Activists Call for New Home-Care Agency

A coalition of community activists is urging Los Angeles County to form a new public agency to manage its troubled home-care system, which provides support services for more than 78,000 sick and disabled residents.

The new agency would allow greater input from consumers who depend on in-home support services, while improving and standardizing conditions for home-care workers, according to a report released at a news conference Wednesday by a coalition of groups representing workers, the elderly and disabled.

Coalition member Lillibeth Navarro said a 1993 state law authorized the county to form a public authority to administer in-home support services and provided $2 million in start-up costs. The County Board of Supervisors spent $200,000 of the money to hire an independent consultant to further study the in-home services program and recommend improvements. That report is expected this month.

Officials with the county’s Department of Public Social Services, which administers the program, have argued that a new public agency would increase administrative costs and add another layer of bureaucracy.

Home-care workers provide a variety of daily services for their infirm clients, including feeding, bathing, picking up medical prescriptions and grocery shopping.