REMARKS
Council Member Crystal Hudson Opens Joint Hearing on the Needs of Immigrant and Older Adults
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5 min
Council Member Crystal Hudson, Chair of the Committee on Aging, launches a joint hearing with the Committee on Immigration to discuss the needs of immigrant and older adults in New York City.
- Hudson highlights the city's rich diversity, with nearly 40% of New York City's population and a similar percentage of city council members being immigrants or their descendants.
- She points to the importance of providing immigrant older adults with access to necessary resources and services to live with dignity, facing challenges such as language barriers and unfamiliar systems.
- The council member introduces legislation to ensure that NYC Aging provides information on NYC Care, aiming to offer no-cost primary care to uninsured New Yorkers, regardless of immigration status.
- She underscores the recent growth of the older immigrant population across the boroughs and the need for data-informed investments and policy decisions.
- Hudson thanks participants and expresses hope for constructive discussions on enhancing support for immigrant older adults and ensuring their access to essential benefits and services.
Crystal Hudson
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Thank you so much, and good morning.
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I'm counsel member Crystal Hudson, chair of the committee on aging, and my pronouns are she, her Welcome to this morning's joint hearing on the needs of immigrant and older adults in New York City.
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I wanna thank Sierra Vilas and the committee on immigration for joining us for this hearing on this critically important topic.
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And I'd also like to acknowledge that we've been joined by council members Heneep and Mealy.
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New Yorkers take pride in the rich diversity of our city, with immigrant communities hailing from over 150 countries, people arrive in New York City every day to create new law lives, build new careers, and raise their families.
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And just as almost 40% of New York City's population are immigrants, almost 40% of the members of this city council are immigrants or the children of immigrants themselves.
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So I know that today's oversight topic is personal to many of my colleagues and to me.
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As we take pride in our council and our city's diversity, we must also take responsibility to ensure that every immigrant New Yorker, whether they have lived here for 20 years or for 2 weeks, has meaningful access to the resources and services they need to live with dignity.
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This especially includes our immigrant older adults who face the intersecting challenges of aging and navigating creating unfamiliar languages, systems, and processes to access goods and services.
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Over the past decade, according to the Center for an Urban Future, New York City's older adult population has become more diverse than ever.
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Across the five boroughs, the older immigrant population increased by 49% in the last decade.
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And in Staten Island, it grew by 67%, which is the fastest rate in New York City and the 2nd fastest among all counties in the state.
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Today, older immigrants make up 31% of all older adults on Staten Island.
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In Queens, the older immigrant population increased by 60% compared to the US for an older adult population, which increased by 14% over the last decade.
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In Manhattan, the older immigrant population increased by 4 3% compared to the 27% increase among US born older adults.
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Immigrants comprised 40% of Manhattan's older adult population, which is the 3rd highest share of any county in New York State.
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In the Bronx, the older immigrant population increased by 30% over the past decade.
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And in my borough, Brooklyn's older adult population growth is largely driven by the 46% growth in the older immigrant population which increased 24% over the last decade.
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Immigrants currently comprise 58% of Brooklyn's entire older adult population.
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Meanwhile, the number of black Hispanic and Asian older adults has outpaced the older white population, and the population rate of immigrant older adults in the city is is growing faster than that of New York born older adults.
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Queens, for example, has the 2nd most diverse older adult population in New York date.
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35% are white, while 25% are Asian, 20% are Hispanic, and 16% are black.
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As this committee has previously discussed, immigrant groups with the fastest growing populations of older adults are also among the poorest in New York state.
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While the statewide poverty rate for older immigrants is 17.5%, a decrease from 19.3% in 2011.
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Property rates have increased in several parts of New York State.
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This includes Staten Island where the poverty rate among older immigrants increased from 8.4% in 2011 to 13.5% in 2020 1, and the Bronx where the poverty rate among older immigrants increased from 25.1% in 2011 to 29.8% in 2021.
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These statistics underscore the urgency with which the city must act to address the needs of immigrant and older adults, and particularly low income older adults and older immigrants of color.
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This includes helping immigrant older adults secure food assistance, find affordable, accessible housing, and schedule visits with culturally competent healthcare providers.
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To aid in this massive effort, I've put forth legislation today to require NYC Aging to make information available to older adults about NYC Care, the NYC Health And Hospitals initiative to provide no cost primary care to uninsured Yorkers regardless of immigration status.
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As our city's immigrant population ages and as older adults migrate to NY see, we must make every effort to connect them with high quality language accessible and culturally competent health care.
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I look forward to reviewing my proposal with the administration today and working together to better connect immigrant older adults with the care they need.
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Today, the committee's hope to learn about the ways in which NYC Aging And Moyah, in coordination with other city agencies, work to connect New York City's rapidly growing immigrant, older adult communities with essential benefits and services to which they are eligible.
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The city must make data informed investments and policy decisions that reflect the urgent needs of this rapidly growing population, and I look forward to discussing the ways in which the city is planning to meet their needs in the next year, the next decade, and beyond.
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Thank you to representatives from the from the administration for joining us today.
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Thank you to my colleagues and aging committee members, and thank you again to Sierra Viles.
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And the committee on immigration for joining us.
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I would also like to thank my staff, Casey Addison and Andrew Wright, an aging committee staff Christopher Pepe, Chloe Rivera, Julia Hernandez, and Simeel Hamed.
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I also want to acknowledge that we've been joined by council member Schulman on Zoom, and I'll now turn it over to chair Avelais to deliver her opening remarks.