NY Post: Elderly New Yorkers languish on wait lists for critical services amid COVID-19

“New data from LiveOn NY, a senior advocacy group, shows that the number of older Big Apple residents waiting to receive everything from personal-care help to a lift to the supermarket has soared 265 percent, to 2,936 people, since February.”

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“Support provided through case management can make the difference between staying at home or in a nursing home for an elderly New Yorker, providers of senior services say.

The data, provided by the senior advocacy group LiveOn NY, may also be driven by budget cuts to nonprofits”

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Testimony on the impact of COVID-19 on food insecurity in New York State

New York State Assembly
Assembly Standing Committee on Social Services
Assembly Standing Committee on Agriculture
Assembly Task Force on Food, Farm, and Nutrition Policy 
Chairs Hevesi, Lupardo, and Solages
September 9, 2020
The impact of COVID-19 on food insecurity in New York State.

Thank you Chairs Hevesi, Lupardo, and Solages for the opportunity to shed light on the increased food insecurity experienced by older New Yorkers, as well as the response from aging services providers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

With a base of more than 100 community-based organizations, LiveOn NY’s members provide core services that allow older adults to thrive in their communities, including senior centers, congregate and home‐delivered meals, affordable senior housing, elder abuse prevention services, caregiver supports, transportation, NORCs and case management.

Among the millions of New Yorkers who are at risk of food insecurity, older adults — especially older adults of color — are among the most vulnerable populations, just as they are most at-risk during the current pandemic. According to the Brookings Institute, older adults were already food insecure before the onslaught of COVID-19, in part due to fixed incomes and lower utilization of food assistance programs such as SNAP. In New York State alone, 11.1 percent of the State’s population experienced food insecurity from 2015 to 2017, including 7.2 percent of all older New Yorkers. In addition to malnutrition, food insecurity has been linked to greater rates of high blood pressure, diabetes, and congestive heart failure, which is especially concerning given the role pre-existing health conditions play in the severity of COVID-19. 

During COVID-19, food insecurity was deeply exacerbated by issues not only economic, but related to access as well, as seniors were advised to “stay home” to mitigate risk of contracting the virus. For example, Senior Centers, which offer nutritious meals to older adults across the state, were forced to close their doors virtually overnight. Recognizing that many of the individuals that received these daily meals relied on the food for more than half of their daily nutritional intake, localities and non-profits knew that stopping service altogether was not an option. Instead, programs began shifting their models of service to grab-and-go meals, and finally home-delivered meals for older adults in need. Providers quickly worked to develop new safety protocols as well, with home-delivered meal providers opting to leave the meal at the door, knock, and stand six feet away from the door to say hello and make sure the meal was received. Throughout it all, the aim was to ensure a continuity of services, while promoting safety for both staff and seniors.

More astonishing than the new ways in which providers pivoted to ensure seniors remain fed, was the number of seniors in need of nutritional support. For example, FeedMore of Western NY witnessed a stunning 57 percent increase during the height of the pandemic, when they were serving nearly 32,000 meals each week. Further, 6.6 million pounds of food have been dispensed from Feedmore’s warehouse, and 1,950 clients have been added to their home delivered meal routes, many of whom would have normally received congregate meals at local senior centers had they been open. In New York City, by the end of July, more than 100 million meals had been delivered through the City’s new GetFood program which was created to meet the nutritional needs of New Yorkers of all ages.

Suffice it to say, the nutritional needs have skyrocketed.

This need did not just exist among former congregate meal recipients, it grew among those who were newly homebound, fearful of leaving their house, and those who became increasingly frail as a result of isolation or health challenges. The economic challenges further increased the need, as more and more jobs disappeared; even in normal economic times, many older adults experience difficulty making ends meet, as many are rent-burdened, weighing housing costs against the ability to buy food or medications.

While the vastness of the need is astonishing, it’s important to go beyond the statistics, as each of the millions of meals served represents someone, with a family, a story, and a uniqueness all their own. We heard from one provider, JASA, located in New York City, early in the pandemic about their rushing to deliver an emergency food box to an older client who reached out with only about “two potatoes” left in the house. Similarly gut wrenching, was the story of an older adult who had been surviving on cat food after fear and fatigue left her unable to get groceries; in this instance, our member, Stanley Isaacs Neighborhood Center stepped in to ensure she had the food she needed.

Given these incredible and heart wrenching levels of need, we must look to the lessons learned and how New York can come out of this pandemic even stronger and better prepared for the future.

First, the pandemic must act as an ongoing reminder of the need to keep a strong social services network at all times. The reason that non-profits were so adept to meeting the need and averting further nutritional crises was their depth of understanding of their communities and the individuals served; this trust is not built overnight. Due to stigma and other barriers, many older adults are reluctant to seek assistance. To meet the need, New York needs strong, well-funded non-profits at all times to build relationships and create the infrastructure for support that may be necessary in an emergency. While designated as essential during the pandemic, for those that rely on these services, non-profit providers are essential workers every single day.

Unfortunately, this lesson of the need for strong support and commitment to human services providers has yet to be fully reflected in the state’s budget, as currently, providers are not being paid. Though we recognize the current financial challenges for the state, the solution cannot be on the backs of the very non-profits that were deemed essential and kept New Yorkers fed and safe during the pandemic. The uncertainty of retroactive cuts and delays of payments to non-profits is unsustainable for organizations that are simultaneously working to address the needs of the most vulnerable. In particular, the looming threat of a 20% reduction to all state contracts, including those that were essential through COVID, is wrong and will undoubtedly result in layoffs, and could even push non-profit providers towards insolvency.

The threat of insolvency is real, given that the State was already underinvesting in its nutrition programs even prior to our current revenue shortfalls. More specifically, home-delivered meal providers in New York City were already losing money on every meal served, to the tune of 20% lower reimbursements when compared to the national average. The reality is that the State's investment in meals for seniors has stagnated for decades, in spite of growing need and a rapidly increasing older adult population. Continuing this trend will put the entire system at risk during future emergencies. As a state, we must, even in difficult financial times, find ways to invest in the very programs that allow older adults to remain fed and safe in the very communities they have helped to build.

To support the State and localities fiscal outlook, LiveOn NY is committed to advocating on the federal level for COVID relief funds. We know that this is a priority shared by so many of our colleagues in the legislature, and we thank you for your voices in this effort. Briefly, we would like to share a few of our nutrition related federal funding priorities and encourage amplification of these needs to the New York congressional delegation as appropriate:

• Expand SNAP. Specifically, we are calling for an increase in the SNAP maximum benefits by 15 percent; a raise of the minimum SNAP benefit from $16 to $30; and the suspension of all administrative rulemaking that would limit SNAP access. This proposal will fight hunger, and also makes good fiscal sense as, according to Hunger Solutions New York, “every $10 increase in monthly SNAP benefits further reduces the odds of additional days in the hospital.” 

• Enhance Older Americans Act Nutrition programs. Specifically, $100 million specifically for aging services providers, such as those who work at Senior Centers or provide home-delivered meals, to cover additional costs for PPE, cleaning supplies, staffing, and other needs associated with coronavirus.

Aside from budgetary concerns, we would also like to bring attention to a few nutrition related legislative efforts that we support.

• First, we thank Chair Hevesi and Senate Sponsor Kaminski for authoring and seeing through the passage of Senate Bill S8247A/ Assembly Bill A10673 which would “authorize the use of supplemental nutrition assistance program benefits to purchase online groceries in accordance with federal laws and regulations and relates to the state supplemental nutrition assistance program outreach program.” We strongly encourage Governor Cuomo to sign this legislation into law.

• Second, we wish to thank the sponsors and supporters of Senate Bill 7290A (PERSAUD) / Assembly A8764A (REYES) which would “establish a statewide restaurant meals program as part of the supplemental nutrition assistance program.” We strongly encourage passage by the Senate and Assembly. 

These pieces of legislation, coupled with Federal expansion, are critical ways that SNAP can be bolstered to better combat hunger. Further, LiveOn NY is proud to receive State funding to conduct outreach to older adults around SNAP and to assist seniors in applying for this oft underutilized benefit. This is critical as AARP has reported that SNAP enrollment was only around 42% for eligible older adults. We are committed to this work and are deeply grateful to our champions in the legislature for making this work possible, including Assembly Member Joyner who has long supported our work.

In summary, as this pandemic continues to rage on, SNAP, home delivered meals, food pantries and other programs that comprise the food safety net must receive the adequate financial support to continue serve additional clients.  

Thank you for the opportunity to testify, and we look forward to continuing to work with the State to implement a multi-faceted approach to fighting food insecurity.

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LiveOn NY’s members provide the core, community-based services that allow older adults to thrive in their communities. With a base of more than 100 community-based organizations serving at least 300,000 older New Yorkers annually. Our members provide services ranging from senior centers, congregate and home-delivered meals, affordable senior housing with services, elder abuse prevention services, caregiver supports, case management, transportation, and NORCs. LiveOn NY advocates for increased funding for these vital services to improve both the solvency of the system and the overall capacity of community-based service providers.

LiveOn NY also administers a citywide outreach program and staffs a hotline that educates, screens and helps with benefit enrollment including SNAP, SCRIE and others, and also administers the Rights and Information for Senior Empowerment (RISE) program to bring critical information directly to seniors on important topics to help them age well in their communities.

LiveOn NY Statement on the New York City Fiscal Year 2021 Budget

LIVEON NY STATEMENT ON THE NEW YORK CITY FISCAL YEAR 2021 BUDGET

NEW YORK — July 6, 2020 — In response to the New York City Budget, Allison Nickerson, Executive Director of LiveOn NY, released the following statement:

There is no denying that this was a difficult budget; and that once again, human and senior services were not given the full funding deserved. To that truth, we're clear: our work will continue, in deeper earnest than before. We thank all those who have joined us in this work and who continue to make their voice heard in an effort to make New York a better place to age.

We are appreciative that the Mayor and the Council were able to pass an on-time budget under such dire circumstances, and are especially grateful for the continued support and allocation of resources towards the City’s emergency food program. We are hopeful that these resources will support not only New Yorkers in need, but the non-profit community-based organizations with the capacity to do this important work.

We must, however, highlight that the agreed upon FY21 budget will result in the Department for the Aging (DFTA) continuing to receive less than ½ of one percent of the overall budget and includes notable reductions in funding for senior centers and programs. Despite the austerity required in this budget, LiveOn NY affirms that this level of funding is wrong and shortchanges non-profits of their ability to meet the demands of a growing older adult population — the population most at risk to the pandemic that continues to ravage our city.

Additionally, the cuts to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) will also challenge New York’s ability to meet the affordable housing crisis faced by older adults; this is disheartening. Nonetheless, LiveOn NY looks forward to continuing to find ways to work with the City to meet this demand, though we know this work will be more challenging than before.

With that said, LiveOn NY is also clear: if it were not for the New York City Council, the funding available for services for older adults would be far less. Given this, we thank Speaker Corey Johnson; Chair of the Aging Committee, Council Member Margaret Chin; Finance Chair, Council Member Danny Dromm; and all of the Council Members who fought for senior services funding in this year’s budget.

Indicative of the uphill battle that Council faced, we note that in FY18, Mayor de Blasio reached an agreement with the City Council that promised $10 million in funding for Senior Centers to be allocated in FY21. Despite such promises, and even prior to COVID-19 altering the City’s revenue forecast, the Mayor’s budget did not include this commitment made to seniors just years prior. This funding was not included in the Mayor’s Preliminary Budget, his Executive Budget, or the Adopted Budget. This is wrong; and therefore we request that should State, Federal, or other funding become available, or should future deficits become apparent, the Mayor prioritize senior services funding and rectify this slight to New York’s non-profits and older adults. This request to the Mayor is particularly necessary, given his statement not to consider “layoffs and furloughs so we can take from our public workforce, which is the essence of how we keep the City going and turn that money over to a nonprofit.” Respectfully, non-profits are, in-fact, what keeps the City going, to not recognize this is both disheartening and frustrating to a workforce that has been given such little recognition and financial support for their essential work. In future budget modifications, we must do better for this sector.

Our commitment to New York’s older adults is unwavering and the work continues, as we know the budget difficulties have yet to fully subside. Given this, we implore all New Yorkers to continue to fight for senior and human services. Even in difficult times, progress remains possible, and we are hopeful that together we can indeed make New York a fairer, more equitable place to age.

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Press Contact
Katelyn Andrews
Director of Public Policy
kandrews@liveon-ny.org

LiveOn NY’s members provide the core, community-based services that allow older adults to thrive in their communities. With a base of more than 100 community-based organizations serving at least 300,000 older New Yorkers annually. Our members provide services ranging from senior centers, congregate and home-delivered meals, affordable senior housing with services, elder abuse prevention services, caregiver supports, case management, transportation, and NORCs. LiveOn NY advocates for increased funding for these vital services to improve both the solvency of the system and the overall capacity of community-based service providers.

LiveOn NY also administers a citywide outreach program and staffs a hotline that educates, screens and helps with benefit enrollment including SNAP, SCRIE and others, and also administers the Rights and Information for Senior Empowerment (RISE) program to bring critical information directly to seniors on important topics to help them age well in their communities.

LiveOn NY Coordinates Delivery of 225,000 Meals to Seniors Amidst COVID-19

Executive Director Allison Nickerson praises efforts of non-profits and partners for their work throughout COVID-19, while warning that funding gaps jeopardize NYC’s home-delivered meals (HDM) program

Press Contacts: Allison Nickerson, Executive Director (anickerson@liveon-ny.org | 212-398-6565 x. 224) or Katelyn Andrews, Director of Public Policy (kandrews@liveon-ny.org  | 212-398-6565 x.244)

New York, NY – June 24, 2020 – Senior advocacy organization LiveOn NY has announced that it has coordinated the delivery of more than 225,000 meals to older New Yorkers to help fill the demand for food since COVID-19 began. These meals are in addition to the thousands of meals provided by the City and non-profits through the City’s nutrition programs such as the newly created GetFood effort.

Not having coordinated the delivery of meals prior to COVID-19, LiveOn NY was supported by its membership of more than 100 community-based organizations that serve seniors, who helped route and distribute the meals to older adults most in need, primarily as the crisis began. Members and other senior-serving organizations reached out by identifying entire buildings that could benefit from meal delivery as the City worked tirelessly to prop up its more expansive meal delivery effort.

“While our work has historically been focused on advocacy to bolster services for older adults, we recognized a need for this type of coordinated nutrition effort and quickly jumped in to help, stated Allison Nickerson, Executive Director of LiveOn NY. “Our core mission is to make New York a better place to age, so this effort just made sense.”

LiveOn NY was able to immediately and dramatically scale operations to meet an onslaught of demand by forming critical partnerships with several organizations with philanthropic arms, including:

• Project Isaiah, a new non-profit that funded the airline catering company Gate Gourmet, so that it could continue preparing and packaging shelf-stable food items for distribution to seniors instead of airline passengers. The non-profit helped provide more than 170,00 meals.

• World Central Kitchen, a continued hunger relief effort that acts as “food first responders” when emergency strikes, provided more than 55,000 meals.

“We are deeply grateful to the generosity of those who recognized the dire need among the senior population — those most at-risk to COVID-19 — and rushed to fill it,” said Ms. Nickerson.

In addition to meal delivery, LiveOn NY has continued prioritizing its ongoing efforts to ensure that non-profits are fully funded to provide older New Yorkers throughout New York City with nutrition and other supports. Currently this means advocating for a $26.2 million new City investment to fully fund home-delivered meal services in FY21, which would not only ensure non-profits can meet demand, but that they can also adequately compensate front-line workers putting their lives at risk to prepare and deliver meals. 

“Illustrative of the need for funding, non-profit providers of these city-contracted meals currently lose money on every meal served, as the City reimburses at a rate 20% below the national average,” said Ms. Nickerson.

As stopgap philanthropic efforts ramp down, Nickerson anticipates that non-profits will continue striving to support older New Yorkers who are homebound and in need of services and nutrition support. She believes meaningful government investment is critical to ensuring non-profits can continue to meet demand, and the home-delivered meals program is a clear choice to be supported and expanded to fill this space.

“New York City must fulfill its commitment to those who have historically relied on home-delivered meals and need them now more than ever,” said Ms. Nickerson. “Currently, the lack of funds puts numerous non-profits financially at risk, threatening the stability of the entire HDM program.” 

For more information on LiveOn NY, please visit http://www.liveon-ny.org. 

About LiveOn NY

At LiveOn NY, we believe that all people have a future. Our work is centered on making sure that New York is a great place to age. We do this through targeted advocacy, data-driven policy, direct assistance & innovative programs. As a membership organization, we represent 100 agencies from small, single-site centers to large multi-service organizations. Through our work and membership, we represent the 3.2 million older New Yorkers and their caregivers.

Letter to the Mayor & City Council Requesting Funding for Senior Services Sent by More than 100 Non-profits

The below letter was sent to the Mayor, Cc’ing Speaker Johnson and the New York City Council, on behalf of more than 100 non-profit organizations urging consideration and support of senior service funding in the New York City FY 2021 budget.

June 15, 2020

Dear Mayor de Blasio,

Mayor de Blasio, first, thank you for your recently announced support of increased funding for “youth development and social services for communities of color." As organizations representing older New Yorkers and aging services providers, and in these final weeks of budget negotiations, we are writing about the urgent funding that is needed to support older adults. Aging services receive less than one half of one percent of the overall City budget, and many programs have been underfunded for years. While strides have been made, largely due to efforts by the City Council, the budget for the Department for the Aging (DFTA) remains critically under-resourced, especially in contrast to the rapidly increasing older adult population.

Today, as COVID-19 remains a threat and systemic racism is further brought to light, the importance of this funding is only heightened. We urge the City to include $10 million in senior center funding promises; $26.2 million for home-delivered meals supports; and a full restoration of all other programmatic funding for older adults in the FY 2021 City Budget. 

As you move forward with budget deliberations, please consider that seniors are most at risk to COVID-19; many have died, and many more remain fearful, sheltering in place, isolated from loved ones and peers, and connected only to their local community-based organizations. Aging services providers have been on the frontlines of their communities providing older people with food, financial benefits, mental health support, and virtual activities to reduce social isolation. Older New Yorkers are most at-risk to COVID-19; the City must commit that their funding for services will not be at risk, too. From annual programmatic funding to one-year Administration adds to the entirety of the Council’s senior service discretionary funds — all should be prioritized and spared from the cutting room floor of the virtual negotiating table.

Further, we recognize that COVID-19 has not affected our communities equally. Systemic discrimination has ensured disproportionate impacts, namely deaths and infections, in the black and brown communities that many of our organizations work to serve. COVID-19 is not the only area where racial disparities run rampant; they are prevalent across many of our institutions. In contrast, our community rooted organizations are key components to countervailing the forces of racism, as well as sexism, ageism, and the many forms of discrimination that still exist. To this end, full funding for human and senior service organizations is necessary to promote resiliency and equity in our neighborhoods, among our predominantly female and minority workforce, and for the older adults we serve.

Despite the budget challenges, we believe it is possible for the City to enact a budget that reflects the values that have become resoundingly clear from New Yorkers. This means increased funding for human services — including not only senior services, but youth services, housing supports and more — and truly investing in our communities.

Respectfully,

LiveOn NY
AARP New York
Acacia Network
Age Friendly Bedford Stuyvesant and Crown Heights
Allen Community Senior Citizens Center
Alpha Phi Alpha Senior Citizens Center **
Alzheimer's Association
ARC XVI Ft. Washington, Inc.
Ascendant Neighborhood Development Corporation
Bay Ridge Center
Bethany HDFC
Bronx House
Brooklyn Chinese-American Association
CaringKind
Carter Burden Network
Catholic Charities Neighborhood Services **
Center for Adults Living Well @ the Y: YM/YWHA of Washington Heights & Inwood
Center for an Urban Future (CUF)
Community Agency for Senior Citizens, Inc. (CASC)
Chinese-American Planning Council, Inc.
Citymeals on Wheels
Concerts in Motion
Cooper Square Committee
Corona Congregational Church
DOROT
East Side House Settlement
Educational Alliance
Elmcor Youth & Adult Activities
Enterprise Community Partners, Inc.
Emerald Isle Immigration Center
Encore Community Services
Family Health Centers at NYU Langone
Fenimore Senior Citizen Center INC
Florence E. Smith Senior Services
Fordham Bedford Community Services
FPWA
Gray Panthers NYC
Greenwich House
Goddard Riverside
Guardianship Project at the Vera Institute of Justice
Hartley House
Hamilton-Madison House
HANAC, Inc.
Heights and Hills
Henry Street Settlement
Homecrest Community Services **
Hope of Israel Senior Citizens Center
Housing Options & Geriatric Association Resources, Inc. **
Hudson Guild
Human Services Council
India Home inc
Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement
James Lenox House and Carnegie East House
Japanese American Social Services, Inc.
JASA
Jewish Community Council of Greater Coney Island
Lenox Hill Neighborhood House
Lifetime Arts
Mark Morris Dance Group (Discalced, Inc.)
Meals on Wheels of Staten Island
Medicare Rights Center
Mid Bronx Senior Citizens Council, Inc.
Morningside Retirement and Health Services
Neighborhood SHOPP
New York Irish Center
New York State Alliance for Retired Americans and our NYC chapter
NY Caring Majority
OATS
Osborne Association
Penn South Social Services
Polish and Slavic Center
Project FIND
PSS (Presbyterian Senior Services)
Regional Aid for Interim Needs, Inc.
Recreation Rooms and Settlement Inc.
RiseBoro Community Partnership, Inc.
RiverSpring Health
Riverstone Senior Life Services
Rochdale Village Senior Center
RSS Riverdale Senior Services
SAGE
Samuel Field Y dba Commonpoint Queens
Selfhelp Community Services, Inc.
Senior Citizens League of Flatbush
Service Program for Older People, Inc. (SPOP)
Services Now for Adult Persons, Inc. (SNAP)
Shorefront YM-YWHA of Brighton-Manhattan Beach, Inc.
Sister Annunciata Bethell NSC
Sisters of Charity Housing Development Corporation
Stanley M. Isaacs Neighborhood Center
Stonewall Community Development Corporation
Strycker's Bay Neighborhood Council
Sunnyside Community Services
The Brookdale Center on Healthy Aging
The DOME Project
The New York Academy of Medicine
Trinity Healing Center, Inc **
UJA-Federation of New York
Union Settlement
United Jewish Council Adult Luncheon Club
United Neighborhood Houses
University Settlement
Vision Urbana, Inc.
VISIONS/Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired
Visiting Neighbors, Inc.
Visiting Nurse Service of New York **
Volunteers of Legal Service - Elderly Project
Wayside Out Reach Development
Weill Cornell Medicine's NYC Elder Abuse Center
WEST SIDE FEDERATION FOR SENIOR AND SUPPORTIVE HOUSING, INC
Young Israel Programs, Inc.

Cc: Speaker Corey Johnson and New York City Council

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Note signatories of this letter continue to grow. Organizations identified with an (“ ** “) joined this effort after the letter was formally sent to the Mayor and City Council. Their support is just as valuable and welcomed. Should your organization not yet be listed and wish to sign on, click here.