POLITICO Article: ‘People will die waiting’: America’s system for the disabled is nearing collapse

POLITICO reporter, Dan Goldberg, recently published an article that demonstrates the sheer magnitude of the workforce crisis agencies like The Arc face today.

This reporting would not have happened without the work of ANCOR and its members. Dan’s writing reflects a deeper understanding of the direct support workforce emergency than just about any other health care reporter, and that's in large part because of his conversations with ANCOR members and leaders.

Here is a snippet of the article:

Private agencies that provide services for the intellectually and developmentally disabled have long warned that, without fresh state and federal funding, they would be unable to provide housing and staff support to the growing number of Americans who need care.

Over the last 12 months, the Covid-19 pandemic’s lingering effects and once-in-a-generation inflation have turned dire predictions into sobering truths, and agency directors, who for years hobbled along on shoestring budgets, have done in 2022 what not long ago would have been unthinkable: closed their doors.

Todd Goodwin, CEO at the John F. Murphy Homes in Maine, has closed four group homes over the past 18 months. Until this year, residents of a home that was closing would be transferred to another home with open beds. But in February, he couldn’t make the staffing ratios work — two residents, who have come to rely on the care his agency provides, would have to be sent back to their families.

“These are people who have been with us for years; we love them,” Goodwin said. “They are losing their homes through no fault of their own. We have just run out of options.”

In Connecticut, one provider has closed 10 group homes; in Oklahoma, dozens of residential units sit empty for want of staff; and in Texas, budgets are running increasingly in the red.

Two decades after the Supreme Court ruled states must provide care for the disabled in the least restrictive setting possible, home- and community-based service providers are floundering. Many states, flush with cash thanks to a juiced economy and federal stimulus, may need to act following years of inadequate funding that left an already fragile system on the verge of collapse.

To continue reading the article in its entirety, please click here.

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