DIGNITY AT EVERY AGE
Harvey’s Justice Agenda for Older New Yorkers
Older adults make up more than one in five New Yorkers — nearly two million people who built this city, raised families here, and kept our neighborhoods strong. Yet too often, ageism pushes them to the sidelines, treating them as invisible or disposable. That’s not just wrong, it’s unjust. In the City Council, Harvey Epstein will lead on an Age Justice agenda — a commitment to dignity, equity, and care across a person’s whole life. Harvey knows New York should be a place where we can all grow up and grow old with security and respect.
Fair Pay and Real Support for Caregivers
Harvey has always stood with workers, and that includes the people who care for our loved ones — home health aides, personal care workers, and family caregivers. They do some of the most essential work in our city, yet they remain underpaid and undervalued. Harvey will fight to ensure every caregiver earns a fair wage and that Medicaid dollars go directly to patients and workers, not corporate profits. And he will champion respite programs and real financial support for the millions of family members — mostly women — providing unpaid care. For Harvey, caregiving is not charity, it’s labor, and it deserves dignity.
Safe and Affordable Housing for Seniors
Housing is the foundation of stability, and Harvey knows too many older New Yorkers are being harassed by landlords, priced out of their homes, or left waiting years for senior housing. In the Council, Harvey will keep pushing for stronger tenant protections — from anti harassment laws to universal Right to Counsel — so no one loses their home simply because they grew older. He will work to automatically enroll seniors in Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE), expand affordable senior housing with wraparound services, and demand the resources to finally fix NYCHA buildings where thousands of older adults live with broken elevators and unsafe conditions. Harvey’s belief is simple: housing is a human right, at every age.
Community Care, Not Isolation
For Harvey, older adult centers are not afterthoughts — they are community hubs of connection, health, and activism. That’s why he is fighting to baseline funding for meals, programming, and facility repairs. Harvey will also expand critical services like Meals-on-Wheels, case management, and Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities (NORCs) so that no senior is left waiting for help. And he will tackle the public health crisis of isolation head-on, ensuring older New Yorkers are recognized as the backbone of our neighborhoods, never left alone or unheard.
Intergenerational Justice
Harvey understands that fighting for older New Yorkers means fighting for all New Yorkers. Age justice is racial justice, immigrant justice, gender equity, housing justice, and labor justice. Harvey’s agenda is about building a city where every generation thrives together. When policies work for older adults, they strengthen our communities for everyone — because dignity, care, and respect should be guaranteed across a lifetime.
Harvey Epstein has always fought to make New York fairer, more caring, and more just. In the City Council, he will keep pushing for an Age Justice agenda that delivers fair wages for caregivers, safe and affordable housing, strong community services, and intergenerational solidarity. Our city is at its best when every generation is treated with dignity and respect — and Harvey is committed to making sure that older New Yorkers, who have carried this city through crisis after crisis, can age with security and connection. That’s the promise of Age Justice, and that’s the city Harvey is fighting for every day in the Council.