News & Updates
At LiveOn NY, we work hard to make sure that the public hears about the issues affecting older New Yorkers, as well as the incredible momentum that exists as we grow old. To this aim, we are proud of each and every time we are able to share this narrative with our local communities or to comment on a topic affecting older New Yorkers.
The following comments were submitted to the New York City Council.
New York City Council
Joint Hearing
Committee on Aging, Chair Margaret Chin
Committee on Housing and Buildings, Chair Cornegy
December 12, 2019
Affordable Senior Housing
Thank you to Chairpersons Chin and Cornegy, and committees, for holding this important hearing on affordable senior housing.
LiveOn NY’s members include more than 100 community-based organizations that provide more than 1,000 programs to serve older New Yorkers. These core services include senior centers, home‐delivered meals, caregiver supports, NORCs, case management and homecare. Additionally, many of LiveOn NY members develop, manage, and provide services in affordable senior housing buildings throughout the five-boroughs, as well as Nassau and Suffolk counties. Through policy efforts, LiveOn advocates to increase funding and capacity for our members to meet the needs of older adults in their communities. In addition to numerous other trainings and programs offered by LiveOn NY, we are proud to convene our Affordable Senior Housing Coalition, which works to ensure the senior perspective is represented in the larger conversation of affordable housing needs.
Background
The need for affordable senior housing with services remains as or more significant today as it was in 2016, when LiveOn NY first reported our finding that an estimated 200,000 seniors were on waiting lists for housing through the HUD202 program in New York City. Findings also showed seniors wait an average of 7-10 years for a unit to become available. It quickly became evident to LiveOn NY that seniors were not immune to the housing crisis that has taken hold of our city, as the vacancy rate continued to hover around 3%. In fact, housing challenges may disproportionately impact seniors, as many older adults live on fixed incomes that cannot keep pace with rising rents; experience mobility challenges that limit housing options within an aging rental-stock; and are found to have high rates of rent burden, with one third of individuals receiving the Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE) benefit paying more than 70% of their income on rent.
The University of Pennsylvania recently released stark findings that, without intervention, the population of individuals 65 and older experiencing homelessness is likely to balloon to almost 7,000 individuals by 2030. This is far beyond the 1,438 individuals 65 and over who spent last December in temporary shelter, as reported by City Limits. Statistics indicate that we have yet to reach the peak of the housing crisis for seniors, and increased intervention by all levels of government is needed to abate an even more disastrous scenario for the oldest among us.
Seniors First Initiative
Given the current need, LiveOn NY has been pleased to see the Administration’s clear recognition of the need for senior specific housing as demonstrated through the investments and commitments included in the Seniors First Initiative, which has most notably brought about historic commitments to the production and preservation of affordable senior housing. Through this initiative and the Senior Affordable Rental Assistance (SARA) program in particular, NYC is now home to the nation’s first LGBTQ friendly affordable senior housing developed by SAGE and partners; Queens has opened its doors to HANAC’s new environmentally friendly senior building; the Bronx welcomed WSFSSH’s Tres Puentes, which will bring significant new health care resources to the MillBrook community; and thousands of seniors, including many who had experienced homelessness, now have an affordable place to call home.
LiveOn NY sees the SARA program, which is often utilized in conjunction with NYCHA NextGen, as an incredible success and feat for the City. However, in recognition of the significant continued need and the ability to continue to refine and improve upon current efforts, LiveOn NY respectfully offers the following recommendations:
Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, LiveOn NY strongly recommends an increase to the per-unit allocation of service funds through the SARA service program, administered by HRA. Currently, only $5,000 in funding is awarded per SARA unit that is occupied by a formerly homeless senior, which makes up 30% of a building’s units. Units occupied by seniors coming from the general Housing Connect lottery system are not eligible for any city funding for services, though it is expected that services are made available to these tenants. While LiveOn appreciates and strongly prefers the inclusive nature of the program as it stands, we do not believe that the currently-available funding is sufficient to ensure the type of robust programming that is required for older adults.
More specifically, in order to make their budgets work, providers are often having to offer less services than are believed to be preferred by seniors or are unable to offer the predominantly female human service workers in their buildings the competitive salaries they deserve—and that providers want to give—due to the lack of funds. For example, many seniors would prefer an individual at the front desk at all times, to support the physical well-being of tenants in the event of emergency. However, most budgets cannot allow for this 24/7 service, and there is no mandate to include such a position.
To address these challenges, and ensure funding is available for senior service providers to keep wages on pace with the recent prevailing wage increases, we recommend that HRA also make available a minimum of $3,000 per year per non-formerly homeless SARA unit, in addition to the $5,000 currently available for services for formerly homeless tenants. This funding would show a recognition from the city that older adults of all housing backgrounds can benefit from the light-touch services offered by a social worker in their place of residence. Further, the funding would recognize that while an individual might not initially present with significant need for assistance, we all can benefit from additional supportive services as we age. Finally, funding for service coordinators in senior housing is proven to reduce health care costs. In fact, LiveOn NY’s member Selfhelp Community Services recently released a study of the residents in their senior affordable housing program. The study compared Medicaid data for residents in their housing in comparison it to seniors living in the same zip codes over a two year period. This crucial research found that the seniors living in Selfhelp’s affordable housing had significantly more positive outcomes including:
68% lower odds of being hospitalized
$1,778 average Medicaid payment per person, per hospitalization for Selfhelp residents, versus $5,715 for the comparison group
53% lower odds of visiting an emergency room compared to a non-Selfhelp resident
Secondly, the city must continue to develop new affordable senior housing on all types of land—not just sites made available through NYCHA NextGen. While the NYCHA NextGen RFPs represent a critical and welcomed opportunity for the construction of new affordable senior housing, these cannot be the only projects prioritized. Without publicly committing to ensuring room is in the pipeline for proposals from alternative sites, private investment in land or pre-development planning for affordable senior housing will slow. Lack of certainty can be a driver of cost increases or speculative actions; therefore by sharing this information, mission-driven, non-profit providers can adequately prepare to respond to new opportunities. To this point, LiveOn NY notes that we have found HPD’s team to be extremely approachable and communicative about their development timelines. However, we welcome further commitments from the Administration around senior development outside of the NYCHA NextGen program.
Thirdly, LiveOn NY recommends that the City ensure that senior housing is prioritized in its overall development pipeline, allocating additional resources as needed to ensure extremely-low income seniors can be served. Given the extensive amount of time devoted to both the land-use and construction processes, delays in closing on senior properties should not place potential developments on hold. For older adults, the value of time takes on new meaning, making the urgency of the housing crisis and the need to prioritize this particular type of housing more pronounced. If projects are put on hold due to lack of investment from other levels of government (e.g. the availability of project-based vouchers or volume cap), LiveOn recommends that the City publicly and specifically articulate the nature of these challenges to ensure that the public has the information needed to effectively advocate for said resources.
Finally, LiveOn NY recommends further coordination between city agencies—particularly DFTA, HPD, NYCHA, and City Planning—as development sites are selected with the potential to include space for senior programming. As existing senior centers continue to face increased capital needs and rent increases, and the demographics of seniors continues to shift across the five boroughs, LiveOn NY recognizes the significant opportunity to improve the senior center system through the inclusion of communal space in new affordable senior housing developments. Positively, this has been in practice in some cases; however, the process to bring a new center to life has often proven challenging, filled with both uncertainty and a lack of uniformity, despite significant effort by all involved. LiveOn NY recommends the agencies come together and develop a uniform mechanism for new developments to incorporate space for senior centers that will require city funds for operation. A critical component to this should be addressing the challenges related to the varying timelines a developer must adhere to, while simultaneously allocating funding to a center in accordance with city procurement rules. This is especially important for centers that would be developed after FY22, as the senior center RFP process will have just come to a close.
New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA)
LiveOn NY would be remiss if we did not mention the importance of increased funding for NYCHA, as public housing also represents one of the few affordable options for older adults in New York City. With the Physical Needs Assessment estimating the capital backlog to be $32 billion and the barrage of news headlines indicating the dilapidated current state of the City’s Housing Authority, it is critical that funds are made available and are well-utilized to improve living conditions for NYCHA tenants. Additionally, it is important to note that community spaces operating within NYCHA have not been immune to the capital and operational challenges plaguing the developments. The Wall Street Journal estimated $500 million in capital funding is needed for NYCHA community spaces, which include senior centers and other valuable programs for NYCHA tenants and the surrounding communities. While much emphasis has been accurately placed on the need to improve the living conditions in units within NYCHA developments—which LiveOn NY wholly supports—it is nonetheless critical that these life-sustaining services also be included in the dialogue of NYCHA related needs.
Intro 6 and Intro 225
Finally, LiveOn NY would like to express our strong support of Intro 6 and Intro 225, introduced by Council Member Barron and Council Member Brannan, respectively.
LiveOn NY has been a longstanding proponent of the City’s anti-eviction efforts, including the Right to Counsel initiative spearheaded by Council Members Gibson and Levine. We welcome and support the passage of Council Member Barron’s efforts to further protect older adult tenants from facing displacement by ensuring the City receives advance notice of planned evictions of elderly tenants in order to share legal assistance resources with said individuals.
LiveOn NY also supports Council Member Brannan’s efforts to ensure age-friendly accommodations be made by landlords in an older adult’s place of residence. It is our understanding that this effort is in line with current practices related to reasonable accommodation requirements under the City’s interpretation of the Human Rights law, and we are pleased to see continued efforts to codify this practice of providing support as requested by the older tenant.
LiveOn NY thanks Chairs Chin and Cornegy and the full committees for holding today’s hearing, and we look forward to working together in the upcoming fiscal year.
On October 28th, 2019, the NYC Department for the Aging (DFTA) released the Home-Delivered Meals (HDM) Program Concept Paper for the upcoming Request for Proposal (RFP), anticipated to be issued in early Calendar Year 2020. After significant analysis, LiveOn NY developed and submitted the following response to DFTA for consideration…
The following comments were submitted to The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) on Monday, December 2, 2019. The FNS is housed within the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and is the federal agency responsible for administering the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). This proposed rule on Standardization of State Heating and Cooling Standard Utility Allowance would cut nearly $4.5 billion in benefits over five years, causing 19 percent of SNAP households to get lower SNAP monthly benefits, and would disproportionately impact older adults and individuals with disabilities.
LiveOn NY respectfully expresses our strong opposition to the proposed rule on the Standardization of State Heating and Cooling Standard Utility Allowances (SUA). LiveOn NY is a nonprofit membership organization representing 100 community-based organizations serving older adults in New York City. We also provide direct assistance to older New Yorkers through our Benefits Outreach Program, through which our team screens individuals for eligibility and assists through the entirety of the application process.
Currently, SNAP is one of our nation’s most effective anti-poverty programs, helping more than 38 million people in the United States meet their basic nutritional needs every month. However, if this proposal passes, this would mean a reduction of $4.5 billion over 5 years in benefits. Seniors and the disabled will particularly bear the brunt of this proposal, especially those who are low income and reside in communities of color. This proposal to standardize SUA will have dire consequences for many of our clients, particularly homeowners, a population that skews older, and tenants who pay utilities separate from their mortgage or rent. It is estimated that an overall 19 percent of current recipients would see their monthly SNAP benefits decrease, making it harder to afford sustenance. For some of our clients in particular, their SNAP benefits would diminish considerably—as much as $40 to $50 per month on average. Even worse, some of our clients would no longer be eligible to receive SNAP at all.
One of LiveOn NY’s current clients receives the minimum SNAP amount of $16 per month even with the highest SUA level. Prior to the passing of his wife, he was receiving $194; but this amount was lowered to $16 after the rent reduction he received from his SCRIE redetermination. Our client is a diabetic who cannot afford the proper dosage of his medication because of the high out of pocket cost. To make his medication last longer, he splits his pills and uses his daughter’s extra blood glucose test strips. If this Standardization of State Heating and Cooling Standard Utility Allowances (SUA) passes, our client would be at risk of no longer receiving SNAP benefits. The struggles faced by our client is just one illustration of a problem plaguing countless older adults, who find themselves having to choose between food, medicine, and housing.
The SUA calculations are also tied to the eligibility for the Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP), which helps defray the cost of heating in the winter. Standardizing SUA could have the unintended effect of making it even more difficult for older adults to pay their utility bills, because these same seniors who become ineligible for SNAP would also become ineligible for HEAP.
“It is impossible to say that older adults in our nation have the opportunity to live with dignity and respect when so many would be at risk of going hungry due to this proposed rule.”
Moreover, the proposal to cut SUA would only put even more older adults at risk of food insecurity, which could have severe repercussions to their health, such as contributing to an increased risk of falls, which can lead to significant health care complications and costs. In the case of our client mentioned above, the stress and the lack of funds for medication could aggravate pre-existing chronic conditions, and therefore be responsible for worsening health outcomes. These cuts would also negatively affect the bottom line of local businesses and farmers from whom SNAP recipients purchase their fresh foods. Therefore, this proposal will not only be economically detrimental to older adults, but for the community at large.
At LiveOn NY, we believe that older adults should have the opportunity to age in place with dignity and respect. Every city and town in America should allow for older adults to thrive given all that they have contributed and continue to contribute to their communities. The SNAP program is a core safety net that ensures that. It is impossible to say that older adults in our nation have the opportunity to live with dignity and respect when so many would be at risk of going hungry due to this proposed rule.
As a result of our forty years of experience working with older New Yorkers, we believe that this proposal will harm, instead of help, older Americans. We urge the Federal government to withdraw this proposal in its entirety. We remain resolved in our continued efforts to advocate for policies that will safeguard against hunger, ensure housing, promote health and address economic inequality; and we are hopeful that a similar resolve will compel the Federal government to conclude that this proposal is not worth further pursuing.
On October 8th, LiveOn NY joined Council Member Chin and other aging advocates for a rally and public hearing on age discrimination in the workforce. LiveOn NY’s Director of Public Policy, Katelyn Andrews, spoke at the rally (pictured left) on the steps of City Hall. Jenna Gladfelter, Public Policy Associate, testified at the joint hearing held by City Council’s Committee on Aging and Committee on Civil and Human Rights.
Watch the hearing here, and listen to the timely testimony of the reporters of NY1 who launched an age- and gender-discrimination lawsuit against their employer, as well as the inspired testimony of fellow aging advocates. LiveOn NY testifies at the 2:29:10 minute mark in this nearly 3 hour hearing. Read our full, written testimony, below:
New York City Council
Joint Hearing
Committee on Aging, Chair, Council Member Margaret Chin
Committee on Civil and Human Rights, Chair, Council Member Eugene
October 8th, 2019
Oversight – Age Discrimination in the Workforce
Thank you, Chairs Chin and Eugene, and the Committees, for the opportunity to testify on age discrimination in the workplace. LiveOn NY would also like to thank Council Member Chin and Council Member Ayala for shining a light on this issue that affects so many, and if left unaddressed, will undoubtedly affect many more.
It is critical that we view aging as the normative life process that it is. In other words: we are all aging. We find ourselves in an exciting time in which the future of aging itself is dynamic and evolving. Perhaps like never before, there is no “one size fits all” for the aging process. While previous generations may have lived by a more consistent set of milestones, today we all experience life and aging differently, and therefore deserve the opportunity to thrive in accordance with our own drive, desires, limitations, and values, regardless of age. For some, this may mean an early and long-awaited retirement; for others, a second act in an unexplored career path; for most, however, it means the continued economic pressures of an often unequal society.
This economic reality means that many older adults simply cannot afford the fiscal implications of a frequently age-biased, and at times, discriminatory society and workplace. Even beyond economic pressures, older adults should not be shunted the opportunity to fulfill the innate desire to have utility, be productive, and contribute. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, by the year 2024, workers 55 or older will represent 25% of the workforce. By contrast, in 1994, those 55 and older represented just 11%. And yet, while today many people are working longer, age discrimination – particularly in the workforce – is still very real. It is ingrained in stereotypes of how older adults live, behave, and work, which can have a seriously damaging effect on their job opportunities and overall well-being.
“Many older adults simply cannot afford the fiscal implications of a frequently age-biased, and at times, discriminatory society and workplace.”
While age discrimination is highly unreported, the most common cases that are filed involve an individual not being hired due to age, followed closely by being passed over for promotions. These occurrences have a clear fiscal impact on the individual, and may be more common than has been enumerated given the aforementioned lack of reporting. In fact, in a 2017 study by AARP, more than 6 in 10 workers age 45 and older say they have seen or experienced age discrimination in the workplace. Of those, 91% say that it is a common occurrence.
For already marginalized populations, such as women, immigrants, or minority communities, these age-related injustices only serve to exacerbate existing inequities. Inequities such as lost wages due to caregiving, persistent wage gap within communities of color, and lack of pension options for a multitude of workers, means that the financial margins that are so slim that the effects of age discrimination can be devastating.
It is in light of these injustices that LiveOn NY would like to express our strong support for all of the bills being discussed at today’s hearing. We applaud Council Members Chin and Ayala for introducing a legislative package aiming to change the narrative around the value of older adults and older workers.
We would also like to respectfully submit several recommendations in an effort to see this legislative package as strong as it can be:
First, as proposed in Intro 1694, we support Council Member Chin’s efforts for the City to have a team working to ensure that equity in employment opportunities exists for older New Yorkers. LiveOn would like to submit for consideration that this team be housed within the Office of Workforce Development as a Center for Older Workers, enabling employees to capitalize on existing resources.
Secondly, LiveOn NY looks forward to supporting the work of the task force proposed in Intro 1693, and we applaud Council Member Chin’s efforts to create such a body to convene on this key issue. LiveOn on encourages the Task Force to include a representative with legal expertise on age discrimination. We believe that having a legal expert who understands the ins and outs of this issue is integral given the status of age as a protected class according to the federal government. LiveOn NY looks forward to learning the findings of the task force, and believes its report could act as a blueprint to inform and embolden the team created through Intro 1694. We believe that, in concert, both bills have a significant opportunity to positively impact the lives of older New Yorkers.
To close, LiveOn NY would like to stress the importance of recognizing the value and contributions of older adults in all aspects of the public and private spheres, and to reframe the way we as a society view and treat the oldest among us. Even beyond the workplace, it is imperative that we recognize the value of older adults in society at large, as demonstrated through countless hours of volunteerism, local economic impact, caregiving responsibility, civic and community engagement, and more. In short: it is time that older adults are recognized for their strengths. LiveOn NY looks forward to continued conversations on how to make New York a better place to work and age. Thank you again for the opportunity to testify.
