For Immediate Release: July 1, 2021
Press Contact: monica@seneca-strategies.com, 917-565-0715
NY Caring Majority Launches Website to Track New York’s Growing Homecare Shortage
ICantFindHomecare.com tracks New Yorkers’ data on inability to secure vital homecare — data will be sent to State Department of Health & Governor Cuomo’s office. NY faces worst-in-the-nation homecare shortage — expected to worsen as fast-food wages outpace homecare wages
NEW YORK — The New York Caring Majority today launched ICantFindHomecare.com, a new website for New Yorkers to report data on their inability to secure vital homecare services. The site will send submitted accounts to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Office, the State Department of Health and the consumer's state legislators.
"Throughout June, my home care agency hasn't been able to provide an aide to cover my care Friday, Saturday or Sunday. This is the longest period it's taken to find someone in the last 11 years. My home care agency is short-staffed and lost a large proportion of their aids since the pandemic. I'm lucky to have family members — if I didn't have family, I would be at risk of institutionalization and hospitalization. It shouldn't be so impossible to find home care. I have had a part-time job for over eight years and this caregiver shortage has made it increasingly difficult to do my job effectively. My independence is at risk,” said Keith Gurgui, 24-hour home care recipient and quadripelegic from a spinal cord injury.
“Every day, seniors and people with disabilities across New York search for home care so they can live safely in their homes — but they hit a wall because of our state’s dangerous homecare shortage. We know home care workers are leaving the sector in droves because of poverty wages — and the homecare shortage could be quickly resolved by paying home care workers fairly. The Governor needs to see how many New Yorkers are left without care because the state refuses to address the home care crisis — and that’s exactly what icantfindhomecare.com will accomplish,” said New York Caring Majority Organizing Director Ilana Berger. “Our movement of workers, the elderly, disabled folks, and family members are doubling down on the fight to pass the Fair Pay for Home Care Act. Together, we’re going to end the homecare shortage that is ravaging our state.”
Over 40% of New York’s homecare workers live in or near poverty due to chronically low wages — an average of $12.50 an hour in most regions — leading to debilitating turnover and the worst-in-the-nation homecare shortage. On July 1, the minimum wage for fast food workers statewide will increase to $15.00 per hour. The homecare sector is thus expecting a massive workforce loss to compound the existing labor shortage, as current home care workers seek higher wages in the fast food industry.
A report recently released by CUNY in April of 2021 revealed that raising home care worker wages would help fill New York’s massive home care need by bringing 200,000 new home care workers into the field over the next decade, lift over 200,000 home care workers out of poverty wages, and generate $5.3 billion for the New York State economy by saving public spending dollars while generating increased tax revenues and boosting individual spending power.
The CUNY report also revealed that higher wages would also attract more workers to the field and ensure that those already in the field receive increased hours, generating $5.4 billion for New York in new income, sales tax revenues, and reductions in Medicaid and leading to increased job generation in other sectors.
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About the New York Caring Majority: The New York Caring Majority (NYCM) is a coalition of organizations including Jews for Racial & Economic Justice (JFREJ), Hand in Hand, Cooperative Homecare Associations, National Domestic Workers Alliance, and others who advocate for seniors, people with disabilities, family caregivers, and domestic and homecare workers in the state of New York.