Official Expects Welfare Run To Washington

Asotin County’s top welfare bureaucrat is expecting a run across Washington’s border when Idaho starts paring down its programs for the poor July 1.

“We are anticipating some movement,” said Lois Green, administrator of community services at Washington state’s Department of Social and Health Services office in Clarkston.

While Washington’s basic welfare grant will remain at $546 for a three-person household, Idaho’s benefit will drop to $276 a month regardless of a family’s size, Green said.

“You can’t even pay rent on that unless you’re stacking them up and doing some communal living,” she said.

The difference in grants is only one example of how Idaho’s reforms will be tougher than Washington’s.

Washington’s welfare reform package does include a residency requirement, but that provision will not take effect until Nov. 1 and could be challenged in court, Green said. Then families moving to Washington will receive grants for one year at the level provided in their previous home state as long as the amount is less than what Washington offers.

Green said summer could be the prime time for those affected by the reforms to move from Idaho to Washington because children will not be in school.

Asotin County Commission Chairman Gordon Reed said he is hearing similar concerns from other social service providers. Reed expects if the predictions are true the demand for law enforcement and other services will rise, leaving his constituents to pick up the tab.

The sheriff’s department is already stretched thin, Reed said.

“You have to realize these people who are on welfare, their money is to be cut so how do you make up for that?” Reed said. “Sometimes you take advantage of things to make ends meet a little better so you have more crime.”