New York City Council

Committee on Aging

Chair Hudson

September 19th 2024

Oversight Community Care Plan

My name is Kevin Kiprovski and I am the Director of Public Policy at LiveOn NY. Thank you for the opportunity to testify.

LiveOn NY’s members include more than 110 community-based nonprofits that provide core services under the NYCAging portfolio and many other home and community based services in our city.

Background

The Community Care Plan rightfully recognized that the demographics of NYC were changing and that bold new investments would be needed to increase capacity of the OAC network, bolster case management, serve more food, and build a system that would meet the needs of our population as we age. The reality of investments from the administration have not met the needs outlined in the document, or the greater needs that exist in our city today. We need bold new investment NOW to ensure that we can meet the needs of both the existing population of older New Yorkers and to keep up with the growth in our aging population in the coming decade. If we do not make those investments, especially in light of documents like the Community Care Plan that clearly outline the unmet needs of our communities, we are deciding that it is okay to exclude New Yorkers from our communities as we age. We cannot allow ageism to justify the current plan to divest from aging services and ignore the needs that have already been acknowledged by our city’s leadership.

Recommendations

Don’t cut the already low budgets for any service program. Many programs are already on their last strings, further cuts jeopardize the fiscal solvency of the service network and undermine the goals of the contracts that the city already pays for.

Create a dedicated city pot of capital funds to keep centers in good repair. Most centers don’t have the resources to launch campaigns to get local elected capital money and the city has refused to consider their needs in the budget for over a decade.

Reform capital funding rules to match the reality of the spaces that services are being provided in. Many can’t access funds due to a lack of “site control” which leaves them without any resources from the city. Other arcane requirements can leave centers with no real options to repair necessary infrastructure and they are left to crumble.

Study the real needs of case management clients. Case managers in the field are seeing a stark increase in need among their clients and higher levels of physical and mental illness and the most recent RFP cut resources from programs. Caseloads must be reduced overall from 1:72 or more and a new program should be developed to deal with the highest need clients that allows for lower caseloads closer to 1:20. Funding must also be restored for administrative support positions to allow case managers to focus on their work.

Reform nutritional programs to match the reality of those using them. Homebound New Yorkers only get 5 meals a week from city funds and often are unable to get additional nutrition. Many centers also see that there is a need for more than just one meal a day in their congregate meals programs.

Work with HPD to understand the housing crisis among older New Yorkers. Older adult homelessness is at an all time high and growing at a rate three times faster than younger demographics. Any community care plan must recognize this reality and explore further investment and new housing programs to meet this moment.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify.

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For questions, please email Kevin Kiprovski, Director of Public Policy at LiveOn NY, kkiprovski@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.