New York Governor Kathy Hochul has announced a FY24 Executive Budget that activists say lowers home-care wages and worsens the state’s home care shortage––which is the worst in the nation. 

MONICA KLEIN; monica@seneca-strategies.com
    Klein is the press contact for New York Caring Majority, a movement to get home care workers a wage of 150% of the minimum wage. 

ILANA BERGER; ilana@domesticemployers.org
    Berger is the executive director of Hand in Hand: the Domestic Employers Network.

In a February 2 press release for New York Caring Majority, Berger stated: “Governor Hochul proposes lowering home care wages at a time when the demand for home care is greater than ever.”

Legislators and advocates “won a $3 increase for home care workers in last year’s budget.” But the new budget dictates that wages will be frozen at $18 regardless of an increase in the minimum wage. Governor Hochul is “reversing the home care wage increase, returning home care workers to the minimum wage, while also creating a second-class home care worker in the state’s popular consumer directed program, which will further cut wages for over 100,000 workers.” 

The plan also directs state funds –– meant for home care agencies and workers –– toward private insurance companies. Berger stated that the budget “fails to ban this practice.”