PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Tara Klein, Deputy Director of Policy and Advocacy at United Neighborhood Houses
1:56:20
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169 sec
Tara Klein from United Neighborhood Houses testified on the Community Care Plan, emphasizing its success in expanding services for older adults but highlighting concerns about future funding cuts. She stressed the need for increased investment to support the growing older adult population in New York City.
- Klein warned of a significant fiscal cliff beginning in FY26 and urged for restoration of funds to prevent potential program closures.
- She highlighted the success of new Older Adult Centers (OACs) and Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities (NORCs) in providing essential services.
- Klein emphasized the critical importance of maintaining and expanding funding for older adult services, stating "We really need investments, not cuts."
Tara Klein
1:56:20
Good.
1:56:21
Okay.
1:56:22
Good afternoon.
1:56:24
Thank you for holding today's oversight hearing on the community care plan.
1:56:28
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.
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And our members run a lot of programs that serve older adults, including OACs, norks, home delivered meals, and a lot of other things.
1:56:50
So, UNH continues to support the core principles of the community care plan.
1:56:55
We know that the older adult population is growing rapidly in New York City.
1:57:00
And we need to build out and invest in the city's network of older adult services to match that growth.
1:57:06
Through the opening of new centers and enhanced funding for existing programs, the community care plan has been a success thus far.
1:57:13
They're growing number of OACs, and NORIX has been good for the city, and its older adult population.
1:57:19
Several UNH members have opened new OACs, and NORIX, thanks to that expansion, and they've built out those programs, and they've seen a large number of older adults receive essential services and social connection who otherwise would not have had that access.
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We continue to emphasize that there is a need for more funding to realize the plan's full vision, but it has been moving our city in the right direction to grow older adult services and investments.
1:57:44
Now, unfortunately, it all comes down to money.
1:57:46
Right?
1:57:47
And I'm I'm so grateful for the line of questioning earlier about what's going on with the budget.
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What we know now is that there is a large fiscal cliff that begins in FY 26.
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Also want to call attention that there have been several peg cuts to NYC Aging's budget over the last several years in FY 2425.
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There's one plan for FY 27.
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There's a lot of confusion around what the numbers surely are.
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So thank you for helping us get to the bottom of those.
1:58:15
But, you know, I
Crystal Hudson
1:58:15
don't know that we did, but thank you
Tara Klein
1:58:18
for trying.
1:58:19
We've also heard the cola might be part of those numbers, so that's something else to look into.
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But, you know, it it comes down to this.
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You know, we cannot take city agencies at their word that these funds are going to be restored.
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We heard promises that those funds were going to be put back in during the last budget hearing in May.
1:58:39
They were not put back in in June.
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And so we really need to make a big push to make sure those funds get back in.
1:58:46
You know, we've heard that centers could close.
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We've heard the number 60 thrown around.
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Any program that shrink or close are catastrophic for New York's older adult population who use those centers and services.
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And, you know, we really need investments, not cuts.
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I think it's quite simple and clear.
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That is what we need.
1:59:07
So thank you for your time.
Crystal Hudson
1:59:09
Thank you so much.
