PUBLIC ASSISTANCE

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PUBLIC ASSISTANCE

• Anti-poverty programs Means tested
• Cash and non-cash
• Service-oriented
• Economic development

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Cash and Non-cash Assistance

• Means-tested
• food
• medical care
• housing

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Service assistance

• Head Start preschool enrichment
• Job training and placement
• High school performance and graduation increase
  programs
• Economic Development

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(No Transcript)
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Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC)

• Established by Social Security Act of 1935
• Vast discrepancy between states on benefit
• No automatic C-O-L adjustments
• tax on earnings reduced benefits work
  disincentive!
• tax on child support over 50/month reduced
  benefits
• 1/3 of those eligible didnt participate
  (hassles, bureaucracy, inefficiency)

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Job Opportunity and Basic Skills (JOBS)

• Welfare-to-work programs
• Mutual obligation program--women must take
  advantage of opportunities state must provide
  employment services
• Subsidized child care, transportation
• Federal goal--20 of AFDC in JOBS

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TANF--Temporary Assistance to Needy Families

• PRWORA Personal Responsibility and Work
  Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, Final
  Rules, April 1999
• Block grant program, replaces AFDC,
  JOBS, Emergency Assistance programs
• Goal is to turn welfare into temporary
  relief system
• State-run programs

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Basic Structure of TANF, 1996

• 2 years of assistance, then you must work
• employment, job training, voc rehab, community
  service, or child care for others who are working
• can count 6 weeks of job search as work
• Personal Responsibility Plans
• Child care assistance increased
• Health benefits (Medicaid) continued at least one
  year after starting work

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Misc. Provisions of TANF

• 5 year limit on benefits (except abuse cases)
• Welfare-to-Work (WtW) benefits can continue
• States design their own programs only get the
  federal money if they meet goals of reducing of
  recipients by placing them in the work force
• 40 overall, 2000
• 90 in 2-parent families
• bonuses for exceeding goals

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Misc. Provisions of TANF, cont

• 15 cap on use of TANF funds for administration
  of the program
• Exceptions granted when lack of child care can be
  proved
• Federal tax credits for employers hiring WtW
  participants and former or current welfare
  recipients
• Teen-age parents must live with responsible adult

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State programs must include . . .

• Child Support Enforcement program
• Domestic Violence program
• Out-of-wedlock Pregnancy program
• Formation and Maintenance of Two Parent Families
  program
• Complaint Handling program

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Child Support Enforcement

• All counted in income measurement
• New hires registry to try to locate noncustodial
  parents
• License suspension authority given to states
• Work requirement for non-custodial parents of
  children receiving TANF

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States MAY include . . .

• Cap on benefit if new child born while family is
  receiving benefits
• Benefit reduction if school age children are not
  attending school
• Requirement for adult to finish H.S. diploma
• Termination of Medicaid if adult refuses to work

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Some preliminary results

• As cash benefits decrease with reduced case load,
  states have excess funds
• Final regs take effect Oct. 1, 1999!
• Can provide support to families NOT receiving
  welfare benefits--I.e., the working poor

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Web Resources

• http//www.welfareinfo.org may be the best
  web resource listing about welfare and welfare
  reform!
• http//www.stateline.org/fact.cfm?FactID125
  gives income level for adult/2 kids
• http//newfederalism.urban.org/incalc2/index.html
  calculator for state TANF income benefit level

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Supplemental Security Income (SSI)

• Supplements Social Security and pensions for low
  income elderly and disabled persons
• Standard national benefits levels
• tax on benefits not as much as for AFDC!
• TANF (1996) establishes disability definition

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Food Stamps

• Provides vouchers for purchase of food
• States determine benefits
• Maximum 100 of Thrifty Food Plan level
• Continued under TANF
• Limited assistance for single person households

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Special Supplemental Food for Women, Infants, and
Children (WIC)

• Direct grant of high-protein, high-vitamin foods
  to low-income pregnant women and preschoolers

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Medicaid

• TANF and SSI recipients eligible all poor
  children
• 2/3 of recipients are TANF 1/3 of total cost
• explosion in cost of long-term care of the
  elderly
• Does not guarantee a doctor will see you!

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Housing Assistance

• Subsidized rent--pays rent over 30 of income
• Rent subsidized units or rent vouchers (Section 8
  vouchers)

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Other Service-oriented or In-kind

• Legal Aid services
• Child immunization
• Foster care
• Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program
• Federal block grants

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Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)

• Reduced income tax or Reverse Withholding
• Low-wage worker with 2 children 3,000
• EITC pays nothing if you dont work
• Income increases faster than earnings at low wage
  levels (up to 11,000 phases out at 24,000)
• Problems cant get monthly benefit dont
  understand program fraud with electronic filing
  of income taxes

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Minimum Wage

• Interacts with public assistance
• Not high enough for above poverty level income
  for full-time worker
• Not a targeted low-income program--most are 2nd
  or 3rd earners in middle-income families

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Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA)

• Job placement and training for adults
• Public/private partnership
• In-classroom and on-the-job training
• Job search training

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Economic Development

• Housing rehab and renewal
• Enterprise zones
• Mobility programs
• Transportation to and from work
• Scattered site housing

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Single Mother, 2 Children, Poverty Line 11,940
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Married Couple, 2 Children, Poverty Line 15,029
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Single Adult Poverty Line 7,710