[Faith & Hunger] (ALBANY) Time for a Raise? Welfare participants Need One (Hunger Action)

[Dunleamark at aol.com]

Hunger Action Network of New York State 
Media  Release 
For More Information: Mark Dunlea 518  434-7371, Ext 1# 
While Legislators Seek Pay Raise for  Themselves, 
Welfare Participants Fall Deeper into  Poverty after 16 Years with No 
Increase 
Anti-hunger groups said today  that state legislators need to raise welfare 
benefits for poor children and  their families before taking action to raise 
their own inflated  salaries. 
"We are reminded of Senator John J. Marchi's call to 'recognize the plight 
not of the greedy,  but of the needy' over two decades ago when the State Senate 
voted to pass a 15%  welfare grant increase. Though Senator Marchi is 
retiring after 50  years of service, not much else seems to have changed in the state 
capitol,”  said Bich Ha Pham, Executive Director of Hunger Action Network of 
NYS.   
The basic welfare grant has not been raised  since 1990. The Fuel for Heating 
allowance hasn’t been raised since 1987. The  welfare benefit package in New  
York now comes to less than half of the federal poverty  level. The need to 
raise welfare benefits will be featured at the Annual  People's State of the 
State rally at the Capitol on Jan.  2nd. 
“If lawmakers want to index pay to  inflation, they should start by restoring 
welfare benefits to their 1990 level.  They should also index the minimum 
wage to inflation and raise the state  supplement for SSI which helps the elderly 
and disabled. There are many New  Yorkers who are in desperate financial 
situations because state lawmakers have  repeatedly failed to raise their benefits,
” noted Mark Dunlea, Associate  Director of Hunger Action Network. 
To restore the minimum wage to its 1970s  purchasing power, it would need to 
be $8.50 an hour in January 2007 dollars. The  state minimum wage is set to 
rise from $6.75 to $7.15 in 2007. In New York City, more than  25% of welfare 
participants receive wages for outside work but they fail to  escape poverty due 
to both low wages and lack of full time  employment. 
Anti-hunger activists also noted that  welfare participants are now required 
to work more hours for their benefits than  state lawmakers. Welfare 
participants, except for children and some disabled  individuals, are now required to 
work 35 plus hours a week for their benefits.  State legislators have set 
mandatory work hours for welfare participants  considerably higher than the federal 
requirements (20 hours if household has  child under six, thirty hours for 
other households). Lawmakers in contrast work  at the state capitol only 2 to 3 
days a week for six months of the year, with  several additional vacation 
weeks during those six months; they have the rest of  the year off except for a 
handful of days for special sessions.   
Lawmakers are also free to earn significant  income from outside work. 
Welfare participants, in addition to paying taxes on  outside work, also see a 
significant reduction in their welfare benefits when  they work. Anti-hunger 
activists want the earned income disregard for welfare  participants increased. 
In addition to their base salary of $79,500,  lawmakers receive an extensive 
array of additional pay for every day they show  up for work, as well as 
payments for heading committees – and special federal  tax breaks just for 
lawmakers. Lawmakers want to raise their base pay to  $96,000. Just the increase of 
$16,500 would be more than double the entire  welfare benefits provided to 
participants. 
Anti-poverty advocates want lawmakers to  raise the non-shelter portion of 
the public assistance grant from $291 a month  to $450 for a family of three to 
reflect the cost of living since the last  adjustment, as well as an increase 
in the Fuel for Heating  Allowance. 
A  few years ago, state officials did enact a small adjustment in the shelter 
 allowance for public assistance due to the pressure of a decade-old  
Jiggetts lawsuit and court decisions requiring them to do so. The minimal  increase 
however was a sham merely designed to try to get out from under the  court 
ruling that welfare benefits for housing were illegally low, since it is  
impossible for families with children to find adequate housing at the level  provided 
by the state. 
Many families must use a portion of their  basic allowance to pay the rent, 
because the shelter allowance in the public  assistance grant is rarely 
sufficient to meet the housing cost. For example, in  Monroe  County a family of 
three  with children heating with gas has a shelter allowance of $397 per month, 
while  the HUD Fair Market Rent for a 2 bedroom apartment is $687.   
In Albany County, the combined welfare grant for a  family of three is $547 a 
month. The federal poverty level is $1,383 a month  ($16,600 a year). The 
benefit package comes to about 40% of the federal poverty  level. 
Despite the decline in the public assistance  rolls since in the 1990s due to 
the booming economy in the early part of the  decade and welfare reform 
measures, in September 2006, 557,886 New Yorkers,  including 324,792 children, 
required public assistance to meet their most basic  needs.  
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