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Committee probes home‑care aide program, $15M municipal allocation and waiting list
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Summary
Witnesses told the committee about an 1,658-person departmental waiting list for home‑care aides and a $15 million recovery-fund allocation distributed to municipalities; officials said municipalities received funds directly and the department will monitor use.
During the April 30 budget hearing, legislators pressed Department of the Family leaders about home‑care aides ("amas de llaves" / auxiliares de hogar) for older adults and whether the department or municipalities handle contracts and payments.
Secretary Susan Roy Fuentes and AFAN Administrator Wilmar T. Rivera said the department currently serves roughly 1,439 adults directly and has a waiting list that the department reported in the hearing as 1,658 people (the administrators later supplied a slightly updated count during questioning). Officials said municipalities have been given funds to run home‑care services in some instances and that initial disbursements came through an Office of Management and Budget (OGP) / Oversight Board arrangement: the Oversight Board allocated $15 million to municipalities for home‑care services and those allocations did not pass through the department’s budget appropriation.
Administrators said some municipalities returned funds because they lacked administrative capacity to implement the service, while others have contracted and are providing services. Department witnesses said the department supports municipal delivery and will continue to monitor and audit use of those funds; the committee requested a municipal-by-municipal breakdown of where recovery‑fund projects and home‑care contracts were planned or executed.
Committee members and the department discussed pay rates and recruitment challenges: officials said in some municipalities the offered pay for home‑care assistants is not sufficiently competitive to attract workers, which complicates service rollout even when funds are available. The department said it will try to distribute additional funds to municipalities to reduce the backlog when feasible and that municipal contracts can be faster for hiring than central procurement.
The chair asked for a five‑day follow-up listing (by municipality) of recovery‑fund projects, amounts distributed, how many seniors were served through municipal contracts and how many remain on departmental waiting lists.
