A scene from the hearing.
Carol Rodat, PHI New York Policy Director, testified (pdf) in favor of the Together We Care Act of 2009 and the Earnings and Living Opportunities Act at a Congressional field hearing held in New York last week by the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity.
Both acts are sponsored by Congresswoman Nydia Velasquez (D-NY) and seek to address the eldercare crisis by increasing job opportunities and improving health care access for residents of public and subsidized housing.
The Together We Care Act, which was first introduced last year, would establish a three-year pilot program with $5 millon to train and hire individuals in public housing as home care aides, who would then care for elderly and disabled residents of public housing. Its supporters include PHI, AAHSA, SEIU, the New York City Housing Authority, the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities, and Lutheran Family Health Centers.
The Earnings and Living Opportunites Act would amend Section 3 of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968 to provide better enforcement of the section’s intended goal of improving distressed communities by providing job training and placement for low-wage workers.
In her testimony, Rodat spoke about the centrality of home care aides in providing care to older persons and people living with disabilities and other chronic care needs, the tremendous growth in the home-care field, and the differences between the home care and nursing home care workforces. She expressed PHI’s strong support for both pieces of legislation, and located PHI’s recommendations for policy changes within the “big picture” of current efforts to reform America’s health care system as a whole.
“We would urge passage of the ‘Together We Care Act of 2009,’ but ask recognition of the fact that initiatives of this kind fit within the larger national context of health reform,” she said. “The growing need for a well-trained, stable workforce can be achieved through improved wages and benefits, better training and support, and opportunities for advancement.”
Congresswoman Maxine Waters, chair of the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity, told the audience that the testimony led her to realize the importance of the home care workforce and the need for these workers to be recognized in health care reform (“Bill Proposes Health Care for Elderly While Creating Jobs,” Epoch Times, July 20).
Rodat was one of 14 individuals offering testimony at last week’s hearing. Others included the Deputy Commissioner of the New York State Department of Labor, the Chairman of the New York City Housing Authority, a policy analyst for the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, and HUD’s Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing.
