AUSTIN, TX – In case you missed it, a recent column in D Magazine highlighted the strong and growing bipartisan support in the Texas Legislature for making critical investments in community-based services for Texans with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD), including by raising the current hourly wage rate for direct support professionals (DSPs). The column notes that the current rate of $10.60 per hour is “unsustainable and could cause the closure of group homes, putting 15,000 Texans who live in such homes on the streets.”

“People with IDD rely on community-based care facilities or group homes or receive care in their homes and qualify for benefits through the state’s Medicaid program. But the minimum wage rate for the professionals who support these individuals is set by the state at $10.60 an hour (it was even less until the last legislative session), a rate that isn’t competitive given the nature of the work and threatens the stability of the system. These direct care workers often work more than 60 hours a week to assist with daily, personal, and intimate tasks like toileting, bathing, managing medications, cooking, and housekeeping.

“The rate is unsustainable and could cause the closure of group homes, putting 15,000 Texans who live in such homes on the streets. Restaurant and grocery store employees can make $15 to $20 an hour with benefits, and providers who do the same jobs in state living centers for those with IDD have health insurance and earn $17.71 per hour with a scheduled raise to more than $19 per hour in September.”

John Burruss, CEO of Dallas-based mental health care provider Metrocare made clear in his comments to the magazine that enhancing wages for community-based DSPs and investing in Texas’ community IDD care system has broad and wide-ranging implications for other local health services:

“If they don’t fix it, eventually it’s going to hit a point where facilities are going to shut down, and people are getting up in emergency rooms. We’re losing about two and a half providers per month across the state, and if you do that over and over, we start to struggle. We’re going to have a challenge to keep in-home care available if the state keeps it with this wide of a disparity.”

“This population is not going to go away. They can’t go away. They’re completely dependent on the system and on us for their housing and livelihood. They can’t go get a job, and they can’t take care of their own health issues. They had no role in their disability, and it’s not going to get better. As a society, we have to have some means to take care of them.”

• John Burruss, CEO, Metrocare

The column affirms the growing bipartisan momentum behind raising DSP wages and making long-overdue investments in Texas’ community IDD care system, while also pointing out that community-based care is ultimately more cost-effective for the State of Texas:

“The push to increase wage increases, which is supported by voices as diverse as Democratic representative Toni Rose and the Texas Conservative Coalition Research Institute, is not just a humanitarian choice to make sure the state’s vulnerable population has what they need for a quality life–it will likely impact the bottom line.

“The costs of providing services to individuals with IDDs in group homes or their own homes are significantly lower than in state-supported facilities. The State of Texas spends more than $27,000 per month on individuals in state-supported centers, a more than 256 percent increase since 2010. Individuals in home and community-based services are supported on less than $4,000 per month in state funding, and intermediate care facilities cost about $5,000 per month per individual.

“Increasing the wage rate would allow more group homes to stay open or grow, saving more than $20,000 per month per individual who stays out of a state-supported center. According to Metrocare, of the 39 home-based care facilities in the state, 11 are considering shutting down because they can’t stay in the black or find enough talent to fill positions at the current payment rate…

“…If these home-based facilities close, IDD patients will be pushed into state-supported facilities, a much more expensive way to care for these individuals. The state-supported facilities are already near capacity and don’t have room or funds to absorb the thousands of people who receive care in the community.”

To read the full column in D Magazine, click here.

Time To Care: Save Texas Caregivers Now is a coalition dedicated to securing competitive wages for Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) who provide essential care to Texans with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD). Through collaboration and grassroots efforts, the coalition strives to enact meaningful change at both the legislative and community levels. Learn more about how to get involved at https://timetocaretx.org/