pushed over the edge into
perpetual poverty, hunger and possibly into the ranks of the homeless. To allow
this situation to continue seems negligent at best, if not cruel. Therefore to
protect the health and well-being of senior citizen tenants it is in the public
interest to guarantee those senior citizen tenants affordable rental housing at
their current locations in order to avoid displacement due to rents that
increase faster than their income.

The following is the Statement from the proposed legislation.

STATEMENT A-3121

This bill is intended to assure affordable rental housing for a significant portion of New Jersey's senior citizen population. The bill would permit senior citizens, of 67 or more years, who have lived in a dwelling unit in a particular building or structure that is not public housing for at least the previous 10 years as their principal residence, and who have an annual income of $80,000 or less during the calendar year this act takes effect, to be adjusted annually, to apply to the
Commissioner of Community Affairs for protected senior citizen tenant status.
The bill provides that the annual income limitation for eligibility for protected senior citizen tenant status will be the same as the income limitation for eligibility under the homestead property tax reimbursement
program, P.L.1997, c.348 (C.54:4-8.67 et al.).

A person meeting those requirements would be granted protected senior citizen status and their landlord would be so notified. A landlord would be required to limit any rent increase to the annual index rate factor promulgated by the commissioner for that particular county. The annual index rate factor would be 75% of the increase in the average consumer price index, determined on an annual basis. For each county the commissioner would use the consumer price index applicable either to the New York metropolitan area or the Philadelphia metropolitan area, as appropriate to the location and economic conditions of the county, as determined by the commissioner.

A landlord who increases the rent of a protected senior citizen tenant above the allowable amount would be liable for damages in an amount equal to the greater of $500 or three times the rent difference, plus reasonable attorney fees in a summary proceeding. A landlord facing undue hardship as a result of a tenant with protected senior citizen tenant status would be entitled to apply to the commissioner for a hardship waiver of the annual index rate factor. The commissioner could then set the rent at a level to ensure that the landlord does not suffer undue hardship.

The provisions of this bill would supersede any municipal rent control ordinance to the contrary.

The Petition:

"We the undersigned respectfully request that Assemblyman Jerry Green, the chairman of the Assembly Housing and Local Government Committee, review Bills A2722 and A3121 (The Senior Tenant Protection Act), support their fruition, push them through committee and send them to the General Assembly for a vote. We ask the Senate to do the same. We ask that our Legislators be a voice of hope for those in need."

Will you sign the petition and use your voice to help these folks?

Click on the following link to add your name:

http://signon.org/sign/nj-assembly-and-senate?source=c.fwd&r_by=960886

Thanks, John DeSantis