Care providers for developmentally disabled people come up short pushing for more pay

Washington has a shortage of workers who care for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities. 

People with developmental disabilities can sometimes require intensive 24/7 care, and those who do this work, known as direct support professionals, often earn low pay making them difficult to recruit and retain. 

Providers of this type of care came to legislators this year to ask for a 10% rate increase – a figure based on a state-funded survey.

The Legislature only set aside enough money for a 2.5% increase, which will likely result in a 50-cent per-hour bump in care professionals’ pay. 

“It doesn’t come close to the amount that we need just to be whole,” said Randy Hauck, executive director for Community Living.  

In a 60-day session, lawmakers adjust the budget but don’t write an entirely new spending plan. This can make it difficult to include large pots of new money. Hauck said he heard from lawmakers this was the biggest factor that limited the size of the pay hike.

Direct support professionals work for providers, like Community Living, which receive funding from the state to offer 24-hour care for clients with disabilities in a supported living setting. This type of housing is often home to a handful of people and allows them to be a part of their community, which advocates say helps people with disabilities thrive.

A 2022 rate study commissioned by the Department of Social and Health Services, which was released to the public in February, found that the professional care role is “physically and mentally demanding as compared to other industries with similar wages.”

The study’s top recommendation was for a 10% rate increase, equivalent to around $81 million a year, to get these providers up to a living wage.

Other recommendations from the study included partnering with training institutions to support workforce development and creating a new payment plan for workers who voluntarily serve people with complex behaviors and complete additional training. 

Scott Livengood, at Alpha Supported Living Services, estimates that these professionals are currently paid 20% below what’s considered a living wage in Washington. He said after taking into account inflation since the 2022 study, supported living services need more like a 16% rate increase.“Honestly this year’s increase is just kicking the can down the road,” Livengood said. 

With such low wages and benefits, advocates estimate that half of their staff leave the job every year. The 2022 study found that there was a 43% turnover rate among all levels of staff in supported living services – a problem only made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

With such high turnover and so many open positions, Hauck said the state has a 400-person waitlist for services, a direct result of providers not being able to stay fully staffed. 

Turnover can affect the people who access services, too. People with developmental disabilities often benefit from consistent people in their lives. When their caregivers are constantly changing, it can be really difficult, Hauck said. 

It’s not the first year direct support professionals have asked the Legislature for more funding, and it won’t be the last. 

Hauck said lawmakers have been inconsistent with funding increases for direct care professionals over the years and, usually, if there’s any increase at all, it does not keep up with inflation, he said. 

Because the work is intensive and requires many hours, any rate increase is often a big financial ask for the state, Livengood said. 

They will push for more funding next year, but Hauck noted that with so many lawmakers retiring, advocates will have to do a lot more work explaining the need. 

“We’re starting from scratch in a number of ways,” Hauck said.