TESTIMONY
Tara Klein, Deputy Director of Policy and Advocacy at United Neighborhood Houses, on the Resolution Supporting the Home Care Workforce
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3 min
Tara Klein testifies on the New York City Council's resolution aiming to support the home care workforce, advocating for fair pay and legislative reforms.
- Klein represents United Neighborhood Houses, which provides nonprofit home care services through a coalition, the Community Home Care Consortium.
- She supports the resolution introduced by Speaker Adams, highlighting its importance in demonstrating council support for the home care workforce.
- There is an emphasis on fair pay for home care workers and addressing the issue of uncompensated 24-hour shifts.
- Klein discusses legislative efforts to reform labor regulations and looks into the Home Care Savings and Reinvestment Act as a potential solution to structural issues in home care provision.
- UNH's analysis of new legislation and ongoing advocacy efforts are crucial for ensuring the proper implementation of reforms.
Tara Klein
0:04:30
Alright.
0:04:32
Good morning.
0:04:34
Alright.
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Thank you, Chair Denowitz, for hosting today's hearing and to members of the committee on civil service and labor for the opportunity to present testimony today this resolution by speaker Adams on the home care workforce.
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My name is Tara Klein.
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I'm the deputy director of policy and advocacy for United Neighborhood Houses.
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UNH is a policy and social change organization that represents neighborhood settlement houses in New York City.
0:04:59
3 of our settlement house members offered nonprofit home care services to their communities as state licensed home care services agencies.
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A couple of years ago, they joined together with a total of 10 organizations that provide home care services as a broader coalition known as the Community Home Care Consortium.
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And this group is working to develop new models of community based home care that make financial sense for non profit organizations.
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A lot of my common today draw from policy conversations with that group.
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So thank you to Speaker Adams for introducing the solution to the committee and for taking the swift action today.
0:05:37
Today's hearing and vote demonstrates the council support for the home care workforce.
0:05:41
And recognizes the deep and urgent needs of the sector.
0:05:45
We appreciate that the council recognizes the state's outsized role in regulating this industry.
0:05:52
The resolution covers a lot recognizing that this is a complicated issue that requires a great deal of intervention, and UNH supports the resolution.
0:06:02
We strongly support fair pay for home care despite some actions by the state legislature to raise home care wages in the last couple of years.
0:06:11
There have been some actions at the state level through the budget that have made these small raises effectively moot.
0:06:17
Fairpay for home care is still urgently needed, it is the silver bullet to address many of the challenges in the home care sector.
0:06:25
We agree with the resolutions framing around the challenge of 24 hour care, a nuanced issue that boils down to paying workers for every hour worked and ensuring no one is forced to work a 24 hour shift.
0:06:38
UNH has partnered with our provider network for many years to reform the unjust state department of labor regulation that only pays workers for 13 hours of a 24 hour shift in most cases.
0:06:50
We point to state legislation that we support that would address issue by Senator Persad and Assembly member Epstein by using split shifts.
0:06:59
UNH is still analyzing the home care savings and reinvestment act which would eliminate the use of managed long term care plans in the home care system.
0:07:06
This legislation was born from provider concerns that MLTCs are not fully passing through the value of any state funded home care worker pay raises to them thereby causing financial distress as providers legally have to cover worker raises without being fully paid for them.
0:07:23
The legislation is still relatively new and proposes deep structural reforms to the system, and we're analyzing the potential impact to services through its implementation.
0:07:32
There are some questions and concerns, for example, around the time frame and process to return to a fee for service model.
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How to conduct assessments and whether there's a mechanism to ensure the savings from this bill are specifically reinvested in home care.
0:07:45
But the concept shows a lot of promise, and we believe the bill is drafted in a way where many of those details and concerns could be addressed with a careful implementation process.
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So thank you again for the opportunity.
0:07:56
We'll continue to do our work at the state level.
0:07:59
Thank you very much.
