City Limits / Adi Talwar
Jose Saldana, 66, community organizer with the Release Aging People in Prison (RAPP) at his office on Canal Street in downtown Manhattan. After being denied parole four times, Saldana was released from the New York State prison system in January 2018 after serving 38 years.
Opposition from police unions and lukewarm support from Democrats doomed efforts to ease the path to parole for aging prisoners this year. But supporters say they intend to keep pushing for a conversation about violence, rehabilitation and safety.
Overall, the budget for the Department for The Aging will grow 13 percent in 2020 from the previous year, reaching $411 million.
For senior citizens and the disabled, life in the shelters—and the effort to exit to a permanent home—bring unique challenges.
‘We will fight this tooth and nail,’ said one Councilmember of a proposal to shut down several social clubs now operated by NYCHA.
A hearing revealed that Councilmembers struggle with how to oversee a convoluted system where the state has taken on a dominant role.
The more than 600 fiscal intermediaries statewide allows elderly and disabled people to hire and manage personal assistants. Critics say the governor’s executive budget would cut that number by at least 90 percent by changing eligibility requirements.
Provider after provider, several with tears in their eyes, expressed dismay at the city’s inadequate reimbursement rate for meals.
Advocates predict that changes proposed by the governor could reduce the number of ‘fiscal intermediaries,’ who help administer the Medicaid program that pays for home-health aides, by 90 percent.
While the poverty rate among older New Yorkers declined slightly, a massive surge in the over-65 population meant more people were living in poverty. In some areas, the poverty problem grew more serious.
The Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program or CDPAP pays for home-health aides and family caregivers. The state recently has subjected the program to major changes and more might be coming.