[Faith & Hunger] Hunger Action: No welfare grant increase in state budget for 16th year in a row

[Dunleamark@aol.com]

Hunger Action Network of NYS
Media  Release

For More Info: Bich Ha Pham, 212 741-8192, xt 1#
Mark Dunlea  518 434-7371, xt 1#

Hunger Action Faults Pataki, State Legislature For  Failing to Raise Welfare 
Benefits for 16th Year in a Row

The Hunger  Action Network of NYS criticized the Governor and the State Legis
lature today  for failing for the 16th year in a row to raise the general 
welfare grant for  poor children and their parents. The welfare grant today is 
only half of the  federal poverty level, guaranteeing that welfare participants 
will not have  enough funds to provide even the basic necessities for their  
families.

“Over the last sixteen years, Congress has imposed  stringent work 
requirements upon households receiving public assistance. The  only adults left on 
welfare are those who are disabled or already engaged in  work activities. Yet 
still the Governor and State Legislature refuse to raise  the meager benefits, 
even though the federal funding formula for welfare has  provided the state with 
a multi-billion surplus that was available to pay for  the increase,” stated 
Bich Ha Pham, Executive Director of the Hunger Action  Network of NYS.

“We trust that our next Governor will not turn his  back on the plight of 
poor children and will support helping to lift these  families out of poverty,” 
Pham added.

The group also pointed out  that in a year when the state had a multi-billion 
surplus, not only did the  Governor and Legislature fail to raise welfare 
benefits, they failed to restore  many of the major cuts in human service 
programs that were enacted as part of  the post-9/11 “barebones” budget.  

“Even when the state is  flush with money, the poor don’t get a cut of the 
pie,” noted Mark Dunlea,  Associate Director of Hunger Action. “More and more 
low-income New Yorkers, even  those with a job, are forced to line up at food 
pantries and soup kitchens  because they don’t have enough to pay their rent, 
utility and health care  bills.”

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 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 two 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 New York City the entire public  assistance grant for a family of three, 
including the shelter allowance, is $691  per month, while the fair market 
rent for a two bedroom apartment is  $1075.  Obviously these allowances are 
inadequate and, without additional  funds, lead to increased family homelessness”, 
said Heidi Siegfried, Supervising  Attorney at The Partnership for the 
Homeless. It costs New York City $36,000 per  year to shelter a homeless a family.

Since the basic welfare grant  was last increased in 1990, the cost of living 
has increased by nearly 50%. Fuel  oil and natural gas prices have on average 
more than doubled since the fuel for  heating allowance for welfare 
participants was adjusted in 1987. There is a  desperate need to provide enhanced 
resources to enable poor families to survive  this winter and beyond.

Despite the 61% decline in the public  assistance rolls since welfare reform 
in the late 1990s, more than 600,000 New  Yorkers, including more than 350,000 
children, require public assistance to meet  their most basic needs.  A large 
portion of the people remaining on public  assistance cannot be expected to 
increase their income through earnings.   In New York City, 45% of the caseload 
is not expected to engage in work  activities because they are child only 
cases, are disabled by HIV/AIDS, have a  head of household over 60, have a head 
of household on SSI or SSI pending or  they have significant disabilities.  

In 1975 public  assistance for a three person family was equal to 110% of the 
Federal Poverty  Level.  Today it has fallen to less than 51% of the poverty 
level.  To  keep pace with the rising cost of living, the $291 a family of 
three received  for non-shelter needs in 1990 would today have to be increased by 
49%, to  $435.00.