Joint Statement supporting home and community based services

On February 24, 2012, ISPC Chicago endorsed the following statement, and requested that our name be added to the signers:

JOINT STATEMENT SUPPORTING ILLINOIS HOME AND COMMUNITY BASED SERVICES

We, the undersigned, call on the Illinois Administration and the General Assembly to defend Illinois home and community based services by taking the following actions in the FY 2013 budget:

· PROTECT: People with disabilities, seniors and workers have fought for decades to build programs that serve people with disabilities and seniors in the community, and have fought to raise standards for the workers who are employed by those programs. Limiting eligibility, reducing and/ or cutting services and lowering standards for workers will only damage these vital programs.

· INVEST: Serve more people by spending smarter. Home and community based services are the most cost effective way to support people with disabilities and seniors in our own communities. Illinois must ensure that it spends its budget wisely by investing in Medicaid home and community based services. Illinois also needs to invest in creating affordable, accessible, integrated housing for very low-income people with disabilities and seniors.

· ENFORCE: Our state must meet the requirements set forward in the three major Illinois Olmstead class action cases: Ligas, Williams, and Colbert. These cases are based on Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the idea that federal dollars (i.e., Medicaid) should support people with disabilities in the least restrictive environment.

· STRENGTHEN: State-funded programs such as the Home Services Program, the Community Care Program, Centers for Independent Living, the Community Reintegration Program and many others ensure that people with disabilities and seniors can live in the community, and provide jobs for thousands of workers. These programs need adequate funding and up-to-date provider payments.

We, the undersigned organizations, support the fight to protect, invest, enforce and strengthen Illinois home and community based services:

Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago

Chicago ADAPT

Illinois Network of Centers for Independent Living

SEIU Healthcare Illinois and Indiana

The SILC of Illinois