State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli's Weekly News

Seniors Wait for Affordable Apartments
While Many Lay Vacant for Years

The shortage of affordable housing is especially hard on elderly New Yorkers, but many of the units specifically designated for seniors, including ones for those who are homeless, are sitting vacant even though thousands are on waiting lists for them, according to an audit released by State Comptroller DiNapoli. The audit examined whether the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the NYC Housing Development Corporation properly oversee the awarding of housing to seniors and a program that assists senior homeowners. “New York City’s affordable housing agencies need to make sure they are doing everything they can to place vulnerable seniors into available housing,” DiNapoli said. “Unfortunately, the audit found that there is more they can do to make sure those next in line are not passed over and that available apartments don’t sit vacant.”

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Now Is the Time to Expand Broadband in New York

New York State will get nearly $665 million in federal funding to invest in improvements to broadband, allowing the State to step up deployment of the highest-speed connections in every corner of New York, according to an analysis released by State Comptroller DiNapoli. “My office has been monitoring the State’s progress in making high-speed internet available to New Yorkers,” DiNapoli said. “Many parts of the State still lack the infrastructure to support high-speed broadband and this new federal funding will help remove that barrier. The pandemic exposed the struggles many families experienced when work, school, healthcare and commerce went online, and showed that reliable, high-speed internet is imperative for equality of opportunity. How New York utilizes this federal funding will set a critical path for our State’s digital future.”

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State Pension Fund Releases Annual Investment Return

State Comptroller DiNapoli announced that the New York State Common Retirement Fund’s investment return was -4.14% for the State fiscal year that ended March 31, 2023. The Fund closed the year valued at $248.5 billion.

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ALSO IN THE NEWS THIS WEEK

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• Dozens of senior apartments in NYC left vacant amid housing crisis, state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli finds
  
  
• Audit: Many NY water providers fail to submit disaster plans
  
  
• DiNapoli: Broadband Funding Could Close the City Rural Divide
  
  

• Editorial: Give public access to contracts signed during emergencies

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