Disability advocates welcomed a proposal by Gov. Phil Murphy this week to spend $165 million more to address the staffing crisis plaguing group homes and day programs for people with disabilities in New Jersey.
The $53 billion budget blueprint released by Murphy on Tuesday includes money to raise hourly pay, retain managers and encourage new workers to enter a field that helps care for 24,500 people with developmental disabilities in the state.
Advocates said the additional funding is sorely needed in a community that was hit hard by the pandemic and an industry that has faced a steep labor shortage in recent years.
“For all of the community services, everyone will get an increase, and that’s really important,” said Catherine Chin, executive director of the Alliance for the Betterment of Citizens with Disabilities, a trade organization representing 64 group home providers in New Jersey.
“If we could get increases every year, a cost-of-living adjustment, that could create lasting reform, and it will enable us to build a better system for the people that we serve,” Chin said.
If state lawmakers approve Murphy’s budget, it will offer something in “all of the areas” Chin’s group had lobbied for, she said.
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Where Murphy would add money
Murphy’s proposal includes $31.3 million for continued wage increases for direct support professionals, the aides who help make daily life possible for residents living in group homes. The increase would mean an additional $1.25 per hour for the aides, whose current median wage is $19.11 an hour, according to the state.
The scarcity of aides has been a long-standing quality-of-life issue for the people who depend on them for everything from social activities to cooking, bathing and transportation, according to the disability advocates. In the tight labor market of recent years, one in five DSP positions regularly go unfilled, according to industry surveys.
Another $10.4 million would be set aside for group home managers. The money is an attempt to address turnover so employees “remain in this important profession,” budget documents state.
The budget includes an additional $36 million, to be matched by federal funds, to increase pay rates for services provided during day programs, like those for occupational therapy.
There are also plans to spend $86.8 million in federal funds to further “shore up the workforce,” where turnover has been extreme, according to the budget blueprint. The state Division of Developmental Disabilities would provide the money for recruitment and retention payments, student loan redemption, training subsidies and related programs.
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“It will also include community-based care workers in fields such as behavioral health care, private-duty nursing, applied behavioral analysis and substance-use disorder treatment,” said Tom Hester, a spokesman for the state Department of Human Services, which oversees the programs.
The disability community was “encouraged by the governor’s proposed budget, as it includes new funding to support needs raised by people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families,” said Mercedes Witowsky, executive director of the New Jersey Council on Developmental Disabilities, a federally appointed advisory panel.
Chin, of the industry alliance, said the proposal would “absolutely” strengthen group homes.
“It will still be hard, but it stabilizes us better,” she said, adding, “The fact that the state of New Jersey, the governor and the Legislature are paying attention and are attentive to this industry speaks to not only families and individuals who get the services, but the people who work in that industry. It says to them this is important, this is valued by our government.”
Gene Myers covers disability and mental health for NorthJersey.com and the USA TODAY Network. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @myersgene
