DHS Request to Spend ARPA Funding on HCBS Services

December 9, 2021

Senator Howard Marklein
Co-Chair, Joint Committee on Finance
State Capitol
Madison, WI 53708

Representative Mark Born
Co-Chair, Joint Committee on Finance
State Capitol
Madison, WI 53708

RE: DHS Request to Spend ARPA Funding on HCBS Services

Dear Senator Marklein, Representative Born, and Members of the Joint Committee on Finance:

The Community Housing Task Force for People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in Wisconsin (CHTFWI)  is writing to express our strong support for the Department of Health Services’ request to allocate a portion of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to increase the pay rates for home and community-based services (HCBS) delivered by paid staff by 5 percent.

HCBS workers were overworked and underpaid before the pandemic and the situation only worsened under the stress of COVID-19. Compensating HCBS workers for unskilled labor creates a staff shortage that contributes to facility closures, lack of available services, and abuse and neglect of the aging population and those with disabilities. All these issues have been observed pre and post pandemic and contribute to the Long-Term Care Workforce Crisis facing our state.[1] The lack of adequate pay for caregivers is a major contributor to this crisis, if not the root cause.

Allocating 5% of ARPA funds specifically to increase pay for HCBS workers will alleviate the caregiver shortage and in turn decrease neglect and abuse within care facilities, increase employment and employment satisfaction within Wisconsin, and improve quality of life for over 80,000 Wisconsinites who rely on home and community-based services for daily care.[2]

CHTFWI urges the Joint Committee on Finance to approve the DHS proposal for using ARPA funds to raise the wages of HCBS workers to address the caregiver crisis in our state and to improve the services and care received by the most vulnerable members of our society.

Thank you for your leadership.
The Community Housing Task Force for People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in Wisconsin

[1] 1 in 4 direct caregiver positions in our state are currently vacant (The Long-Term Care Workforce Crisis: A 2020 Report)

[2] Department of Health Services