(BUFFALO, NEW YORK) – New York State Elected Leaders joined with area Faith Leaders and 1199 Service Employees International Union (SEIU)-represented Home Care Workers last week to publicly urge State Lawmakers to provide fair wages for Home Care Workers.

The call comes as New York currently faces the worst Home Care Workers shortage in the Nation, with low wages being the single-largest driving factor.

State Senator Tim Kennedy (pictured above) and State Assemblywoman Monica Wallace (pictured below) joined with Unionized Home Care Workers in calling for an end to the Statewide Home Care Workers shortage.  

Representatives from Western New York Independent Living Incorporated and the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Association of New York State were also in attendance.

All are in support of the Fair Pay for Home Care Act, which is backed by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), as well as Democratic Majorities in the State Senate and Assembly.

It also has bipartisan support in both houses.

With New York’s 65-plus population slated to grow 25% in the next 20 years, the workforce shortage is projected to increase exponentially.

Research shows New Yorkers will need more than half a million Home Care Workers by 2026.

Additionally, research has found that recovering COVID-19 patients fare far better in home care than in nursing homes.

The Fair Pay for Home Care Act would more than pay for itself through increased spending, job creation and by moving Home Care Workers off of programs such as Medicaid, those who spoke at the news conference said.

The Fair Pay for Home Care Act will also work to both retain and attract new Home Care Workers that New York State needs, they said.

"Home Care Workers have been underpaid for too long, resulting in a Worker shortage that is depriving older folks and people with disabilities of critical care,” Wallace said.

“By passing the Fair Pay for Home Care Act, we can immediately raise the living standards of thousands of Home Care Workers, nearly half of whom are currently living in or near poverty, and bolster the workforce in this absolutely vital Health Care Sector.  I will continue to use my voice to advocate for fair pay now,” she said.

Home Care Workers receive some of the lowest wages of any Workers in the Health Care Industry and also typically work long hours serving their clients, which cuts into time spent with their own loved ones, one of the Home Care Workers who spoke at the press conference stressed.

“We want to take care of our clients and keep them in their homes, but we need raises, just like other Health Care Workers,” Home Care Worker Shana McBride said.

“Home Care Workers like me keep vulnerable people living in their homes, but on the money, we make we are constantly stressed out about our own home-life because we can’t afford basic necessities” McBride said.

The Faith Community, meanwhile, has been outspoken on the issue, saying the problem is non-denominational and must be addressed immediately.

“There must be living wages and equity for our Home Care Workers," the Reverend Kwame Pitts from Community of Good Neighbors/Oasis Community Buffalo said.