USA: Many Seniors May Lose Homes After NY Property Taxes Hike

NEW YORK (New York Daily News), January 18, 2006: Hundreds of seniors on fixed incomes are in danger of losing their homes because of the "precipitous increase in property taxes," two City Council members said yesterday. The lawmakers will introduce a bill today that would defer the property taxes of cash-strapped low-income seniors until they - or their heirs - sell the homes. The city would then receive the back taxes, plus interest. Councilman David Yassky (D-Brooklyn) said the seniors would be able to live in their homes without fear of being booted. The property tax on an average home in the city has risen 77% since 2000. Even with city and state tax subsidies for seniors, there are 300 low-income seniors "at risk of losing their homes because their properties have been put into the tax lien sale process," Yassky said. The tax-deferral bill proposed by Yassky and Councilman David Weprin (D-Queens) would apply to seniors with annual incomes of $26,000 or less. Bobbie Sackman of the Council of Senior Centers and Services noted, "We have a saying - 'House rich and cash poor.'" She said many seniors in poorer neighborhoods would be helped by the proposed legislation. By Frank Lombardi