It isn”™t a myth: According to the 2000 Census, the six counties that make up the mid-Hudson Valley region have a disproportionate number of baby boomers and seniors, higher than any other part of the state. By 2015, says senior housing developer Jonah Mandelbaum, based in Warwick, “There will be 75 million seniors living in this country and they are all going to need a place to live. Will we be able to house them?”
It”™s not a pretty picture, especially as the state coffers have dipped to lows not seen since Wall Street tumbled in 1929.
New York State”™s Office for the Aging”™s director, Michael Burgess, addressed the crisis elder care is facing in the state in June, calling it the “worst since the Great Depression.” The agency”™s funding, culled from both the federal and state coffers, is $242 million for the 2009-2010 budgets, a reduction of nearly $14 million from the prior fiscal year.
Burgess urged municipalities to work together to make independent living easier for seniors who want to stay at home. In Westchester, several communities are working together to plan improvements that will make them more elder friendly, from sidewalk repair and curb cuts to bolder street signage.
The state Office for the Aging has proposed several cuts to make its new reduced budget work, including ending COLAs (cost of living adjustments) for the aging services program. Further, it has proposed to eliminate several programs, including affordable independent senior living housing, end-of-life initiatives, social workers for geriatric in-home medical care, long term care insurance and education outreach programs.Â
One program, however, Burgess was loathe to touch: New York Connects-Choices for Long Term Care. “The commitment to the counties remains intact, and the local implementation grants that were increased for the 2008-2009 contract year will remain unchanged.” New York Connects, which literally connects seniors and/or caregivers with direct access to programs they need to either live independently or to find services, is deemed essential by the Office for the Aging director.
Burgess  commended Paterson for proposing an additional $2 million in state funds for  community-based organizations that assist seniors enrolled in the EPIC (elderly pharmaceutical insurance coverage) program. For elder care organizations that depended on the generosity of local companies for donations, from multi-nationals to local community banks, Wall Street”™s meltdown has made a puddle out of a once giving nature and municipalities now scramble to consolidate services rather than go out of business, leaving the most vulnerable population at risk. Â
Housing is a major problem in the entire country, not just in the Hudson Valley, said Mandelbaum, who has built over 1,000 senior rental units in Orange, Ulster and Sullivan counties. “The process to move forward and get the approvals and funding can be arduous. You have to have approvals from both the municipality and the state. Affordable housing projects are extremely difficult to get approved. I have a great team of architects, engineers, accountants, equity investors and know-how to get the tax credits that come from the federal government and are distributed by the state; for many, the process is overwhelming and a considerable financial undertaking to get that final approval. We are currently building a project in New Windsor that will have 91 units. We”™ve already received 140 applications.”
Market-rate housing for seniors is available, “but not much,” said Mandelbaum. “Some of the seniors applying for the affordable rentals are disqualified because their yearly income may be $200 to $300 over the limit. So that means they will go into market-rate housing and pay hundreds more, which means they will have to cut out necessities to make the payments. HUD dictates what each county”™s median income is every year. And yes, it changes every year, shutting the door on many because their income is over, even if only by a fraction.”Â
With New York facing its own financial dilemmas, seniors, like other at-risk citizens, are finding it harder to deal with the loss of services that make it possible for them to stay in their own homes.
“If New York wants to do something to help its seniors, and everyone else as well, they can do something about the state”™s property taxes, which are driving businesses and residents away in droves,” said Mandelbaum. “We are losing the population we need to keep the state financially viable; if the state wants to do something for seniors, whether they are low income or in a higher income bracket, let Albany get to work on making property taxes affordable and equitable.”
