Montgomery County council member announces $1 million to shore up senior, home‑care and respite services

Council member Lorien Sales, chair of the Health and Human Services Committee, announced a $1,000,000 special appropriation to Montgomery County’s fiscal 2026 operating budget aimed at stabilizing strained senior, home‑care and family respite services.

Sales made the announcement at a press conference in Silver Spring following a series of county tours of behavioral health, crisis response and emergency housing facilities. "We are asking our health care system and providers to do more with less," she said, framing the appropriation as an immediate intervention to prevent temporary harms from becoming permanent losses of services.

The appropriation is targeted to three program areas: $450,000 for senior nutrition to reopen access to congregate and meal programs, $300,000 for home‑care services intended to reduce wait lists, and $250,000 for respite care to provide additional hours of support for families, Sales said.

Sales and county staff emphasized why the money is needed. Staff who guided the tours described a crisis center that operates 24/7 with licensed clinicians and peer recovery specialists and said the center works to "prevent unnecessary hospitalizations." A county housing staff member said the county currently spends "more than $4,000,000 a year on motel, sheltering families in motels" because of limited long‑term housing options. The same staff member said the average length of stay across the system for families is about 140 days.

Speakers at the event also warned that federal funding threats are worsening local pressure. "With the HUD NOFO being withdrawn, they were looking to cut 70% of our funding," a county staff speaker said, describing how the loss of anticipated federal support has increased the county's reliance on temporary motel sheltering and local resources.

The county held a public hearing on the appropriation recently, according to remarks on the program. The announcement was presented as an emergency measure intended to "stabilize services" for seniors, families and vulnerable residents while county leaders and providers develop longer‑term solutions.

Sales said the appropriation is intended as immediate relief: "This emergency appropriation is our response, and it sends a clear message," she said. The program host directed listeners to the council’s website for information on how to sign up for updates or to submit testimony. The transcript of the program does not record a final council vote on the appropriation.

Next steps: a public hearing has been held; no final vote or adoption of the appropriation is reported in the program.