New website can greatly help older New Yorkers

After much anticipation, Mayor Adams this spring finally launched the MyCity portal, which has the potential to bring an end to the bureaucratic red tape that has snarled public benefits access for too many New Yorkers for too long. The portal makes it easy to search for and apply for services. Unfortunately, the mayor’s plan limits use of the portal to parents and caregivers applying for government-funded child care.

Although helping tens-of-thousands of families needing child care is certainly important, so too is assisting the city’s 1,373,495 older adults. The MyCity portal should be available immediately to older adults to increase access to the vital services and supports that ensure improved health, safety, and general wellbeing.

New data from the Center for an Urban Future shows that the city’s older adult population is growing bigger, poorer, and increasingly made up of immigrants. Since 2011, the 65+ population in New York City has jumped by 36%; the number of older adults living below the poverty line has increased 37%; and the number of older adults who are immigrants ballooned 49%.

It’s high time to address their growing needs — and time is of the essence.

Earlier this year, the federal government cut COVID-era Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, formerly known as food stamps. For some older adults, this means a precipitous drop in benefits from nearly $300 a month to just $30. While the city did make up for lost federal funding for meals programs, the support falls short of ensuring food security for older New Yorkers. Plus, these developments come on the heels of rampant inflation that caused food prices to soar. Even though we have seen some relief at the register, food costs are still straining many older adults’ budgets, with estimates suggesting one-in-ten older adults is food insecure.

Given this, it is unconscionable that, according to the city Department of Social Services, about 28% of SNAP-eligible individuals are not enrolled. Being able to sign up easily for food programs like SNAP is key to good health and wellbeing. The city must make it simpler for eligible older adults to sign up for SNAP and put food on the table. And the City should make it easier to apply for the Medicare Savings Program, which would put $165 a month, or up to $2,000 a year, back into eligible 65+ New Yorkers’ Social Security checks.

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Other economic forces are also at play. AARP New York has consistently found in surveys of older adults that pocketbook issues are a top concern, and the cost of housing is chief among the matters that keep people up at night. The Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE) program, which freezes rent for older adults who meet the program’s eligibility requirements, is a great option for people struggling to pay the rent. Unfortunately, only about 43% of those eligible are enrolled. Last fall, the mayor launched an awareness campaign to ensure that more older adults know about the program, but we must make enrollment easier, too, via the MyCity portal.

There are many other benefits and services older adults — are not aware of or have difficulty accessing — for example, home respite and adult day care to help family caregivers.

Given the great economic and personal burdens of caring for an elderly loved one — estimates suggest New York City caregivers spend on average 30 hours a week and $7,000 a year in out-of-pocket costs — ensuring everyone knows and can access caregiving services should be a priority addressed by MyCity portal. Similarly, homebound, frail older adults who want to avoid costly — and mostly taxpayer-funded — institutional care are often unaware of programs that can help them.

MyCity could solve many of the very difficult challenges faced by our older neighbors. This is particularly the case because the city has plans for “data matching,” which will inform individuals who apply for a specific program about others for which they may qualify. This feature is the best bet for maximizing public benefits program participation.

New Yorkers statewide are missing out on at least $2.5 billion in federal benefits assistance like SNAP and the recently-expanded Medicare Savings Program. Given this, the city should rush to get this data matching feature online.

Older adults built this city and made it great. The very least we can do in return is to make it easier for them to know about and apply for programs and services to help them age safely and happily in the homes and neighborhoods they love. The mayor should make sure that happens by turning MyCity portal’s attention to older adult services now.

Finkel is the state director of AARP New York.