LiveOn NY Responds to Mayor Adams’ Proposed Cuts to Older Adult Food Programs
Mayor Adams’ proposes $12 million in cuts to congregate and home delivered meals programs
Mayor Adams has proposed over $12 million dollars in budget cuts to the aging sector’s congregate and home delivered meals programs in a year when costs are greater than ever. Inflation has seen costs rise by over 25% for providers and has created new needs of over $60 million dollars. These cuts are only a fraction of a percent of the overall budget, but represent tens of thousands of meals and financial solvency for older adult centers throughout the city. There are currently 1.7 million older New Yorkers, the city’s fastest growing demographic.
Mayor Adams’ Key Cuts:
$7 million cut in funding for Older Adult Centers
$5 million in funding for the home-delivered meals program
Elimination of the $1 additional one time reimbursement rate for home-delivered meals for FY24
“The cuts to NYC Aging proposed by Mayor Adams in his Executive Budget illustrate a significant departure to his pledged commitment that all essential services should be fully funded in Fiscal Year 2024. These proposed cuts directly impact the stability and wellness of the 1.7 million older adults and ignore the reality that older adults are the fastest growing demographic in New York City. It also refuses to reckon with the fact that these cuts will disproportionately hurt older adults of color, LGBTQ older adults, and other groups who have been historically excluded from city services and continue a legacy of discrimination in who our government chooses to prioritize for funding.
To simply maintain existing services, the city would need to add an additional $60 million dollars into an already strained, underfunded system. Instead, in a time of increased need and skyrocketing food insecurity and costs, the Mayor's decision to cut over $12 million to the older adult food budget alone will leave the most vulnerable older adults in our city hungry, and the nonprofits that serve them without funding. This is unacceptable.
The cuts will also potentially cause closures or consolidations of Older Adult Centers in our city which provide vital services that allow older adults to thrive. We cannot dismantle a system that provides so many New Yorkers a place to build community, sign up for benefits that keep them healthy and in their home, and participate in meaningful programs that truly impact their lives.
These cuts are also pennies in the city budget, and to tout this $12 million dollars as savings in a $106 billion dollar budget is a cruel message that New Yorkers who created the vibrant and incredible city we all love and continue to keep it that way are worth less than a ten thousandth of a percent of the city’s overall budget. The existing funding for all aging services in our city is already less than half of one percent of the overall budget and these cuts are truly an attempt to destroy the social safety net for older adults in our city.
As we all grow older, ensuring that we can all age in a community with access to services regardless of one’s zip code or background should be a priority for the City. We must invest in these services now so that we are able to create a city where older adults can thrive and remain a part of their community.