FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 28, 2024

Contact: [email protected]

“I’ve been in this field for 49 years…I have never, ever seen the IDD service system this unstable.”

AUSTIN, TX – In case you missed it, this week Time To Care Coalition members made their voices heard across the state, directly urging members of the Texas Legislature to prioritize support for community-based services for Texans with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) by increasing hourly wages for the direct support professionals (DSPs) who serve them.

On Monday, Houston-based coalition members held a press conference at the Center for Pursuit calling on the Texas Legislature to increase wages for DSPs serving Texans with IDD.

On Tuesday, representatives from Time To Care coalition member organizations – the Providers Alliance for Community Services of Texas (PACSTX), Private Providers Association of Texas (PPAT), and the Texas Council of Community Centers – delivered testimony before the Texas House Committee on Human Services, calling for increased funding from the Legislature to address the ongoing workforce crisis that has compromised continuity and quality of care for Texans with IDD in community-based settings, including Home and Community-based Services (HCS) group homes.

To watch the full testimony from Tuesday’s House Human Services Committee hearing, click here or on the image below.

“Let’s not lose sight of what these issues mean on the ground. When funding falls short and regulations pile up, providers can’t keep up, and it’s not just numbers on a spreadsheet that suffer, it’s people, real people, and the families who’ve done everything in their power from birth to ensure their loved ones will be safe and supported to live their best lives when they’re no longer living in their family homes…We urgently need to secure funding that truly reflects the cost of recruiting and retaining the professionals who provide direct care. Without them, the entire system crumbles.”

• Sandy Batton, Executive Director, PACSTX

“I’ve been in this field for 49 years…starting as a direct care worker, at what was called way back then, Austin State School, and sadly, in all of these 49 years, I have never, ever seen the IDD service system this unstable. Providers cannot hire or keep staff, resulting in a revolving door of new, yet not fully trained staff or overly tired staff who’ve already worked 60 hours in a given week, yet are called upon to ‘Please, just work another shift for us,’ and more critically, resulting in the growing number of providers either downsizing their operations or voluntarily terminating their contracts and leaving the system altogether. ”

• Carole Smith, Executive Director, PPAT

“We know the driver of the workforce crisis, we know how to fix it, and we don’t have to start from scratch. Instability is driven by low wages for direct support professionals. Fixing the problem requires increasing direct care rates in the state Medicaid program. We don’t have to start from scratch to find a cost-effective alternative to institutional care. The HCS program has proven itself over time.”

• Erin Lawler, Chief of System Policy, Texas Council of Community Centers

Ahead of Tuesday’s hearing, ABC 13 in Houston highlighted new data illustrating the severity of the workforce crisis impacting community-based IDD services, featuring comments from Time To Care coalition members during Monday’s press conference:

“The reality is that community-based IDD providers in Texas are facing a workforce crisis,” Beanca Williams with Volunteers America of Texas said.

At a press conference asking lawmakers to raise the minimum reimbursement to private caregivers from $10.60 per hour to match the pay at state facilities, which is 60% higher, the Time to Care Coalition released survey results that found a vacancy rate of more than a third for a job where the average hours per week are 59.

“We must make sure our state legislators know that Texans with IDD are losing the quality care that they depend on to live,” said Charles Njuguna with the Center for Pursuit, which provides daily and 24-hour for adults living with disabilities. “They say the right things, but their actions speak louder than words.”

ABC13 also learned that hundreds of facilities have had to shut their doors because they can’t find workers or pay them above the state reimbursement.

The same study found 229 facilities closed between January 2023 and February 2024, and 126 more are projected to shut down.

Without an increase, caregivers fear the problem will worsen and those needing help won’t have anywhere to go.

“You know they say we’re judged by how we treat the least in our communities?” Steve Vetrano with Avondale House, a non-profit that cares for people with moderate to severe autism, said. “I think this is a good example of making this a priority to ensure that those who cannot take care of themselves are cared for. “

To watch the full story from ABC 13 Houston, click here or on the image below.

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