Spokane7
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February 2, 2011 in City
State reduces aid for families
Thousands lose welfare; others receiving less
Lawmakers, lobbyists, and others are well aware that the time has come for another session of the Washington state Legislature. The 2011 session opened Jan. 10, and lawmakers are dealing with large cuts to the state budget.
(Full-size photo)
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 says 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 to determine eligibility under the new rules in November.
Rights panel poorly understood 
biker on February 02 at 10:58 a.m.
Across the board 15% for all state, county, city employees, including public safety (fir and police) as well. If it is good enough for the poor, our middle class/upper middle class can certainly afford it.
Ninch on February 02 at 1:25 p.m.
Those losing their “checks” have exceeded the 60 month life time limit of TANF aid. T=TEMPORARY
So why is this unfair?
johnclarke on February 02 at 1:34 p.m.
I have to agree Ninch. 5 years is a long time to be on welfare.
decturkey on February 02 at 1:39 p.m.
15% cut will put me in the poor category. Instead of across the board cuts the cuts should be on a scale where the top earners cut the most off their pay and the lower earners like me take a smaller percentage cut or no cut at all. And they could cut out all the wasteful spending too, but that requires more thinking than most people are capable of doing.
cheddar on February 02 at 1:48 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.
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.
johnclarke on February 02 at 2:03 p.m.
Cheddar my amigos that work for DSHS tell me that in the past, the system would “look the other way” after 5 years and allow people to stay on. No more it seems. I also agree with you. There are so many ways to get help, a single mother can get free daycare while she is attending college paid for by the state. Heck I think Eastern even offers free housing.
These friends of mine that work for the state have had salary cuts and forced days off.
Artworks on February 02 at 3:21 p.m.
I would like to be part of a group to fix this. There are alot of jobs in Washington that are filled with illeagles that risk their lives to come to Washington State. Our apple crops and many other cashcrops are harvested by “who”? You guessed it illeagles. For this work there would need to be work hardening for those that haven’t worked in awhile and then transportation to and from these sites. What will this do?
Put a man/or woman back to work. This gives them a renewed feeling of worth and Washington gets a handle on what some call lazy recipents of DSHS. Non complience would reduce the ammount until you work. Cutting people off these programs is gonna cause some ugly things to happen. Come on lets elaborate on this idea and put washington back to work.