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MEDIA: Seniors Demand "Fair Share" of NYC Budget
Seniors Demand "Fair Share" of NYC Budget
More than 350 seniors took part in a day of advocacy. (A Nickerson/LiveOn NY)
May 12, 2016
NEW YORK - More than 350 seniors and social workers descended on New York City's City Hall Wednesday to demand a fair share of the city budget for services through the Department for the Aging, and more support for family caregivers.
Seniors are the fastest-growing segment of the city's population, but one in five lives in poverty and thousands more are barely above the poverty line.
According to Bobbie Sackman, director of public policy at LiveOn NY, the city's Department for the Aging pays its case managers about $20,000 a year less than those in other social services.
"Every year, one out of three case managers leaves their job," she said. "You're making $35,000 a year. You have a big caseload, complicated cases. You're not going to stay."
The city budget includes $4.8 million for salary parity for case managers, but Sackman said more than $7 million is needed to raise salaries this year.
Beyond case managers, there are thousands of adults spending 20 or more hours a week to care for an aging parent or spouse. Sackman said passage of the statewide Family Leave Act earlier this year will help, but the city needs to fund supportive services for family caregivers.
"So if you need some home care, if you need somewhere to place your elderly mother so that you can go to work, or caregiver support groups so people can come together and talk," she said.
She said caregivers who don't get adequate support services are likely to burn out from the stress of work and family.
Under the previous administration, funding for adult day-care services for seniors with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia were cut. This year, Sackman said, they're asking the city for $2.3 million.
"Two-point-three-million dollars was the amount the city was spending under (former mayor Michael) Bloomberg seven or eight years ago and the administration hasn't brought these services back to that level," she added.
Sackman maintains that by investing in seniors, the city helps them remain in their homes longer and helps their caregivers remain more productive.
Andrea Sears, Public News Service - NY
ALERT: Mayor de Blasio’s Executive Budget includes $4.8 million for Case Manager Salary Parity!
Mayor de Blasio’s Executive Budget includes $4.8 million for Case Manager Salary Parity!
Printable Verison for this Alert note: acrobat format
May 11 2016 Advocacy Day Talking Points note: acrobat format
May 11 2016 Advocacy Day Fair Share for Seniors Budget Priorities Chart note: acrobat format
Confirmed Councilmember Meetings note: acrobat format
April 29, 2016
Celebration Time!
Mayor de Blasio’s Executive Budget includes $4.8 million for
Case Manager Salary Parity!
LiveOn NY thanks Mayor de Blasio for responding to this critical need.
LiveOn NY thanks DFTA Commissioner Donna Corrado and DFTA for their leadership.
LiveOn NY’s May 11th City Hall Advocacy Day is Building Momentum!
Click here for 2017 Budget Priorities
FY17 Executive Budget includes:
- $4.8 million for Salary Parity
- Funding full amount in FY17 - In order for the DFTA case management system to hire and retain licensed social workers, funding has been added to raise salaries to $50,000 for case managers and $60,000 for supervisors. This is a first phase in step for FY17. The Executive Budget includes $7.3 million by FY18, which is the full amount needed for these salary levels to be reached. The salary increases need to be done in one year – FY17. LiveOn NY and its members will advocate for the full $7.3 million in FY17 with the administration and City Council.
- LiveOn NY met with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in recent weeks to discuss salary parity for case managers and are very pleased to see this big win.
- Staff funded by discretionary funds - The $3 million for case management allocated by City Council last year was not baselined. This funding needs to be baselined and all staff hired must receive the same salary levels, $50,000 and $60,000. The administration must baseline these funds and add in the additional amount to ensure salary parity across the system. LiveOn NY and its members will advocate for the baselining of these funds and additional funding to ensure salary parity across the system.
- Senior center rent baselined - $800,000 was baselined in the Executive Budget which means these funds will remain in senior center budgets beyond just one year.
- Elder abuse funds - The preliminary budget, released in January 2016, included $3.5 million for elder abuse. It baselined $2 million of existing funds and added $1.5 million for multi-disciplinary teams (MDTs).
IT IS IMPORTANT TO RECOGNIZE WHAT A BIG WIN THIS IS AFTER ALL THESE YEARS OF HIGH TURNOVER RATES. THIS CREATES THE ABILITY TO HIRE LICENSED SOCIAL WORKERS!
Update on May 11 Advocacy Day:
- Appointments with Councilmembers are increasing every day – Over 30 meetings with Councilmembers have been set. We expect to schedule the rest of the Councilmembers soon. Your borough coordinators will contact you when an appointment is set.
- Over 40 Advocacy Day participants joined in 2 briefing calls - THANKS EVERYONE! This is the most participants ever in these important calls which brief Advocacy Day participants on the logistics and talking points.
- LiveOn NY’s Talking Points for budget priorities – These talking points can be used for Advocacy Day and any time you meet with your Councilmember(s) and their staff. Click here for talking points and budget chart.
- Hold a budget forum in your senior center or NORC in May – May is Older Americans Month - Some senior centers have held a budget forum during the city budget process. You can invite your local Councilmember from 11:30-12:00 or another good time, to take questions from participants. Share the budget chart with seniors and ask them to choose 3-4 issues they’re interested in to discuss. They can prepare questions to ask the Councilmember. You can also invite in local press. Take some photos and send them in to the press with a quote about the forum from a senior or two. For further information, contact Bobbie Sackman, bsackman@liveon-ny.org or 212-398-6565 x226 or Andrea Cianfrani, acianfrani@liveon-ny.org or x233. This would be a great event to do!
JOIN LiveOn NY’s FAIR SHARE BUDGET CAMPAIGN!
For further information, contact Bobbie Sackman, bsackman@liveon-ny.org or 212-398-6565 x226 or Andrea Cianfrani, acianfrani@liveon-ny.org or x233.
MEDIA: Advocates Ask More Support for Seniors and Caregivers
Advocates Ask More Support for Seniors and Caregivers
By: Andrea Sears
Monday, March 28, 2016
Publication & Publisher: Public News Service - NY
NEW YORK - Low-income seniors need help to stay in their homes. That's the message their advocates want lawmakers to hear as they finalize the state budget.
They may be the most neglected seniors in New York, says Bobbie Sackman, director of public policy for LiveOn New York.
Community Services for the Elderly helps seniors remain in their own homes, but it has a long waiting list.
They have too much income to be on Medicaid but not enough to pay for the support services they need. Sackman says there are 10,000 older people across the state who are on waiting lists for a variety of services.
"For Meals on Wheels, for case management where a social worker comes into their home, for home care, for transportation, for adult day services, says Sackman. "And the list goes on."
LiveOn New York has joined with AARP and others in calling for an increase of at least $15 million in state funding for Community Services for the Elderly (CSE).
Those services help not only the seniors, but family caregivers as well. Richard McGee says his 95-year-old mother, who has been approved for a home-health aide, has been on a CSE waiting list for three months.
"It makes it more and more difficult for me, because she's more dependent on me every day," McGee says. "And so, I spend much of my time during the day over there, trying to help her with her daily needs."
In the past three years, the waiting lists for CSE services have increased by 3,000 seniors.
The percentage of New Yorkers over age 65 continues to grow, while the ratio of potential family caregivers is going down.
Sackman calls access to affordable eldercare a 21st-century workforce issue.
"Just as we've talked for decades about the need for affordable child care, we need to look across the lifespan," she says. "And the other side of that equation is, how do you help these men and women stay in the workforce and balance their lives?"
Sackman says the proposed $15 million increase in CSE funding has bipartisan support in the Legislature, but the Senate's proposed budget would increase it by only $3 million.
Andrea Sears, Public News Service - NY
MEDIA: Seniors applaud Mayor de Blasio’s affordable housing plan at rally
Seniors applaud Mayor de Blasio’s affordable housing plan at rally
By: MAGEE HICKEY
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
Publication & Publisher: PIX 11
ASTORIA, Queens— Helene Gwenn, 79, of Astoria says she's a prisoner in her own home. It's a fifth floor walk up on 30th Road that she has lived in for close to 40 years.
Helene, who has a heart condition and has trouble walking up five flights more than once a day, has been on a waiting list for senior affordable housing with an elevator for two years.
She is is one of 20,000 seniors in Western Queens waiting to get into affordable senior housing, said to be tougher to get into than Harvard.
"I limit myself to one excursion a day," Gwenn told PIX11. "My doctor would prefer I don't live in a walk up," she said.
Helene's city Councilmember Costa Constantides just voted in favor of Mayor de Blasio's zoning proposals because of the need for more senior housing in his district. The district includes Astoria, Jackson Heights, Woodside and Elmhurst.
"They are our mothers, grandmothers, fathers and brothers and they really need this housing," Costa Constantinides, the City Council Member from that section of Queens told PIX11.
The mayor's plan calls for a sweeping overhaul of the city's housing policy giving incentives to developers to include some affordable housing for seniors and low-income families in all projects that need city approval.
Right now, more than 200,000 older New Yorkers across the city are on waiting lists for affordable housing. The wait time is seven years.
Maria Pedemonte's brother has been in the waiting list for five years.
"He's been waiting and he really wants to live in Astoria," Maria Pedemonte told PIX11.
MEDIA: 20,000 Seniors Hold Out for Affordable Housing in Western Queens
There's more demand for affordable housing for seniors in areas around Astoria than any other part of the city
Stefan Schack
There's more demand for affordable housing for seniors in areas around Astoria than any other part of the city
By: EMILY NONKO
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
Publication & Publisher: Curbed New York
There's a waitlist of nearly 20,000 seniors hoping to secure affordable housing in Western Queens neighborhoods like Astoria, Woodside, East Elmhurst and Jackson Heights. The district, which has seven affordable housing buildings for seniors, has more demand than any other part of the city.
The senior advocacy group LiveOn NY released a survey, picked up by DNAinfo, that found 111,000 seniors are on waitlists for affordable housing in New York, with an average wait time of seven years. (It's been said that it's easier to get into Harvard than secure an affordable senior apartment here.) Despite three senior housing developments built in Astoria by HANAC, Inc. over the past 10 years, the waitlist numbers in Western Queens are far higher than any other district in the city. HANAC's developments have a total of 350 units but there's a waitlist of 13,000 for just those three buildings.
LiveOn NY released the survey in support of the mayor's controversial housing proposals, just approved this week. The City Council strongly supported Zoning for Quality and Affordability (ZQA) and Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH), which ensure more senior and affordable housing is included in denser buildings.
Claire Hilger, the senior vice president for real estate with Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens—which runs two senior buildings in Astoria with a waitlist of 1,300—told DNAinfo she believes a number of vacant parking lots at their developments could be used for more housing under the zoning change.
Councilmember Costa Constantinides, of Astoria, told DNAinfo that the dire need for senior housing convinced him to vote for the zoning changes this week. And Bobbi Sackman, director of public policy at LiveOn NY, sees the discussion around rezoning as a step in the right direction. "The whole ZQA debate, it opens a door, literally, to the city's awareness," she told DNAinfo. "You can't go backwards. You can't now close that door and say you never knew."