58 Organizations Call on Mayor Adams to Exempt DFTA from the 3% Budget Cut

Last month, Mayor Eric Adams announced a 3% budget cut under the Program to Eliminate the Gap (PEG) across most City agencies to close the gap in the City budget for Fiscal Years 2022 and 2023, and the years ahead. In response, 58 organizations called on Mayor Adams in a recent letter to exempt DFTA from the 3% budget cut. Read LiveOn NY’s statement.

Read the full letter below.

Dear Mayor Adams and Commissioner Jiha, 

The undersigned organizations, which represent non-profit service agencies, advocacy organizations, and other entities working to make New York a better place to age, call on you to exempt the Department for the Aging (DFTA) from the 3% budget cut under the Program to Eliminate the Gap (PEG). Moreover, as the City looks to continue to recover from COVID-19 it should look to bolster all human services, which have been leaned on so heavily over the past two years. Further, we call on the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to fulfill its previous commitment to increasing funding for the home-delivered meals program by allocating an additional $2.3 million in FY22 and $9.4 million in FY23 as was promised.

Under the PEG, you have exempted “the Department of Correction, Health + Hospitals, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, due to the unique challenges these agencies currently face.” However, for years, the Department for the Aging (DFTA) has been chronically underfunded and understaffed with the budget remaining at less than ½ of 1% of the overall budget, despite a rapidly increasing older adult population. Further, the continued global pandemic, which has disproportionately impacted and taken the lives of older New Yorkers certainly constitutes a “unique challenge” requiring DFTA be held harmless to remain laser-focused on combating COVID-19.

Through a network of community-based nonprofits DFTA provides critical services to combat isolation, promote mental health, prevent elder abuse, address food insecurity, and ensure all older New Yorkers can safely age in community. A budget cut to DFTA — even a cut to its headcount, which directly correlates to its ability to process contracts, execute payments, and support community-based providers — would further jeopardize the sustainability of providers with already inadequate funding and their ability to continue to provide equitable community-based aging services to all New Yorkers. 

Finally, we ask you fulfill the City’s previous commitment to allocate an additional $2.3 million in FY22 and $9.4 million in FY23 to support older adults and providers by increasing funding for home-delivered meals (HDM) for older adults by increasing reimbursement rates. This program is a lifeline for many older adults who rely on the HDM program to access a nutritious meal, and additional funding is critical to addressing historical underfunding as well as rising costs of raw food and labor market changes.

Human services and aging service providers have been the backbone of our City, particularly throughout the pandemic, providing older adults with necessary services and support to safely age in community. We believe every New Yorker deserves a quality of life and the ability to age in community with equitable access to services regardless of one’s zip code. To reach this goal, the City cannot allow the DFTA budget to experience further cuts that will jeopardize the future of aging services. 

Respectfully,

LiveOn NY

Allen Community Senior Citizens Center

Alpha Phi Alpha Senior Citizens Center, Inc.

Association of Black Social Workers

Bay Ridge Center, Inc.

Bronx House 

Brooklyn Chinese-American Association

Brooklyn Neighborhood Services

CaringKind, the Heart of Alzheimer's Caregiving 

Catholic Charities Neighborhood Services 

Charles A Walburg Multi-Service Organization, Inc Inc

Chinese-American Planning Council

COHME Inc.

Community Agency for Senior Citizens, Inc. (CASC)

Corona Congregational Church/Florence E. Smith Senior Services

COTHOA Luncheon Club Inc 

Elmcor Youth & Adult Activities Inc.

Encore Community Services

Friends of the Lower East Side

Goddard Riverside

Grand St. Settlement

Gray Panthers NYC

Greenwich House

HANAC, Inc.

Hamilton-Madison House

Harlem Advocates for Seniors, Inc.

Heights and Hills

Henry Street Settlement

India Home

JASA

JCCGCI

Jewish Community Council of Greater Coney Island

KCS Korean Community Services of Metropolitan New York, Inc

Life Story Club

Long Term Care Ombudsman Program

MidBronx Senior Citizens Council Inc.

Morningside Retirement and Health Services

New York State Alliance for Retired Americans

Older Adults Technology Services

Osborne Association 

Project FIND

Project Guardianship

PSS (Presbyterian Senior Services)

Recreation Rooms and Settlement Inc. 

Riverdale YM & YWHA

Riverstone Senior Life Services

RSS Riverdale Senior Services, Inc.

SAGE

SC Group

Search and Care

Selfhelp Community Services

Services Now for Adult Persons, Inc. 

Sisters of Charity Housing Development Corporation

SKA Marin

The New York Academy of Medicine

Union Settlement 

Vision Urbana, Inc.

West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing

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LiveOn NY Advocates for Seniors in the State Budget

LiveOn NY is proud to offer the below testimony calling for funding for critical services for older New Yorkers in the New York State budget, all with the goal of making New York a better place to age.

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New York State 
Joint Legislative Budget Hearing 
Human Services
February 2, 2022

My name is Brianna Paden-Williams and I am the Communications and Policy Associate at LiveOn NY. Thank you to both the Senate and the Assembly for the opportunity to testify today.

LiveOn NY represents the diverse network of nonprofit organizations that help older New Yorkers to thrive in their communities. Through advocacy, mobilization and coalition building, we advance systemic change to ensure that New York is an equitable and inclusive place to age regardless of wealth, racial disparities and other barriers.

With a base of more than 100 community-based organizations, LiveOn NY’s members provide core services throughout New York, including senior centers, congregate and home-delivered meals, affordable senior housing, elder abuse prevention services, caregiver supports, transportation, NORCs, case management, and home care.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the human services sector has stepped up to ensure the most vulnerable New Yorkers, including older adults, have access to critical services to age in community. For over two years, providers confronted a pandemic that put older adults at the greatest risk, not only to the virus, but also to the negative health impacts of extended periods of isolation while staying home to avoid infection. In response to these threats, providers worked to change their service models virtually overnight, shifting to reaching clients via phone, setting up zoom classes, enrolling clients in new emergency food systems, navigating new vaccine systems, and continuing to be a resource to older adults throughout New York.

We appreciate the recent aging related commitments by Governor Hochul in the Executive Budget to support the human services sector and older New Yorkers. In particular, we appreciate and encourage inclusion in the Adopted Budget: 

• $500 million to include a 5.4% Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for human services workers,

• $300 million investment to develop and preserve affordable senior housing for low-income older adults,

• $500,000 in support of the creation of a Master Plan on Aging, and

• Continued funding, totalling $23 million, to address unmet need for aging services across the state.

Nonetheless, we also recognize the work still needed to be done to better support older New Yorkers. While the older adult population continues to be the fastest growing demographic, making up nearly 16% of the State’s population, the programs that support older New Yorkers remain chronically underfunded. Representative of this underfunding, the overall state budget grew by 3.1% in the Executive Budget, while the NYSOFA budget lagged behind overall growth, at 1.8%, despite the population it serves making up a larger and larger share of the overall population.

To begin to address the inequities impacting older adults and providers, the following represents LiveOn NY’s Fiscal Year 2022-2023 budget recommendations:

Budget Ask: $14.1 million to support NYSOFA-funded Home Delivered Meals for older adults

The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated significant increases to the demand for home-delivered meals (HDM), with providers now serving more older adults than ever, with thousands of new clients being added to the service since March. The HDM program offers older adults across the State with a daily nutritious meal, however, COVID-19 has put a strain on HDM providers including difficulty hiring drivers and delivery staff due to low wages, rising costs of raw food, a significant growth in the state's 65+ population, difficulty recruiting and retaining volunteers, and high rates of food insecurity.  

Budget Ask: $5 Million to Create a Resident Advisor Program in Affordable Senior Housing

Deepening investments in affordable senior housing with services is critical in future years, not only to improve the quality of life of older New Yorkers and address rising senior homelessness, but as a cost-savings measure against increased Medicaid and Medicare spending. A resident advisor program in senior housing residences has proven to reduce health care costs, including reducing Medicaid expenditures. 

A $5 million investment in FY23, totaling $25 million over five years, will create a new resident advisor program to ensure older adults can age safely with access to light touch, non-medical services. This investment will inevitably save Medicaid dollars, with one such study, by our member, Selfhelp Community Services, finding the hospitalization rate of those living in a building with service coordination was 43% percent lower than for those living in the surrounding zip code.

Full Funding for Fair Pay for Home Care

Fair Pay for Home Care, S5374 (May) / A6329 (Gottfried) seeks to “establish a base wage for home care workers at 150% of the regional minimum wage” to create jobs for New Yorkers, support older adults, people with disabilities and caregivers, and rebuild our economy by paying home care workers a just wage. Without a mandate and funding from the government, the wage compression will continue to be exacerbated, straining the existing home care system. 

This legislation would move New York forward in creating a caring economy, ensuring that older New Yorkers and individuals with disabilities have access to critical services to safely age in community as well as pay workers the fair and equitable wage they deserve. 

Address Waiting Lists for NYSOFA Services

Waiting lists for NYSOFA services remain a chronic issue as New York’s counties and non-profit providers continue to experience waiting lists for services due to insufficient funding to meet the demand. Given the exorbitant strain COVID-19 has placed on the older adult population, the prospect of adding further stress to the lives of older New Yorkers by forcing them to wait for critical services is untenable and must be addressed through significant and immediate investments. In addition, increased investments in addressing the waiting list for NYSOFA services will inevitably help balance the State’s budget by reducing Medicaid expenditures. 

Budget Ask: $20 Million to increase funding for the Long Term Care Ombudsman Program (LTCOP)

The LTCOP is a resource for older adults and persons with disabilities who live in nursing homes, assisted living and other licensed residential facilities. Today ombudspeople help residents understand and exercise their rights to good care in an environment that promotes and protects their dignity and quality of life. 

Ombudspeople investigate and resolve complaints; promote the development of resident and family councils; and inform stakeholders about issues and concerns that impact facility residents. The importance of the program was underscored during COVID, unfortunately, as was its underinvestment. The program was hamstrung in its ability to assist older New Yorkers in nursing homes due to lack of investment, and will remain so into the future without an infusion of funds.

Budget Ask: $350,000 for LiveOn NY’s Rights and Information for Senior Empowerment (RISE) Program

To ensure that older people can tap into their momentum and age in place, LiveOn NY is requesting $350,000 in funding for LiveOn NY’s Rights and Information for Senior Empowerment (RISE) Program. Through RISE, LiveOn NY will train statewide older adult service professionals, as well as work with elected officials and their respective staff to reach and provide critical information and resources to older adults in the five boroughs.  

This statewide initiative will be based on LiveOn NY’s successful partnering, outreach and education model that combines public and private partnerships with volunteer and professionally led engagement. This program has three key outcomes:

• Older New Yorkers will be aware of the key laws, policies and resources which are meant to help them age in place, as well as how to get assistance as needed. 

• Expansion to provide training and education for the senior service workforce so that they also know about benefits, programs and services, and how to best help their clients, this includes through our “Boots on the Ground” committee meetings.

• Serve as “constituent services” partner with your office to bring needed information to the community (e.g. through information for your newsletters).

LiveOn NY thanks our champions in the legislature for their previous years of support for this program, and requests continued support to allow our team to continue supporting professionals and older New Yorkers through RISE into the future.

In Conclusion 

As we look ahead, LiveOn NY is ready to work with the State to continue to move the human services sector forward to ensure all New Yorkers can thrive in community with access to equitable community-based aging services.  

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Testimony provided by Brianna Paden-Williams, Communications and Policy Associate at LiveOn NY 
For questions, please email bpaden-williams@liveon-ny.org

LiveOn NY Calls on Mayor Adams to Exempt DFTA from the 3% Budget Cut

January 19 2022 (New York, NY) – Last week, Mayor Eric Adam announced a 3% budget cut under the Program to Eliminate the Gap (PEG) across most City agencies to close the gap in the City budget for Fiscal Years 2022 and 2023, and the years ahead.

LiveOn NY calls on Mayor Adams to exempt the Department for the Aging (DFTA) from the 3% budget cut. Moreover, as the City looks to continue to recover from COVID-19 it should look to bolster all human services, which have been leaned on so heavily over the past two years. Further, we call on the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to fulfill its previous commitment to increasing funding for the home-delivered meals program by allocating an additional $2.3 million in FY22 and $9.4 million in FY23 as was promised.

Under the PEG, Mayor Adams has exempted “the Department of Correction, Health + Hospitals, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, due to the unique challenges these agencies currently face.” However, for years, the Department for the Aging (DFTA) has been chronically underfunded and understaffed with the budget remaining at less than ½ of 1% of the overall budget, despite a rapidly increasing older adult population. Further, the continued global pandemic, which has disproportionately impacted and taken the lives of older New Yorkers certainly constitutes a “unique challenge” requiring DFTA be held harmless to remain laser-focused on combating COVID-19.

“For too long, DFTA and aging service providers have worked tirelessly, to provide essential community-based aging services - from home-delivered meals, to Older Adult Centers, to case management - to older adults despite the lack of adequate funding,” said Allison Nickerson, Executive Director at LiveOn NY. “A 3% budget cut to DFTA would further strain the agency and providers, posing a risk to older adults who rely on these services to safely age in community. We urge the City to exempt DFTA from the budget cut and stand on their commitment to support all older adults to ensure we can all thrive in community as we age.”

Human services and aging service providers have been the backbone of our City, particularly throughout the pandemic, providing older adults with necessary services and support to safely age in community. We believe every New Yorker deserves a quality of life and the ability to age in community with equitable access to services regardless of one’s zip code. The City cannot allow the DFTA budget to experience further cuts that will jeopardize the future of aging services.

Press Contact:

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

Brianna Paden-Williams, Communications and Policy Associate, bpaden-williams@liveon-ny.org

About LiveOn NY

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.

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LiveOn NY Applauds Governor Hochul Commitment to Older New Yorkers in Her First State of the State Address

January 7, 2022 (New York, NY) – This Wednesday, Governor Hochul held her first State of the State address, articulating policy and budgetary priorities for the coming session including aging related commitments to support all New Yorkers as we age. LiveOn NY applauds Governor Hochul commitments outlined in the agenda, which serve as significant markers of what's likely to come on the state level this year. 

"LiveOn NY thanks Governor Hochul for her commitment to support all older New Yorkers as well as direct providers, organizations and agencies who provide critical services that allow older adults to age in community," stated Allison Nickerson, Executive Director of LiveOn NY. "We look forward to working with the Governor and her counterparts in the Legislature to enact these key pieces of her agenda and to continue to push forward in making New York a better place to age."

Most notable aging related commitments include:

• Establish a State Master Plan for Aging, "creating a blueprint of strategies to ensure that older New Yorkers can live fulfilling lives, in good health, with the freedom and independence to age in place for as long as possible."

• A $10 Billion Investment in Healthcare and Support Wages for Workers, this multi-year investment includes a $500 million investment in Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLAs) to help raise wages for human services workers and $2.2 billion on initiatives to strengthen our home healthcare workforce.

• A $25 billion, five-year Housing Plan to create and preserve 100,000 affordable homes in both urban and rural communities, including 10,000 supportive housing units. Notably, this also includes a $300 million investment in the construction and preservation of affordable senior housing, a pathway to legalize Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) and create the Eviction Prevention Legal Assistance Program.

• Advance health equity by supporting nursing home conversions to the Green House model, studying the impacts of COVID on the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program, and expanding the current programming of the State Office for the Aging to more New Yorkers.

Read the 2022 State of the State for additional information.

Press Contact: 

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

Brianna Paden-Williams, Communications and Policy Associate, bpaden-williams@liveon-ny.org

About LiveOn NY

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.

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LiveOn NY Joins Call for State 5-Year Capital Investment in Affordable Housing

Led by the New York Housing Conference, LiveOn NY joined a coalition of 16 organizations to craft our newly released report calling on New York State to make a new, expanded 5-year capital plan and investment.

Recommendations in the report are centered around a call for a new, five-year $6 Billion Affordable Housing Plan and continued reoccurring program spending, totaling $1 billion over the next five years.

Within the report are numerous recommendations specific to serving an aging population:

• Establish the Affordable Independent Senior Housing Assistance Program: The 5-year plan should include:

  • 200 million in capital funding for affordable senior housing development

  • $5 million dollars annually ($25 million over 5 years) to allow for resident assistants in new and existing affordable senior housing developments. (Learn more below)

• SCRIE Reform: In order to address the many older adults who are and may soon be overburdened with rising housing costs, the State should enact three pieces of legislation to keeping older people affordably housed; increase renter education and program salience.

  • S2897, (Sen Kavanagh): Provides for annual adjustment of the maximum income threshold by CPI Increase;

  • S512/A719, (Sen Krueger and AM Rosenthal): SCRIE lease noticerider; and

  • S3920/A2474 (Sen Sander and AM Reyes): Freezes rent at original date of eligibility.

You can help to amplify the need for this robust housing plan by taking to social media using the hashtag, #NEWNYHOUSINGPLAN

Report collaborators include: LiveOn NY, New York Housing Conference, Rural Housing Coalition (RHC), New York State Association for Affordable Housing (NYSAFAH), LISC NYC, Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH), Community Preservation Corporation (CPC), Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development (ANHD), Supportive Housing Network of New York (SHNNY), Neighborhood Preservation Coalition of New York State (NPCNYS), Center for New York City Neighborhoods (CNYCN), Regional Planning Association (RPA), New York State Rural Advocates (NYSRA), Enterprise Community Partners, Habitat for Humanity NYC and Westchester County, Leading Age New York, New Destiny Housing

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More on the need for an Affordable Independent Senior Housing Assistance Program

To further promote the need for the Affordable Independent Senior Housing Assistance Program in specific, LiveOn NY, along with partners at LeadingAge New York, led an effort to memorialize this request in a letter to Governor Hochul in advance of the new session.

Letter signatories include: LiveOn NY, LeadingAge New York, Enterprise Community Partners, New York Housing Conference, Selfhelp Community Services, WSFSSH | West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing, Catholic Charities POP Development, Homeless Services United, RiseBoro Community Partnership, SAGE, JASA, Breaking Ground, Selfhelp Realty Group | The Melamid Institute for Affordable Housing, Foxy Management, Chinese-American Planning Council, Inc., SKA Marin, Sisters of Charity Housing Development Corporation