"In 2020, Enitte Cabrera, 59, enrolled in the city's Disability Rent Increase Exemption program (DRIE), which freezes a participant's rent and exempts them from future hikes, providing a tax abatement credit to their landlord to cover the difference between the frozen rent and the amount the owner would otherwise charge. To qualify, tenants must live in a rent-regulated apartment, earn less than $50,000 a year, receive some kind of disability benefit and spend at least a third of their monthly income on rent."
"DRIE allowed Cabrera, who suffers from seizures due to epilepsy as well as arthritis and other health issues, to freeze the rent for her Bronx apartment-a stabilized unit on the fourth floor of a building on Creston Avenue-at $755.55 per month, a small break from the current $864.86 monthly price on the unit. With the freeze in place, her rent remained affordable, though just barely, since her only income is $934 a month in retirement and supplemental Social Security benefits."
"But in 2023, after unexpected seizures caused her twice to fall down the narrow stairs in her building, Cabrera got a letter from her health care provider explaining her need for a unit closer to the ground floor, and her landlord was able to offer her a first-floor apartment in another building a few blocks away. Despite having one fewer bedroom than her previous place, the rent on that unit was more expensive-roughly $1,600 a month-though her landlord's real estate broker told her they'd be able to transfer her DRIE rent freeze to the new place. She moved, and all seemed well at first."
Enitte Cabrera enrolled in the Disability Rent Increase Exemption program (DRIE) in 2020, which freezes rent and provides a tax abatement credit to landlords to cover the difference. Eligibility requires a rent-regulated apartment, income under $50,000, receipt of a disability benefit, and spending at least a third of income on rent. DRIE froze Cabrera's stabilized Bronx apartment at $755.55 monthly while her sole income totaled $934 per month. After seizures in 2023, a health provider recommended a ground-floor unit and the landlord offered a higher-rent first-floor apartment. A real estate broker indicated the DRIE freeze could transfer, but the city's Department of Finance later determined the freeze no longer applied after the move.
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