TESTIMONY: LiveOn NY Right to Counsel

LiveOn NY Right to Counsel Testimony note: acrobat format

New York City Council
Committee on Courts and Legal Services
Council Member Rory I. Lancman, Chair
September 26, 2016

Testimony by Katelyn Hosey, Housing Policy Analyst, LiveOn NY
in support of Intro. 214-A

LiveOn NY thanks Committee Chair Lancman for holding a hearing on this issue.  LiveOn NY also thanks Council Member Levine and cosponsors of Intro. 214-A.

LiveOn NY respectfully submits the following testimony on Intro. 214-A.

LiveOn NY is pleased to stand with Council Members Levine and Gibson, and City Council, to support Intro-214A. At the core of LiveOn NY’s mission, is the desire to make New York a better place to age. Supporting the Right to Counsel is one way to do just that.

Enabling low-income New Yorkers the right to a lawyer in housing court, the Right to Counsel is a groundbreaking piece of legislation and New York should be proud to be the first city nationally to enact it. For seniors, the prospect of eviction could not be more devastating, as research clearly shows the importance of aging in place to a senior’s health and quality of life. The stress of possibly losing your home and being disconnected from the social networks built over decades can have substantial adverse effects on the health of an older adult. Rates of depression are decreased and life expectancy is increased by aging in place, which can only be achieved through secure and stable housing in a community.

Seniors are anchors in their communities and have often lived in their homes for decades. The inability to pay for representation should not undermine the community roots they have worked so hard to maintain. Currently, over 200,000 older New Yorkers sit on waitlists to secure affordable housing, as found by a research study conducted by LiveOn NY. With the increasing difficulties tenants face to merely secure affordable housing, their shelter should not be easily stripped away, nor should they live in fear of unjust eviction.

Further, currently an estimated 3,000 seniors are homeless, sleeping in shelters or on the street every night. Data shows an estimated 37% of homelessness having stemmed from eviction, meaning that many of these homeless seniors may have avoided the harrowing experience of homelessness, if they had only received proper legal representation. New York has a moral obligation to ward against these unjust evictions for all New Yorkers, and particularly for seniors and other vulnerable populations.

Seniors, and all New Yorkers, need and deserve due process of law and it is up to City Council to ensure that it is received. Affirmed in the Constitution and provided for in criminal court cases, due process of law cannot be maintained without representation. With so many tenants unable to afford representation, and landlords recognizing the unbalanced nature of housing court, it is time that city Council tip back the scales towards a fair, equal, and just process.

The reasons to support Intro. 214-A are both numerous and compelling, as shelter is one of the most basic of human needs and the most important of senior’s needs and should not be so easily stripped away. For these reasons, and so many more, LiveOn NY urges City Council, not only to support the Right to Counsel, but to pass Intro. 214-A, this year.

Thank you for your time in working to address this issue.

TESTIMONY: City Council Aging Committee Hearing: Reducing Senior Social Isolation and Increasing Recruitment and Retention at Senior Centers

LiveOn NY Testimony for City Council Aging Committee Hearing note: acrobat format

New York City Council
Joint Committee Hearing
Committee on Aging, Council Member Margaret Chin, Chair
Subcommittee on Senior Centers, Council Member Paul Vallone, Chair
Oversight - Reducing Senior Social Isolation and Increasing Recruitment and Retention at Senior Centers

Testimony of Andrea Cianfrani, Deputy Director of Public Policy, LiveOn NY 

Thank you Chairwoman Chin and Chairman Vallone and the Aging Committee and Senior Center Subcommittee for holding this hearing to discuss the valuable contributions senior centers, programs and agencies provide and how their work to engage the community  makes New York a better place to age.  It is fitting that this hearing is being held today, recognizing that September is Senior Center month. 

LiveOn NY’s community-based aging services members have been on the front lines of serving the diverse population of older New Yorkers for many years.  They offer programs that directly promote social interaction and prevent isolation including neighborhood and Innovative Senior Centers (ISCs), senior nutrition and anti-hunger programs, affordable senior housing with services, benefits assistance, elder abuse prevention and services, caregiver supports, transportation, adult day services and other culturally competent neighborhood based services.  Older adults gain access to these and other services mainly through the city’s nearly 250 senior centers. You will hear from many of those agencies today about the specific programs they offer to their communities.

Their work plays a daily critical role in preventing isolation.  DFTA and Fordham University released a groundbreaking study on June 28, 2016 by Manoj Pardasani and Cathy Berkman titled Senior Center Evaluation Report.  This study looked at adults 60 years or older who had gone to a senior center at least once a week over a one year period. More than 66% of the respondents noted that socialization and avoiding isolation was a reason for attending, which was the highest response for why they attended.  Further, the study reported that self reported depression levels and anxiety decreased after one year of attending the senior center.  Of note:

“Participation in a senior center also helped to reduce social isolation. Senior centers are not only a place for socialization, but also provide health education, fitness programs, meals and recreational and educational programs. The older adult population served by senior centers are among those with the lowest incomes, the fewest resources, the poorest health, the greatest social isolation, and most in need of services. The findings of this study indicate that senior centers are attracting this group that has multiple needs, and SC members experience improved physical and mental health not only in the time period after joining a senior centers, but maintain or even continue to improve even one year later. This is a very important finding, given the decline in health and social activity in this age group, especially among those with low income. Maintenance of health and social activity, rather than a decline in health, is a major benefit of senior centers.” 1

Prevention of social isolation for older adults cannot be emphasized enough. A September 5, 2016 New York Times article titled Researchers Confront an Epidemic of Loneliness recently highlighted the epidemic of loneliness. It noted recent research that found loneliness even goes so far as to surpass obesity as a predictor of early death.

Current resources do not allow senior services staff to connect with the broad array and ever changing and ever growing senior population and to expand this work.  LiveOn NY thanks Council Members Chin and Vallone for leading this charge and highlighting the blatant inadequate lack of funding for core senior services.  As noted in your letter to Mayor de Blasio on May 26, which was signed by a large number of your colleagues, you point out that while the elderly population is the fastest growing demographic in New York City, DFTA’s budget in FY16 was less than one-half of 1 percent of the City’s $78.5 billion adopted budget.  As you further note, the lack of investment seniors through baselined funding requires the City Council step in to close funding gaps for these core senior programs.  

While it is beneficial and appreciated that the City Council restores DFTA funds each year, the lack of baselining has led to loss of services, late receipt of funds, and an inability to plan. And while we greatly appreciate City Council’s support, as you articulate in your May 26 letter, one-time imitative spending is not the “stable and secure source of funds that the Administration should be providing” for core senior programs.

As noted in LiveOn NY’s 2013 Aging Tsunami Report, a key recommendation is to Support Core Senior Center-Based Community Building Services. The city must baseline current and new DFTA Funding. It is critical to first address the challenges noted above regarding funding core services with baselined dollars. Further, the city should expand Innovative Senior Centers (ISC). Beginning in 2010, DFTA began creating ISCs, each built on the concept of innovation and robust programming. As you have heard today, these centers have developed extraordinary programs.  Both neighborhood senior centers and all ISCs must be funded to keep pace with the growing needs of older adults. 

LiveOn NY also wanted to take this opportunity to inform you about other innovations in the field that will contribute to the work of senior centers.  LiveOn NY provides training and capacity building
assistance to our members that highlights best practices and innovative programs to incorporate into their agencies to increase retention and recruitment. 
 
Further, LiveOn NY is excited to partner with the National Council on Aging to bring The Aging Mastery Program® (AMP) to New York State. The Aging Mastery Program® is a 10 week education series that combines goal-setting, daily practices, and peer support to help participants making meaningful changes in their lives. The goal is to change societal expectations about the roles and responsibilities of baby boomers and older adults to create fun and easy-to-follow pathways for getting more out of life. This is a local project that will have national significance. Currently, LiveOn NY is partnering with seven member agencies to implement AMP within their communities and bringing this program to the senior centers. In the first implementation we've already seen the participating programs show an increase in attendance and engagement of current members and interest from new members.  

Programs funded by (DFTA) are the only long-term care services available for elderly New Yorkers above the Medicaid level.  The funding allocated to DFTA for all of aging programs does not reflect that reality.  Investing in these core programs is vital to the health of our city. Thank you for your dedication to making New York a better place to age.

---

[1] Senior Center Evaluation Final Report, Manoj Pardasani, Cathy Berkman, June 28, 2016, p.3

ALERT: Ask Seniors on SCRIE to take Survey

Printable Verison for this Alert note: acrobat format

Survey in several languages
     Click here for SCRIE Survey in English
     Click here for SCRIE Survey in Spanish
     Click here for SCRIE Survey in Chinese
     Click here for SCRIE Survey in Korean
     Click here for SCRIE Survey in Russian

Needed:  Seniors who are on SCRIE to take Survey!

Deadline extended - Please complete survey by September 2, 2016

This survey is crucial to show the need for capping rents at 1/3 of seniors' income

LiveOn NY and Enterprise Community Partners have released a report documenting that substantial numbers of older New Yorkers on the Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE)/Senior Rent Freeze Program (hereinafter SCRIE) who are still paying over 50% of their income in rent. SCRIE freezes the rents of senior households living in rent regulated housing who are paying over one-third of their income in rent. Click Here to view the report.

Cap all rents at one-third of income: One of the major recommendations is that NYC establish a program where all seniors on SCRIE pay no more than one-third of their income in rent. This would be an important step forward in ensuring that thousands of older New Yorkers in rent regulated apartments could continue to afford them and have money for other daily needs. Help us strengthen the SCRIE program: Having as many seniors who are on SCRIE fill out this survey will help make the SCRIE program for seniors a better program. 

 Survey Instructions

• In order to move this effort forward, we would greatly appreciate as many seniors who are on SCRIE as possible to out this survey. It is brief and can be filled out by hand or online at www.liveon-ny.org. Filling it out online saves us a lot of time as we will have to enter all surveys filled out on paper into the database manually.

• The survey is available in several languages:

Click here for SCRIE Survey in English
Click here for SCRIE Survey in Spanish
Click here for SCRIE Survey in Chinese
Click here for SCRIE Survey in Korean
Click here for SCRIE Survey in Russian

• To fill it out by hand, you can simply print this survey out and distribute it for seniors to take. If filled out by hand, please mail completed surveys in bulk to SCRIE Survey, LiveOn NY, 49 W.45th Street, 7th floor, NY, NY 10036

• Anonymous survey – We only ask for your general demographic information, no names or any identifying information.

• For questions or comments on this survey, contact Bobbie Sackman, Director of Public Policy at 212-398-6565x226 or bsackman@liveon-ny.org or Andrea Cianfrani, Deputy Director of Public Policy at 212-398-6565x233 or acianfrani@liveon-ny.org.

• Please complete surveys by Friday September 2, 2016.

 Thank you! This survey is crucial to our work to make SCRIE a better program.

ALERT: Advocacy Works! - $33 Million in funding for DFTA

Printable Verison for this Alert note: acrobat format
Press Release: AARP & Live On: City Budget Fails Aging NYers note: acrobat format
Schedule C note: acrobat format

ADVOCACY WORKS! 
$33 MILLION IN FUNDING FOR DEPARTMENT FOR THE AGING SERVICES

LiveOn NY’S FAIR BUDGET CAMPAIGN FOR SENIORS MUST CONTINUE-
SERVICES FOR OLDER NEW YORKERS STILL SHORTCHANGED IN THE CITY BUDGET

PROGRAM	MAYORAL FUNDS	CITY COUNCIL DISCRETIONARY FUNDS
Case management	$1.8 million*	0
Home care	$4.3 million*	0
6th congregate meal	$600,000	0
Elder Abuse Enhancement	$3.5 million	$335,000
Senior Center space (rent)	$1.1 million	0
Case management salary parity	$4.8 million	0
NORCS	0	$3.8 million
Adult Day Care	0	$950,000
Transportation	0	$660,000
Borough President funds	0	$1.1 million
Healthy Aging	0	$1.8 million (+$500,000)**
NYC Support Our Seniors	0	$2.0 million (+$500,000)**
Senior Center Enhancements	0	$3.5 million
Senior Centers – Immigrants	0	$1.5 million (+$500,000)**
Caregiver Supports (new)	0***	0***
TOTAL	$16.1 million	$15.6 million

Funding for Waiting Lists:  Funding has remained the same with concern about full case management funding:

*Case management - $1.8 million – Funding to eliminate the case management waiting list of 1428 homebound seniors. Case management was funded by City Council at $3 million in FY16. The administration has baselined $1.8 million of this. It is unclear how much of the remaining $1.2 million is continued. The total above, $33 million, includes the $1.2 million. DFTA has released a memo stating, “DFTA will amend FY17 case management contracts to fund current staffing levels as well as improve the salaries of case managers. As always, we will continue to work with you to assess any additional needs that may arise.”   LiveOn NY will remain vigilant about this funding.

*Home Care – $4.3 million – Funding to eliminate the home care waiting lists and to maintain current hours of home care seniors receive. The $4.3 million for home care is for one year only, not baselined – this is what happened last year. LiveOn NY will remain vigilant about home care waiting lists. Case managers are the gatekeeper for turning on home care hours. If a senior sits on a case management wait list, they will be caught in a vicious cycle of not being assessed to receive home care.

**City Council funds - These programs got additional funding from last year’s levels. Funding stayed the same in the rest of the programs. The amounts in parenthesis shows the increased amount from last year.

***LiveOn NY advocated for a new funding stream to provide Caregiver Supports. No funding was allocated.

Please see the attached press release that went out right after the budget was passed. 
CLICK HERE FOR PRESS RELEASE  LiveOn NY and AARP have collaborated to get the full $4.3 million for home care funded for FY17.  Additional funding is needed to move case management and home care programs as well as all aging services forward to serve the growing demand and meet increased costs.

New funding:

• Salary parity for case managers - $4.8 million – These funds will go towards increasing salaries to $50,000 for case managers and $60,000 for supervisors. The full amount needed, $7.3 million, will be funded as of FY18, July 2017. Currently, one out of three case managers leave every year and one out of two every two years. This level of turnover leads to waiting lists and inconsistent service for homebound seniors. This money is baselined.

• Elder abuse – Multi-disciplinary team program (MDTs) – $1.5 million – MDTs are a proven successful model of bringing professionals together from across disciplines and systems to problem solve complex cases of elder abuse. These funds should allow for MDTs to operate in all boroughs. The other
  $2 million for elder abuse is to fund contracts won through a 2015 RFP. All this money is baselined.

LiveOn NY THANKS THE AGING NETWORK – TOGETHER WE BROUGHT 600 SENIORS TO CITY HALL AND MADE HUNDREDS OF PHONE CALLS TO COUNCILMEMBERS OVER RECENT MONTHS TO SEND THE MESSAGE – FAIR SHARE BUDGET FOR SENIORS!

There is additional funding for DFTA. To see Schedule C which includes the full City Council allocations for DFTA and community-based organizations, go to:
http://council.nyc.gov/html/budget/2017/skedc.pdf

For further information, you can contact Bobbie Sackman, Director of Public Policy, 212-398-6565 x226, bsackman@liveon-ny.org or Andrea Cianfrani, Deputy Director of Public Policy, x233, acianfrani@liveon-ny.org

LiveOn NY
MAKING NEW YORK A BETTER PLACE TO AGE
www.liveon-ny.org 

ALERT: SCRIE Survey for Seniors

Printable Verison for this Alert note: acrobat format

Survey in several languages
     Click here for SCRIE Survey in English
     Click here for SCRIE Survey in Spanish
     Click here for SCRIE Survey in Chinese
     Click here for SCRIE Survey in Korean
     Click here for SCRIE Survey in Russian

ACTION ALERT
JUNE 23, 2016

LiveOn NY Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE)/
Senior Rent Freeze Program Survey

This survey is crucial to show the need for capping rents at 1/3 to further our work.
Please complete survey by July 22, 2016

• LiveOn NY and Enterprise Community Partners have released a report documenting that substantial numbers of older New Yorkers on the Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE)/Senior Rent Freeze Program (hereinafter SCRIE) who are still paying over 50% of their income in rent. SCRIE freezes the rents of senior households living in rent regulated housing who are paying over one-third of their income in rent. Click Here to view the report.

• Cap all rents at one-third of income: One of the major recommendations is that NYC establish a program where all seniors on SCRIE pay no more than one-third of their income in rent. This would be an important step forward in ensuring that thousands of older New Yorkers in rent regulated apartments could continue to afford them and have money for other daily needs.

• Help us strengthen the SCRIE program: Filling out this survey will help make the SCRIE program for seniors a better program.

Instructions

• In order to move this effort forward, we would greatly appreciate as many seniors as possible to out this survey. It is brief and can be filled out by hand or online at www.liveon-ny.org. Filling it out online saves us a lot of time as we will have to enter all surveys filled out on paper into the database manually.

• The survey is available in several languages.

Click here for SCRIE Survey in English
Click here for SCRIE Survey in Spanish
Click here for SCRIE Survey in Chinese
Click here for SCRIE Survey in Korean
Click here for SCRIE Survey in Russian

• To fill it out by hand, you can simply print this survey out and distribute it for seniors to take. If filled out by hand, please mail completed surveys in bulk to SCRIE Survey, LiveOn NY, 49 W.45th Street, 7th floor, NY, NY 10036

• Anonymous survey – We only ask for your general demographic information, no names or any identifying information.

• For questions or comments on this survey, contact Bobbie Sackman, Director of Public Policy at 212-398-6565x226 or bsackman@liveon-ny.org or Andrea Cianfrani, Deputy Director of Public Policy at 212-398-6565x233 or acianfrani@liveon-ny.org.

• Please complete surveys by Friday July 22, 2016.

Thank you! This survey is crucial to our work to make SCRIE a better program.