The state Senate and Assembly want to more than triple the 2.5% cost-of-living raise Gov. Kathy Hochul plans for workers who aid New Yorkers with developmental disabilities. But they scrapped a key wage hike for the majority of direct support professionals who work for nonprofit agencies and make barely more than minimum wage.
Russell Snaith of the New York Alliance for Developmental Disabilities called it a “gut punch.”
The omission, Snaith said, “indicates that legislators do not understand the depth of the workforce crisis and its impacts on individuals with developmental disabilities, DSPs and families.”
What’s at stake
Some 100,000 direct-care providers support about 140,000 New Yorkers with developmental disabilities. The jobs can be physically risky and emotionally draining, and often pay just a couple dollars over minimum wage.
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COVID made it worse. The state Office for People with Developmental Disabilities documented 33,907 group home and care facility worker COVID cases during the pandemic; 51 of them died. OPWDD also documented 707 residents’ deaths attributed to COVID between March 2020 and March 1, 2023.
Because 90% of direct-care workers’ wages are funded through state Medicaid reimbursements, New York in effect sets wages that nonprofits pay.
In the Hudson Valley region, the starting pay for a DSP working for a nonprofit provider agency is $16.15 an hour, according to The ARC New York. The minimum wage is $15 in Westchester and $14.20 for other counties in the region.
The workforce is predominantly women of color, many of whom are recent immigrants.
“Where’s the equity?” Snaith said. “We’re exploiting a vulnerable population who’s caring for a vulnerable population.”
Arlene Thomas-Strand’s son, Marcus, lives in Bader House, a group home run by Venture Together, a nonprofit that provides lifespan services to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Rockland County. Direct support professionals, she said, are “the backbone of the agency” and deserve a significant increase in pay.
“He just has a great quality of life because of these people,” Thomas-Strand said. “In turn, we have a quality of life.”
‘Hemorrhaging jobs’
Data demonstrates the building crisis:
- Turnover for direct support professionals has hit 30%, which drains more money from nonprofit agencies that have to pay to recruit and train new workers.
- Jobs go unfilled, with a vacancy rate hovering around 30% in some places.
- Day programs and group homes have closed or consolidated, because there’s not enough staff.
- In 2021, more than 90,000 complaints of possible abuse were sent to the New York Justice Center for the Protection of People With Special Needs.
“I/DD providers are hemorrhaging jobs,” said Assembly member Rebecca Seawright, who chairs the Assembly Committee for People with Disabilities. “Paying I/DD provider professionals less than fast food and retail workers is unacceptable!”
The people who need DSPs’ help also suffer from the turnover, frequently losing people they trust and having to adjust again and again, Snaith said.
Sequoia McNatt sees the impact of staffing problems as a site supervisor for Venture Together. A staff is like a family, McNatt said, and turnover is hard on residents who form bonds with the staff. Shortages also limit the lives of residents because they can’t get out into the community to do things they enjoy if there’s not enough staff to help.
What’s included; what isn’t
The state Senate and Assembly budgeted for an 8.5% cost-of-living wage hike, which mirrors the rate of inflation over the last year.
New York Disability Advocates, a coalition of 300-plus nonprofit agencies, supports the 8.5% hike. NYADD, a grassroots group of about 10,000 family members of people with developmental disabilities, prefers a 12.5% raise.
While a cost-of-living raise would boost workers’ pay, some of the increase would go to the nonprofit agencies for overhead costs. That’s why both groups also want a wage enhancement for nonprofit workers, which would go right to workers’ paychecks.
NYDA wants a $4,000-per-worker wage boost, which would be about $2.19 an hour more; NYADD wants double that amount.
Enhancements were given in the last budget, but only for workers who are employed by the state. The more than 85% of direct care workers in New York who work for nonprofit agencies didn’t qualify for that round. This has left workers employed by nonprofits making up to $9 an hour less than someone who works directly for the state, according to NYADD.
While the state OPWDD has outlined a long-term plan to strengthen the workforce, it doesn’t kick in for five more years and it doesn’t define a living wage.
Nancy Cutler writes about People & Policy. Follow her on Twitter at @nancyrockland.