HHS layoffs hit Meals on Wheels and other services for seniors and disabled April 1, 2025,7:47 PM ET
By Joe Shapiro
Meals on Wheels, which delivers food to homebound seniors, is among the programs for the elderly and disabled now at risk now because federal agencies have fired staff who administer them. Amy Sancetta/AP
The layoffs at the Department of Health and Human Services slashed the staffs of major federal aging, disability and anti-poverty programs, leaving the future of those programs uncertain.
At least 40% of staff got layoff notices and many were turned away at the front door Tuesday when they showed up for work at the Administration for Community Living, or ACL, which coordinates federal policy on aging and disability.
That’s according to the agency’s former director under the Biden Administration, Alison Barkoff, who says she talked to multiple members of her former staff.The agency funds programs that run senior centers and distribute 216 million meals a year to older and disabled people through the Meals on Wheels program.
