✨ Staffing in Regulated Sectors (SNF & AL)

The number of seniors 85 and older is set to double by 2040, from 6 million to 12 million. The New England Journal of Medicine published the article referenced below last week. The number of staff needed to care for seniors as they age will double by 2040, requiring an additional 2.9 million workers.

350,000 Haitian immigrants and 6000 Syrian immigrants will lose their TPS (Temporary Protective Status) on July 24th. This follows the Supreme Court ruling that the Secretary of Homeland Security has sole authority to decide TPS cases (under Congressional legislation dating back to 1990). The court provided a delay until July 24th.

The loss of these workers will reduce the number of caregivers needed today, harm programs that will lose institutional knowledge, and decrease the payments these workers make into Social Security. Legislation passed by the House to grant TPS for three years lacks cosponsors in the Senate. And the President is unlikely to sign it into law. We can try to influence the Senate, but success is unlikely. So, as seniors in CCRCs, we can be aware of the problem and its negative impact that will only grow in the future.

- Chuck Webb, NaCCRA Board Member

"Caring for an Aging America - The Looming Crisis of the Long-Term Care Workforce," by Andrew R. Olenski, PhD, and David C. Grabowski, PhD. New England Journal of Medicine 395 (2), July 9, 2026, pp 107-111.

America’s elder-care system depends heavily on immigrants who provide skilled, compassionate assistance to older adults. Katherine Pearson warns that aggressive immigration enforcement is now disrupting those caregiving relationships, leaving residents of life-plan communities frightened and caregivers suddenly absent. Her “United Nations of Caregiving” is not merely a touching phrase—it describes a workforce essential to the nation’s long-term-care system and strengthens the case for practical, lawful immigration pathways for caregivers. (Read Katherine Pearson's Blog)

Richmond Shreve

NaCCRA Board Member & VP

Forum Moderator

This problem encompasses more than just one-on-one direct caregivers, immigrants losing their Temporary Protective Status (TPS), and the staffing of Skilled Nursing and Assisted Living facilities.

At Channing House, the California CCRC featured in the July 21 New York Times story, some management-level employees are also threatened, and some of these manage across the entire CCRC. 

And workers have been lost due to the federal government’s failure to timely process the work permit renewal requests of DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival) recipients. It is illegal to employ a non-citizen without a federal work permit.

As of about seven weeks ago, 10% of the Channing House staff had lost their jobs or were in jeopardy over the coming year.

My June 5 post in the “Government Affairs” forum gives more information on how Channing House has been coping with this.

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