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.