The Arapahoe County Board of Commissioners took action March 15
to make sure anticipated budget cuts would not result in lost
services from any county resident now receiving help through the
homemaker program.
The Arapahoe County Homemaker Program serves seniors and
disabled residents who have incomes below the federal poverty level
of $907 a month and who, for a variety of reasons, are not eligible
for Medicade-funded Home and Community Based Services.
“This is a great program and I’m glad we could take measures to
make sure no one now receiving assistance would be eliminated from
the program,” Commissioner Susan Beckman said. “However, we
understand we could see a 40 to 50 percent reduction in funding
from the federal Community Services Block Grant program. That means
we will have to reduce the number of homemakers. Because there will
be fewer homemakers, we are not accepting any new clients and
reducing the current number of clients being served through
attrition. However, potential clients who qualify for the homemaker
services will be placed on a waiting list so they will receive
services as soon as they are available.”
The level of block grant funding remains uncertain while
Congress continues to work on the number for the current year’s
federal budget.
Before the anticipated fund reductions, the county use the block
grant funds for six homemakers and uses general funds to hire the
other three homemakers staffing the program.
The proposal is, unless more funds become available, to
gradually reduce the size of the staff from nine to six with three
grant-funded positions being eliminated.
Linda Haley, senior resource division manager for the county,
said the program works with low-income senior and disabled county
residents.
“The homemaker visits the client to help them do things they can
no longer do for themselves,” she said. “For example, the client
may not be able to bend over so the homemaker can help out by doing
tasks like cleaning the tub.”
Currently, the county program serves 314 individual clients. The
majority, 241, are women and the clients range in age from 38 to
101. There are 112 of those clients living in Littleton and 49 in
Englewood.
Beckman said this program isn’t something that should be cut
because it helps people who have very little income and few sources
of family support.
“This program helps county residents who really need assistance
and should be continued,” the commissioner said. “We are hopeful we
will receive additional block grant funds, which would enable us to
keep our staffing and client list unchanged.”
