QUESTION
What indicators should be tracked for the Mayor's Management Report, and how can the HRA's technological challenges be addressed?
2:25:20
·
162 sec
Council Member Lincoln Restler and Anne K. Callagy from the Legal Aid Society discuss improving the Mayor's Management Report through enhanced indicators and addressing the HRA's technological issues to better facilitate access to benefits.
- Lincoln Restler suggests tracking more granular indicators in the Mayor's Management Report for a clearer understanding of New Yorkers' access to benefits.
- Anne K. Callagy highlights the need for real-time help features like a chat option in the Access HRA portal to improve usability.
- Callagy also points out the need for increased staffing to reduce wait times on the HRA info line, suggesting a significant staffing issue.
- The importance of technological solutions from the mayor's office of operations or possibly the CTO's office is discussed, to address the identified challenges.
Lincoln Restler
2:25:20
I think firstly, we would love to get your input on what indicators should be tracked by the mayor's office of operation in their mayor's management report, their preliminary management report, but most of all in their dynamic mayor's management report, which they testified to today, which provides more frequent updates on the to all of us to be able to to access.
2:25:48
And I think perhaps there's an opportunity for us to track more granular indicators that could give us a better understanding of how New Yorkers are accessing the benefits that they need.
2:26:01
So we will definitely follow-up with you on those specific recommendations in writing that we can share with the mayor's office of operations.
UNKNOWN
2:26:07
Mhmm.
Lincoln Restler
2:26:08
But secondly, I just wanna highlight some of the operational challenges that you identified very clearly.
2:26:19
One is on the technology fix.
2:26:22
Mhmm.
2:26:22
Do you are you under the impression from your conversation with HRA that they can handle this issue themselves or they're in the process of doing so?
2:26:29
Is this something where ops or potentially the CTO's office may be needed to develop the right technological solutions?
Anne K. Callagy
2:26:38
We have talked with HRA, and you know, I I wanna say when they say that they've been aware of the problem they have, because we've been working with them all through the pandemic.
2:26:49
So it's not that they don't know and we didn't know.
2:26:52
It's just nothing that's really happening.
2:26:55
One of the things that would help on the like any technology If they were real time help for people who were using the Access HRA portal, and I don't I'm not a technology person, but a chat feature, some way to reach HRA to say, this didn't work for me.
2:27:13
This is telling me I need to do something else.
2:27:17
It's not clear to me what I'm supposed to check off, but there there isn't any real time help, that would be good.
2:27:27
People are many people are sophisticated, but many people are not.
2:27:34
And then I I don't know.
2:27:37
There need to be improvements in the whole HRA info line, one number.
2:27:43
And I think a lot of that is a staffing problem.
2:27:48
If they had more staff people, the wait times would reduce So when I'm listening to 311 calls that are appalling because you wait 10 minutes, people are waiting 2 hours.
Lincoln Restler
2:27:58
Oh, absolutely.
2:27:59
And that data is in some of that data is in the PMMR.