For Immediate Release
Contact: Leanne Ricchiuti, Overit for Association for Community Living, 518.222.8073
April 22, 2024
STATEMENT
Association For Community Living Executive Director’s Statement on Passage of the Budget
Investment in Housing Helpful after Decades of Underfunding; But More Needed to Modernize Housing Models
(Albany, N.Y.) – The Association for Community Living (ACL) Executive Director, Sebrina Barrett, releases the following statement marking the passage of the 2024 Budget:
“We are pleased to see that both the Governor and the Legislature have included $43 million in the final budget to help address rising property costs in residential programs, as well as set aside $10 million in property preservation funds to help providers ensure their homes are mobility-friendly for aging residents. This is a welcome step after decades of underfunding; however, the age of our housing models and lack of resources to meet residents’ modern needs requires ongoing and sustained investments. This includes a need for an adequate and consistent annual cost of living adjustment (COLA), which helps providers cover mandated operation costs and pay their staff a living wage.
This year’s 2.84% COLA, with parameters indicating that we raise certain staff salaries by 1.7%, doesn’t cover providers’ needs, which will negatively impact staff. An example of this is the increase in insurance premiums for staff. That is an operational cost that the provider needs to cover. Even if we increase staff salaries by 1.7%, the staff member may not see that increase in their paycheck, because it will be spent by the increased insurance premium coming out of their pay or the higher deductible they must meet.
Insurance premiums are just one example of the kinds of operating costs that keep increasing for our member providers. As we’ve described before, there’s the rising costs of food, fuel, utilities, health and property insurance, cyber insurance, etc.; and that is all just to keep the doors open.
We were glad to see that Governor Hochul has stood firm on her across-the-board flexible COLA. These kinds of COLAs enable our membership to use the increase in funds to help cover more operating expenses, than just salaries alone.
We also appreciate how the Legislature recognizes the importance of paying our workforce, however, a targeted COLA simply illustrates a lack of understanding in how many of our members need to operate as the costs of everything continue to rise. Moreover, the last time a targeted COLA was issued, staff didn’t receive those increases for nearly a year after New York State approved the COLA, because targeted COLAs are much more difficult to implement than across-the-board increases. We ask that the implementation of this targeted COLA happen with urgency, as providers have been facing workforce shortages and rising operations costs for months, if not years.
Further, we ask that a true COLA be made permanent so that providers are able to recover from decades of underfunding, and provide the supports and services that today’s residents require. Our decades-old housing models are outdated and lack necessary resources to meet today’s needs.
We acknowledge and appreciate the support shown toward mental health housing by the Governor and the Legislature, and we remain committed to working collaboratively to navigate these challenges–that aren’t going away–and ensure the well being of our staff, our members, and the more than 40,000 New Yorkers we serve.
We are always thankful to the Mental Health Committee Chairs, Senator Samra Brouk and Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther, who are strong champions for mental health and our dedicated workforce, and we look forward to our continued collaboration.”
– 30 –