Legislative Bulletin: Housing Budget Hearing Recap
Housing Budget Hearing Recap
On Wednesday morning, lawmakers convened the Joint Legislative Budget Hearing on Housing, the second hearing of the SFY 2018-19 budget cycle. RuthAnne Visnauskas, Commissioner of New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR), was the first to testify. She began by listing HCR’s accomplishments over the past year, including creating or preserving more than 17,000 affordable homes; preserving over 600 Mitchell-Lama units; financing over 1,000 units for seniors, the frail elderly, and veterans; preserving 1,000 units of public housing; and initiating a plan to create 6,000 units of supportive housing to address the state’s homelessness crisis. In response to a question from Assembly Housing Committee Chair Steve Cymbrowitz, the Commissioner shared that, as of December, over $250 million of the $2.5 billion allocated in last year’s budget for affordable and supportive housing had been spent. Another $75 million was anticipated to go out during the first quarter of this year.
One notable highlight of the Commissioner’s questioning came when Senate Housing Committee Chair Betty Little referenced the need for services in senior housing. The Commissioner responded by stating that HCR “cares about services” and would be “delighted” if there were service dollars that were allocated that could be matched with the agency’s programs. LeadingAge NY will be pushing very strongly this budget season for a $10 million, five-year investment in a senior housing resident service coordinator program, which would enable New York’s low-income seniors to remain in their homes and out of more costly levels of care. To urge your lawmakers to support this initiative, please click here.
The entire Housing Budget Hearing can be viewed here. LeadingAge NY will be submitting written testimony highlighting the need for service coordinator funding and also plans to testify at the Health/Medicaid Budget Hearing on Mon., Feb. 12th.
Reminder to Join Us for Advocacy Day Prep Call on Feb. 1st
If you plan to attend the LeadingAge NY/Adult Day Health Care Council/Hospice and Palliative Care Association of New York State Advocacy Day on Tues., Feb. 6th, you will not want to miss our attendee prep call next week! Please join us on Thurs., Feb. 1st from 2:30 to 4 pm as we review our materials, answer questions, and go over logistics. To participate, you will need to dial 1-888-585-9008 and enter the Conference Room code: 821-898-111. Materials will be emailed to all registered attendees on Thursday morning.
Members interested in signing up for our Feb. 6th Advocacy Day may do so here. As a reminder, the day will focus exclusively on issues pertinent to nursing homes, home care, hospice, adult day health care (ADHC), and Managed Long Term Care (MLTC). LeadingAge NY will be coordinating a separate Advocacy Day on housing, adult care facility (ACF)/assisted living (AL), aging services program, and Naturally Occurring Retirement Community (NORC) issues on Tues., March 6th. Registration for that day is available here.
Please Schedule Your Advocacy Day Meetings!
With our first Advocacy Day less than two weeks away, time is running out to schedule meetings with your legislators. These are valuable opportunities to establish relationships with lawmakers and help build support for our policy agenda. Please call today, if you haven’t already! If you find that your legislators are not available on Feb. 6th, you can always inquire about speaking with them “off the floor” (outside the Assembly or Senate Chamber) or meeting with their top staff. Those who are unable to join us in Albany can request an appointment back in the district as well.
Once you have confirmed your meetings, please email your schedule to Jeff Diamond at jdiamond@leadingageny.org.
LeadingAge NY and Corning Place Communications to Hold Final Social Media Webinar on Wednesday
All good things, including LeadingAge NY and Corning Place Communications’ free social media training series, must come to an end. The fourth and final webinar, “Ask the Pros: An Open Q & A Session,” will be held on Wed., Jan. 31st from 12 to 12:30 pm. Click here to register. We encourage you to come prepared with questions for our presenters, though you are welcome to email them to us in advance.
LeadingAge NY would like to thank those who participated in our third session, “Turbocharging Your Advocacy Efforts: Leveraging Social Media to Engage with Elected Officials,” on Wednesday afternoon. The presentation addressed how to directly engage with elected officials on Twitter and Facebook and how to empower your community to amplify your advocacy efforts. A recording is available here. We are also pleased to share recordings of our first two webinars, “Adding New Tools to Your Advocacy and Marketing Toolbox: An Introduction to Twitter and Facebook” and “Putting Your New Tools to Work: Tips on Building, Engaging, and Empowering Your Community of Followers.”
ALP CON Bill Reintroduced in Assembly
On Tuesday, Assembly Aging Committee Chair Donna Lupardo reintroduced legislation that would expand the state’s Assisted Living Program (ALP) to provide additional assisted living options for Medicaid-eligible seniors. A.9562 (Lupardo) would alter the ALP from a competitive solicitation process to a certificate of need (CON) process that awards beds based on demonstrated community need and allow existing ALP providers to add up to nine beds through an expedited process. Initially introduced at LeadingAge NY’s request, this bill passed both houses of the Legislature last year but was ultimately vetoed by Governor Cuomo, who pointed to the budget process as the appropriate forum for the issue. We are pleased to report now that aspects of our proposal have been incorporated into the Governor’s SFY 2018-19 Executive Budget.
Please reach out to your lawmakers today and urge them to support this critically-needed bill! LeadingAge NY’s memo of support is also available here.
LeadingAge NY Issues Comprehensive Executive Budget Analysis
This week, LeadingAge NY published a memo summarizing in detail the health, Medicaid, and housing proposals included in the Governor’s SFY 2018-19 Executive Budget. The document provides more detailed information on proposals affecting multiple service lines, service line-specific proposals, and other initiatives relevant to aging services providers.
Congress Ends Government Shutdown and Extends Funding Through Feb. 8th
Lastly, following a three-day shutdown, President Trump on Monday signed a short-term continuing resolution (CR) that funds the federal government through Feb. 8th and extends the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for six years. Most Senate Democrats had initially refused to support the CR without a deal to extend the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program but changed course once Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pledged to bring an immigration bill up for debate next month. The CR passed the Senate by a vote of 81 to 18, while the House approved it 266 to 150.
Contacts:
Ami Schnauber, aschnauber@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8854
Jeff Diamond, jdiamond@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8821