PROPOSED STATE BUDGET PUTS SENIORS AT RISK MORE COULD GO HUNGRY IF PLAN PASSES.

Byline: Bob Bonnot Local View

ACCORDING to a UCLA study, 957,000 Los Angeles County residents go hungry or are at risk of hunger every day. A staggering number of these are low-income seniors. The Valley Interfaith Council and other food providers are doing their best to address this challenge. But if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed budget prevails, this appalling situation can only get worse.

Schwarzenegger's 2005-06 budget proposes to slash funding for the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program by $195 million would have dire consequences on California's most vulnerable residents. It just makes no economic sense.

The IHSS program enables seniors and people living with mental and physical disabilities to live independently in their own homes. Some 322,000 caregivers in California provide services such as feeding, bathing, dressing, house cleaning, laundry and grocery shopping to roughly 335,000 home care consumers - nearly half of whom live in Los Angeles County.

The VIC is very aware of the needs of these people, and the people who care for them, as tens of thousands throughout the San Fernando Valley must also avail themselves of the VIC's coalition of 21 food pantries and many other food and social services.

The Quality Home Care Coalition reports that funding for home-care worker pay will be lowered as much as 36 percent - to the $6.75 minimum wage - and funding for health care benefits will be eliminated. Most home-care givers and their families already live below the poverty line. This kind of wage reduction undoubtedly will increase the numbers of ``food insecure'' in the Valley, already at 166,000 and climbing each year.

Driven deeper into poverty, some workers will be forced to leave their clients to find better-paying jobs to support their families. This, in turn, will force more seniors and people with disabilities into institutions such as nursing homes, which cost state taxpayers up to seven times more than in-home care.

Consider Barbara Loney of Inglewood. In 2001, at the age of 22, Barbara suffered after a gunshot left her paralyzed from the waist down. In June, she graduates from California State University, Dominguez Hills, a courageous feat that she says would have been impossible without the help of home-care services. Barbara will require home care for the rest of her life. Are we to deny her this?

We all agree that the state budget must be fixed. But these proposed home-care cuts amount to bad social policy and bad economics.

According to a recent impact assessment of these proposals, the total amount of lost wages over one year amounts to roughly $583 million. Businesses will suffer as workers spend less on clothing, food, gas and entertainment. It's estimated that Los Angeles County will suffer massive annual losses in local sales revenue.

The proposed cuts would also cause California to sacrifice millions in federal funding from reduced Medicaid payments to the state's IHSS program. To achieve the general fund savings, the proposed budget sacrifices $318 million in federal funding for provider wages and benefits that help to keep Californians meaningfully employed and out of state-funded anti-poverty programs.

But it gets worse. Every million dollars invested in Medicaid spending results in additional jobs, employee earnings and business activity. By forfeiting the federal funds, business activity will be further reduced by nearly $728 million, and some 6,000 jobs and $267 million in wages will be lost.

We know, too, that home-care workers will need to tap social welfare programs to sustain their families, and this will undermine the intended cost savings to the state.

But again, let's not forget the real people behind these big numbers - like Barbara Loney, and like 71-year-old Zinaida Antonian of Glendale, who receives home care five hours a day from Rosa Grigoryan through the IHSS program. Antonian, who suffered a stroke four years ago that left her paralyzed, is worried. ``I'm afraid for all of us,'' she said. ``But I'm praying.''