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Testimony to New York City Council on Housing and Buildings Preliminary Budget
Today, more than half of older renters are rent-burdened, as are a third of older homeowners. Further, roughly 2,000 older New Yorkers are living in homeless shelters, a number that is expected to triple by 2030 without significant intervention. LiveOn NY’s own research has found that there are more than 200,000 older adults languishing on waiting lists for affordable housing through the HUD 202 program, each waiting for 7-10 years on average for a unit to become available. This challenge is mirrored by the thousands of applications that come flooding in each and every time a new affordable senior housing lottery opens on Housing Connect.
New York City Council
Committee on Housing and Buildings
Chair, Council Member Sanchez
March 14, 2022
Oversight - Preliminary Budget Hearing - Housing and Buildings
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
LiveOn NY’s members include more than 100 community-based nonprofits that provide core services which allow all New Yorkers to thrive in our communities as we age, including older adult centers, home-delivered meals, affordable senior housing, elder abuse prevention, caregiver support, NORCs, and case management. With our members, we work to make New York a better place to age.
Background
Even prior to the pandemic, New York was in the grip of a housing crisis that made it difficult for tens of thousands of New Yorkers to find stable housing and make ends meet. Today, more than half of older renters are rent-burdened, as are a third of older homeowners. Further, roughly 2,000 older New Yorkers are living in homeless shelters, a number that is expected to triple by 2030 without significant intervention. LiveOn NY’s own research has found that there are more than 200,000 older adults languishing on waiting lists for affordable housing through the HUD 202 program, each waiting for 7-10 years on average for a unit to become available. This challenge is mirrored by the thousands of applications that come flooding in each and every time a new affordable senior housing lottery opens on Housing Connect.
This crisis is particularly acute for older adults as many rely on fixed incomes, making it difficult to afford the rent while other costs rise. Further, much of the City’s housing infrastructure is inadequate to accommodate an older adult’s health and mobility needs, with 70% of the City’s housing stock only navigable by at least one set of stairs. In addition, NYCHA is a well-known provider of affordable housing for low income older adults, and yet in many situations for many older tenants living in NYCHA, their living experience is plagued by poor ventilation systems, broken elevators, leaking roofs, and recurring mold.
It is critical we address this crisis, as New York is aging rapidly and research shows that the majority of older adults would prefer the opportunity age in their community, surrounded by the networks of support built over a lifetime. Moreover, we’re all aging, and we all have a stake in ensuring there are affordable options to call home throughout the lifecourse.
Recommendations
LiveOn NY is proud to support the recommendations of the United for Housing Coalition, which includes more than 80 organizations that have come together around a set of bold but attainable recommendations to address the housing crisis in our City.
More specifically, LiveOn NY joins the United for Housing Coalition in calling for a $4 billion annual investment to fund a comprehensive affordable housing plan.
This $4 billion capital investment must include a minimum target of 1,000 new units of affordable senior housing with services per year, as part of a total target to construct no fewer than 8,000 new units of housing dedicated to serving extremely low income and homeless households annually. As waitlists and limited housing stock pose an acute challenge for older New Yorkers, a considerable investment and consistent unit targets per year will be critical to paving a pathway out of this crisis.
Further, this investment would build upon the clear success of the City’s Senior Affordable Rental Assistance (SARA) program, which has created incredible community assets in every borough, including examples such as West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing’s (WSFSSH’s) Tres Puentes in the Bronx and HANAC’s Corona Senior Residences in Queens. These two building are clear examples of what is possible through housing, with Tres Puentes not only offering 175 new units of affordable senior housing, but providing space for a new Older Adult Center, health center and pharmacy on site, and the Corona Residences offering 67 affordable senior units that were built to the environmentally friendly Passive Housing standards, in addition to offering a new Pre-K on the ground floor.
This capital investment and overall affordable housing plan must also prioritize the preservation of public housing. By investing $1.5 billion in NYCHA, as part of the larger $4 billion capital investment, the City will take a serious step towards addressing the capital backlog that plagues these buildings across the City. In addition, this investment must prioritize not only the residential units within NYCHA, but support the community spaces such as Older Adult Centers that too have been harmed from decades of disinvestment.
Notably, the City must also invest in the workforce of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), by hiring new staff required to ensure that affordable housing goals can be met. While the pace of development has only quickened in recent years, hiring freezes and now PEGS have resulted in understaffing at HPD that puts the entirety of our City’s affordable housing goals at risk.
Additionally, it is critical that the City prioritize public and institutional land (e.g., hospitals, libraries, etc.) for affordable senior housing. By prioritizing institutional land such as hospitals in particular, the City will reflect an understanding of the connections between health and housing, and a commitment to treating housing as the social-determinant of health that it is.
LiveOn NY also recommends the City increase the per unit reimbursement rate for SARA services from $5,000 per unit, to $7,500 per unit, allowing for increased staff to more adequately address social isolation and significant case assistance needs. This increased reimbursement rate would make services better available to support an aging and formerly homeless tenant population, in turn enabling more older New Yorkers to age in place and avoid institutionalization.
The City must fully fund and implement a Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) for essential human services workers. Throughout the duration of the pandemic human services workers, including those providing services in affordable housing, have stepped up to provide critical services, from assisting in scheduling vaccination appointments, to combating social isolation. And yet, human services workers are consistently underpaid for their services as a result of City contracts. In order to rectify this, it is vital that these important workers receive a COLA in the FY 23 budget and in subsequent budgets.
Finally, LiveOn NY also encourages our City colleagues to join us in advocating on the State level for the passage of Senate Bill 4547 and Assembly Bill 4854, which seeks to legalize Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs). ADU legalization will help address our City’s affordable housing crisis, giving homeowners a new source of income, and providing more options for multigenerational families. Older adults especially stand to benefit from the legalization of ADUs, both because it would create more affordable homes, and second because it would allow more seniors to age in place by giving older homeowners the ability to have a live-in caretaker, or more income to pay expenses.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
Testimony to New York City Council on Recovery Meals and Home-Delivered Meals
We recognize there is more work to do in order to fully root out senior hunger in the City, including for the thousands of older adults who will continue to need home-delivered meals beyond the close of the Recovery Meal program in June. It is critical that the City use this moment and the momentum of a new Administration and City Council to go beyond short-term solutions, to instead executing long-term investments aimed at rooting out older adult hunger more holistically.
New York City Council
Committee on Aging
Chair, Council Member Hudson
Subcommittee on Subcommittee on Senior Centers and Food Insecurity
Chair, Council Member Mealy
March 11, 2022
Oversight - DFTA’s Home Delivered Meals Program and the Ending of the 60+ Recovery Meals Service
Thank you for the opportunity to testify and an enthusiastic welcome to our new Chairs, Council Member Hudson and Council Member Mealy, during our first Aging Hearing of the new term.
LiveOn NY’s members include more than 100 community-based nonprofits that provide core services which allow all New Yorkers to thrive in our communities as we age, including older adult centers, home-delivered meals, affordable senior housing, elder abuse prevention, caregiver support, NORCs, and case management. With our members, we work to make New York a better place to age.
Background
During the COVID-19 pandemic, food insecurity was deeply exacerbated by issues not only economic, but related to access as well, as older adults were advised to “stay home” to mitigate risk of contracting the virus. Prior to the pandemic, many older adults relied on meals from Older Adult Center for more than half of their daily nutritional intake; but in the Spring of 2020, congregate meal settings were forced to close, resulting in the creation of an emergency home-delivered meal program which became known as GetFood. The GetFood program scaled rapidly to meet the growing need for nutritional assistance yet represented a temporary solution to a more systemic hunger problem.
Representative of the temporary nature of the program, the GetFood program came to a close this Fall, transferring thousands of older clients into the Department for the Aging (DFTA) Recovery Meal (RM) program, which is currently being run by three non-profit providers, all of which are LiveOn NY members. This program — also envisioned as a temporary solution — is currently set to end at the close of this Fiscal Year, or June 30, 2022. Unfortunately, Mayor Adams’ Preliminary Budget allocated no Fiscal Year 2023 or outyear funding to support Recovery Meals clients who will need home-delivered meals (HDM) beyond June 30th, nor is there publicly available data on the current demand trends to understand how many clients might need such continued support into the future.
On the other hand, LiveOn NY is appreciative of Mayor Adams Preliminary Budget investment to address reimbursement rates within the HDM program. This funding will bring the reimbursement rate for meals to $10.68, retroactive to January 1, 2022, and will raise the rates further to $11.78 beginning in Fiscal Year 2023. This investment, first announced in December of 2021 by Commissioner Cortés-Vázquez, will make a meaningful difference in the overall sustainability of this program.
Nonetheless, we recognize there is more work to do in order to fully root out senior hunger in the City, including for the thousands of older adults who will continue to need home-delivered meals beyond the close of the Recovery Meal program in June. It is critical that the City use this moment and the momentum of a new Administration and City Council to go beyond short-term solutions, to instead executing long-term investments aimed at rooting out older adult hunger more holistically.
Recommendations
In order to adequately tackle these challenges at hand, LiveOn NY recommends the following:
First, recognizing the home-delivered meal program would not be possible without the tireless work of human service professionals, we join our partners in calling for the City to invest in a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for all human services workers.
Throughout COVID-19, human services workers across sectors have stepped up to provide critical services in new ways, including to keep New Yorkers older New Yorkers fed, assist older adults in receiving vaccinations, and combating the life-threatening effects of social isolation. Despite this, the wages of these workers, the majority of whom are women and Black and brown individuals, are slated to remain stagnant and at poverty levels in a City where costs are notoriously high. It is critical that the FY23 budget, and all future budgets, rectify this by automatically allocating a COLA for all human services workers.
Additionally, DFTA must work with providers to assess clients, share data, and ultimately make the proper investments required to address projected home-delivered meal demand increases for Fiscal Year 2023, including those as a result of Recovery Meal client transitions.
This assessment should result in a corresponding investment required to serve all older adults that might require a home-delivered meal in the coming Fiscal Year, including both those known to the Recovery Meal program, and a projection of future demand likely to be experienced during the year as a result of growing population. Recognizing that such a growth in demand requires operational and logistical support on the part of current providers, as well as time to make preparations for such a growth in demand, DFTA must also work with providers to ensure a seamless transition of clients, with proper infrastructure support and investment as is needed.
In lieu of this more detailed information, LiveOn NY and partners estimate an $12.7 million investment should be made to meet home-delivered meal demand that will result from the termination of the GetFood Recovery Meals Program in June.
As the Recovery Meal program is set to end in June, many clients will continue to need nutritional support – support for which there is currently no funding allocated to provide. Ideally, these clients will transition to the HDM program, which already serves approximately 20,000 older New Yorkers.
This investment would include $9.7 million to support continued growth in demand for the HDM program, equating to funding to serve roughly 3,100 new clients at the $11.78 reimbursement rate, as a conservative estimate of the number of clients that might need meals beyond the Recovery Meal transition. Additionally, this would provide $3 Million to support weekend and holiday home-delivered meals, which are not provided through current contracts, and did not receive the same investment to address reimbursement rate as weekday meals received in the Preliminary Budget.
DFTA must assess and invest in addressing the capital needs for van purchases and other infrastructure needs by HDM providers.
LiveOn NY recently informally surveyed providers and found an estimated 65 replacement or new vans are needed to support the home-delivered meal program. This in addition to consistently hearing of capacity concerns due to needs for larger kitchen spaces, new refrigerators, and other infrastructure investments. Further compounding the need for infrastructure investments, we have recently learned that the majority of our members who provide home-delivered meals have had their delivery vans vandalized in recent weeks, with the majority having had their catalytic converter stolen from their vehicle, a part that takes both time and money to replace.
By working with providers to more formally survey and understand the needs, DFTA would be well positioned to make an investment that would, quite literally, put the wheels in motion towards expanded capacity for this mission driven system. Further, such an investment would recognize that the expanded demand for home-delivered meals is unlikely to be a short-term, emergency situation, as demand for home-delivered meals has historically risen year-after-year, a fact mirrored by the rapidly expanding older adult demographic citywide.
$5 million to expand investments in case management to ensure all clients can be screened for case management eligibility and receive this critical service should they be eligible.
Further, exacerbated by the long-term health impacts of isolation and other stressors experienced over the past year and a half, many meal recipients may require some level of case management to remain independent and safe in their communities. In a recent survey, LiveOn NY estimated that more than 1,000 clients are currently on the waiting list for case management. This demand is likely to grow as more Recovery Meal clients are assessed and comes on top of consistent demand increases that have historically led to waiting lists for case managers. These waiting lists have required advocacy for additional funding each year, and indicate a need for early and significant upfront investments to avoid the continued cycle of recurring waiting lists.
Recognizing the role that Older Adult Centers play in combating hunger, DFTA and the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) should work together to reassess and update Older Adult Center (OAC) Capacity Requirements.
Presently, OAC/NORCs are, for the most part, unable to operate at full in-person capacity, as currently there is a 25% capacity restriction in place, with flexibility to go beyond this only under guidelines that are administratively difficult for providers to execute. In comparison, restaurants are able to operate at full capacity with an indoor vaccination requirement in place. Given the current downturn in infection rates and the variance in guidance with similar entities such as restaurants, it would be impactful for the current guidance to be reassessed and updated to ensure maximum opportunity for social service provision, while also balancing safety precautions. This is critical as capacity restrictions on OAC hinders the recovery for these spaces, which are hubs for addressing hunger among older adults.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
58 Organizations Call on Mayor Adams to Exempt DFTA from the 3% Budget Cut
Last month, 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. In response, 58 organization called on Mayor Adams in a letter to exempt DFTA from the budget cuts.
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
LiveOn NY Advocates for Seniors in the State Budget
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.
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.
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.
______________________________________________________________________________
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
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.
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.