News & Updates
On Thursday, May 5th, LiveOn NY hosted our 27th Annual Aging Advocacy Day and week of Advocacy Actions. During the event, roughly two hundred older adults and aging service professionals took to the steps of City Hall to demand their fair share of the City budget.
Last weekend, the delayed Fiscal Year 2023 State budget deal, totaling approximately $220 billion in spending, was passed. The budget included investments such as $500 million for Cost of Living Adjustments (COLAs) for human services workers, and a $25 billion affordable housing plan.
With OACs operating at full capacity, the City has the opportunity to take steps to create long term solutions and make meaningful investments to ensure all New Yorkers can access equitable community-based services in their community.
Rather than cuts, it’s time for equity for aging and for the City to just pay. We believe that every New Yorker deserves the ability to age in community with access to services regardless of one’s zip code or background. It’s time for the City to enact a more equitable budget that holistically supports these professionals that work tirelessly to ensure that no older New Yorker falls through the cracks.
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.
