Spokane7
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February 1, 2011 in News, City
State assistance terminated for 5,000 families
Washington cut about 5,000 families off welfare Tuesday and reduced the monthly benefit to the families remaining on assistance, at a time when more people are asking for help.
As of Tuesday, Washington is reducing Temporary Assistance to Needy Families by 15 percent, resulting in an annual savings of $50.68 million.
A family of three having to pay housing costs would see its monthly benefit reduced from $562 to $478.
Advocates for children and the poor say the cuts are unfair while the state’s jobless rate remains at around 9 percent, and that families affected did not receive enough notice.
“Today is a sad day for the state of Washington,” said Jon Gould, deputy director of the Children’s Alliance. “The recession has already pushed 40,000 of Washington’s children into poverty. Now, one of the public structures that helps families survive hard times is being dismantled when it is needed most.”
In two years, the number of households receiving TANF under the state’s WorkFirst program has increased 30 percent to about 67,000, according to the Children’s Alliance.
Federal rules prohibit states from providing TANF to families who have received a lifetime maximum of five years of assistance, unless they qualify for a hardship extension.
It is left to the states to decide their own rules for such extensions, but they cannot exceed 20 percent of each state’s TANF caseload.
Because of the increased demand for assistance at a time of declining state resources, the Department of Social and Health Services will allow fewer extensions beginning this month.
Extensions will continue for families in which an adult is unable to work due to age or disability or the need to care for a disabled family member. Also included are families experiencing domestic violence or with a child in state dependency for the first time or where an adult is working full-time in unsubsidized employment.
When the new rules were announced last summer, DSHS anticipated about $16.38 million in savings from ending extensions on 5,555 cases.
The department is still assessing eligibility for many families, but a January estimate showed that 4,754 families, with more than 10,000 children, will lose cash assistance beginning this month.
Robin Zukoski, an attorney with Columbia Legal Services, said the state failed to give timely notices to families affected by the cuts.
“The amount of warning was 10 days,” Zukoski said. Giving such short warning to people without alternative resources “seems particularly unfair.”
DSHS said it sent termination notices out from Jan. 18 through Jan. 21, but that the department sent mass mailings to all WorkFirst clients about the proposed rule changes in October. The department began interviewing families in November to determine eligibility under the new rules.
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Bob_Knows on February 01 at 7:45 p.m.
Its a start, but there are thousands more illegal aliens on welfare in Washington.
Scoutster on February 01 at 7:55 p.m.
Hmmm. Let’s see. Is this going to help or hurt the economy to cut benefits to poor people?
I suggest there may be some moral satisfaction in this for some, but it is a pyrrhic victory. More people not paying their rent isn’t going to help the commonwealth overall.
Just shows how tough the choices are right now.
misjustice on February 01 at 8:01 p.m.
Bob, Bob, Bob, tsk, tsk, tsk; never let facts get in the way of a good rant ?
lowtechmaster on February 01 at 8:03 p.m.
But football stadiums can get red turf and be renovated! WHAT A DISGRACE!! And take a look at athletic directors and coaches salaries!!! SICK!!
misjustice on February 01 at 8:14 p.m.
Umm, the Inferno red field at Roos Stadium was paid for by a $500,000.00 GIFT from Michael Roos and his wife…
“…it was the $500,000 pledge he and his wife made to the school’s Red Turf project that helped the installation of the unique red Sprinturf playing surface at the Eagles’ home field become a reality during the summer.”
Read more: http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2011/01/05/1314439/ewu-benefactor-believes-red-turf.html#ixzz1CltalJZd
tracyseger on February 01 at 9:53 p.m.
Coupon shopping should be serious business to? more people in this economy, new thing is collective buying check for the website “Printapons”
lewis8457 on February 01 at 10:36 p.m.
entitlements are on the way out with the lack of good jobs in America the governments state and federal just are not pulling in the bucks as fast as they spend it. And the money tree is drying up.
Most of the good jobs are being given to folks over seas Dupont hired 1.4 million people last year…over seas.
The revenue just isn’t there any more. and rather then cut the ineffective redundant agencies they cut the welfare and medical programs because why? Drum roll please……… they can get us to vote for more taxes to fund those services. Nothing but a card game folks. because all the while they are playing these games the whole back end of their mountain is collapsing and they don’t even know it.
After they cut the poor, and revenues drop less taxes paid so more get laid off there wont be money for anything. then they will have to look at their bloated salaries drindle to nothing.
cheddar on February 01 at 11:44 p.m.
If I read the article correctly, it says that only people on the program for longer than 5 years and who aren’t disabled / unable to work will lose TANF cash assistance, then why didn’t we do it before?
These aren’t people affected by the current recession, these are people who haven’t worked in FIVE YEARS. You want to help kids? Give them parents that show them the value of work, and if they can’t find a job, 5 years is long enough to get a college education (also available through state programs) and qualify themselves for another job.
I just loved the quote from Jay Gould, Children’s alliance: “The recession has already pushed 40,000 of Washington’s children into poverty. Now, one of the public structures that helps families survive hard times is being dismantled when it is needed most.”
Please.. THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!! pffshh. No child in Washington state needs to be hungry. This is CASH assistance, not food stamps, medical care, or anything else. We already have disability programs, unemployment insurance, and several school programs designed to help families with kids, but let’s give the parents cash too..
If people are never uncomfortable in poverty, why would they ever be motivated enough to change their situation? Better yet, why are they taking money from me to give it to people that haven’t worked for five years? I’m raising a family, too, and I work hard to make sure they have what they need.
terrymr on February 01 at 11:58 p.m.
Bob - you’re full of it. Illegal aliens don’t get welfare and legal aliens aren’t eligible until they’ve been employed for 10 full years.
cheddar on February 02 at 9:50 a.m.
Terry,
Illegal immigrants are ineligible for TANF at the federal level, but many times slip through the state screening, especially in WA, where no citizenship proof is required to obtain a state ID/Driver’s license.
Racingmom on February 02 at 10:18 a.m.
Terry MR, you are saddly mistaken.
arroyoribera on April 09 at 11:46 a.m.
As someone who worked as a US vice consul interviewing tens of thousands of applicants for immigrant and tourist visas in the early 1990s and who has worked as a CPS and TANF social worker for DSHS, as well as a current DSHS financial worker, I can assure you that there are virtually NONE if any illegal aliens receiving benefits they are not entitled to on the TANF program in the state of Washington. This is not the issue. It is used as an unsubstantiated, racist effort to redirect the conversation from facts and real issues.
As to families being cut off after 5 years on TANF, let me give you a scenario. Let’s look at this situation. A woman was abused, abandoned and divorced in 1997 with two small children. She spent two years on TANF until she got a job – though only earning minimum wage and got off TANF. She went to school at nights and got a better job (the motto of Washington state’s DSHS TANF WorkFirst program is “A job, a better job, a better life”.) Then in 2003 she got very ill and was out of work for 8 months during which she was on TANF again, receiving for herself and her two children $546/mo plus food assistance. She continued to live a small apartment with her two children sharing a room together to keep rent low. Then when irresponsible conduct by bankers and realtors resulted in the explosion and collapse of the US economy in October 2008, she along with hundreds of thousands in Washington state lost her job. She like so many has not been able to find another job. To keep herself and her children alive, she again applied for and received TANF, though not happily and she continues to look for work aggressively. With barely 60 months on TANF, her TANF grant was abrubtly cut off for her and her children. At the moment she and her children were all very sick with the flu. They were unable to pay their rent and their landlord — one of Spokane’s notorious slumlords — did not care. So in the dark and cold of a bitter winter month, they were homeless, searching for scarce housing resources amidst a tattered and overwhelmed social safety net. The children were unable to attend school as they were sick and as she took them from place to place looking for help. Complete the story however you like.
The state of Washington did not have to cut 5000 families with 10000 plus children off TANF in the cold of winter on a day with single digit temperatures in Spokane. The state of Washington chose to cut those families off. A Democratic party controlled state chose to do this.