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Q&A
Discussion on homebase providers and potential staffing needs
1:18:31
ยท
165 sec
Council Member Stevens expresses concerns about the strain on homebase providers and suggests the need for additional staff. Commissioner Park acknowledges the growing scope of work for homebase providers and mentions efforts to streamline case processing.
- Stevens emphasizes the importance of addressing staff burnout and ensuring manageable caseloads
- Park indicates that they are coordinating with OMB on needs but focusing on optimizing existing contracts
- The discussion highlights the potential need for increased staffing to improve service delivery and prevent burnout
Althea V. Stevens
1:18:31
Yeah because and like that's my biggest issue right, and I know that when the city fest voucher was passed that was one of the things that chair kept speaking about, how are we keeping people in homes and like trying to pull back some of the restrictions to ensure that we don't have those instances.
1:18:46
And so, you know, thank you guys for being responsive, but I do want us to continue to think about how do we make this process a little bit more steam seamless because I do know that there are a number of programs, you know, whether it was miscommunication, but even, you know, like I said, they followed up and even with the senior, they told them that they probably won't be able to help them for like six to eight months.
1:19:05
And and that was to me, was just like, so then what what are they supposed to do?
1:19:10
And then we're putting people in a perpetual cycle of, you know, trauma and poverty and all these things, and so definitely wanna think about how do we continue to streamline that because that was like, I was like, that one's not right.
1:19:22
And like I said, the deputy speaker was working really hard and I know she reached out to your office and you guys have been working really hard, but I really want us to think about how do we whether there's getting information and making sure that all the council members have this because I am sure I'm not the only office that had outreach like this to make sure that we have the outreach and we know all the steps and all the different ways.
1:19:41
But, like, what what does this look like?
1:19:44
Because he was he like, I remember he was, like, crying when he was told he had to go to the shelter, and this is 85 year old man who was, I don't want to go to a shelter for thirty days, and he was crying, and I broke my heart.
Molly Wasow Park
1:19:54
No, I understand it, and as I say, it does seem like there was some miscommunication here, and we're happy to follow-up on it.
1:20:00
I will say our home based providers do amazing work.
1:20:04
Their scope of work has grown substantially over the last several years since the program was created.
1:20:11
One of the things that we are looking at is how do we bring some of complicated case processing in house so that they have more bandwidth to deal with the cases that are a bit more routine.
1:20:22
We are aware that there is strain on the home based providers and it is something that we are looking at.
Althea V. Stevens
1:20:27
And are you guys asking for additional staff?
1:20:30
Is that a new need in the budget this year?
Molly Wasow Park
1:20:32
We coordinate very closely with OMB on all of our needs, but really looking at how we can make best use of the home based providers and the contracts that we already have.
Althea V. Stevens
1:20:42
Because it kind of sounds like it needs to be a new need, no?
1:20:45
That we need additional staff if they're overstrained, they're overworked, it sounds like we need more staff so that they could have greater capacity because burnout is a real thing, right?
1:20:53
And so if you have people who are working and are old and have overreach, it sounds like we should be thinking about how do we expand that to ensure that they are able to do the jobs because this this is hard work.
1:21:02
Right?
1:21:03
Like, it's really hard work to do this day in, day out, and so we wanna make sure that they have case loads that are reflective of this work and be able to deliver.
1:21:11
So, you know, just putting out there.
Diana Ayala
1:21:14
Thank you, council member.