L.A. County seeks leeway on aid to middle class
Los Angeles County supervisors voted this morning to pursue temporary waivers that would allow unemployed middle-class families to qualify for food stamps, welfare and other benefits.
“Everyone is talking about bailing out the banks and the big car companies and a lot of people have forgotten about these families,” said Supervisor Gloria Molina, who proposed relaxing the eligibility requirements after reading a story in The Times earlier this month.
Molina noted that each month in L.A. County, 7,000 families are denied CalWorks welfare benefits, and 19,000 families are denied food stamps.
To qualify for CalWorks, a family of four cannot earn more than $1,218 a month or have more than $2,000 in cash or property, not including their home. If they have a car worth more than $4,650, the added value counts as property. To qualify for food stamps -- an application that takes into account monthly living expenses such as rent and utilities -- the same family cannot earn more than $2,297.
County staff estimate that it would cost the county $62,000 a month to extend CalWorks and food stamp benefits to each additional 216 families.
Under Molina’s proposal, supervisors directed the county’s chief executive, William T. Fujioka, legislative lobbyists and social services officials to pursue legislation or temporary waivers to modify asset and income eligibility limits for CalWorks, food stamps, housing and other government benefits included in the federal stimulus package.
Supervisor Michael Antonovich initially expressed concerns that under the proposal, welfare eligibility requirements would be relaxed permanently and the burden of funding the expanded programs would fall on taxpayers.
But advocates for low-income families spoke in favor of the proposal as a temporary fix, saying eligibility requirements force middle-class families to spend down their savings and become homeless before they can qualify for help.
“You have to think about the support from the county being the last resort,” said Alicia Lara, vice president of community investment at United Way of Greater Los Angeles. “The nonprofit community is doing everything they can.”
Los Angeles Regional Food Bank saw demand increase 36% last year, serving 205,000 people in January, according to Jeff Dronkers, chief programs and policy officer, who addressed supervisors this morning.
Los Angeles Family Housing has also seen an increase in homeless families, and has a waiting list of 200, said Kris Freed, director of family programs.
“Many are receiving unemployment benefits, but those benefits, if you’ve ever been forced to rely on them, are not enough to maintain a household,” Freed said.
Supervisors unanimously approved the proposal, although Antonovich abstained from voting on the portion that concerned relaxing eligibility requirements for benefits other than housing. Antonovich also amended the proposal to clarify that the board is seeking to waive eligibility requirements temporarily, and requiring Fujioka to report back in two weeks on what benefits will be available under the federal stimulus and what will be done to track, reduce or prevent welfare fraud if eligibility requirements are relaxed.
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Posted by: Sav | April 07, 2009 at 02:55 PM