Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 14, Number 2, 1 February 1997 — What's good and bad about welfare reform [ARTICLE]

What's good and bad about welfare reform

by Deborah L. Ward

Starting this month, an estimated 9,000 Hawaiian families receiving public assistance cash payments will be affected by major changes to Hawaii's welfare program. Of this number, about 6,000 Hawaiian families and individuals now face a 20% reduction in Temporary Assistance

to Needy Families (TANF, formerly Aid to Families with Dependent Children). To help these families make a transition from reliance on welfare to employment and greater self-sufficiency, a new state program, Pursuit of New Opportunities (PONO), has been created by Department

of Human Services. It's a eombination of reduced benefits over time, increased exemptions for various forms on ineome, and incentives for child care and working. • Welfare now becomes a temporary five year program. • If you work, you ean keep more of your earned ineome, and still be eligible for welfare, medical and no-fault insurance • The allowable resource limit will increase from $1000 to $5000 • The value of one motor vehiele will be totally exempt in determining eligibility • All student loans, grants and scholarships will be exempt. • The earned ineome of minors will be exempt. • Teenage parents who receive their own welfare eheek for themselves and their child(ren) will only be eligible for welfare if they stay in school to get their high school

diploma or GED. OHA Health and Human Services officer Noella Kong explained, "Families and individuals being affected by welfare reform need to make sure they receive full information about changes so they ean make decisions about their future. They should eall their case worker right away if they haven't had the changes explained to them by now." The OHA Board of Trustees has approved up to $100,000 to Legal Aid Society of Hawai'i to assist 510 Hawaiians who are victims of the state's general assistance budgetary cuts. They must be single, disabled adults; the aged, blind and disabled; or two-parent families with minor children with insufficient ineome to meet the family* s needs. Legal Aid will help these Hawaiians apply for Supplemental Security ineome (SSI) or Social Security Disability ineome (SSDI). Proposed legislation may result in an estimated 4,000 individuals being cut from general assistance and left with no financial assistance by June 30 this year. Of this number, an estimated 1,300 are Hawaiians. It is also estimated that an additional 18 Hawaiians will be dropped from the general assistance system in eaeh month after June 30. According to a flyer put out by Moloka'i Legal Aid, there are both "good" and "bad" things to face in this reform program, such as: • rewards for working — more ineome is disregarded. That means that 20% of total pay, minus $200, minus 36% of the balance, is not counted as ineome. Example: before PONO, if you had a family of 3 and earned $400 a month, your welfare eheek would onlybe$410. On PONO, your welfare eheek will be $635 because more of your ineome will be disregarded. • two-parent families are now eligible. There's no need for one parent to meet prior employment requirements. "Work requirements" may be put on two parents. • Exceptions: there are no grant cuts or five-year limit on assistance if all adults in the household are either: — disabled — 65 years or older — caring for a disabled household member who is on your welfare eheek (but not a distant relative such as an elderly parent) — single parents of a baby less

than six months old (only one parent in a two-parent family is exempt.) — not the parents of the child ("non-needy" caretakers); or — VISTA workers. • $5000 asset limit (increased from $1000), and total disregard of one car if parent works • DHS will pay up to $324 per month for child care • DHS will pay for up to 12 months of "transitional" medieal coverage after a family gets off welfare. The "bad stuff," about welfare reform is as follows: • Grant cuts increasing steadily over five years. In the first year and second years there is a 20% cut, in the third year 30% cut, in the fourth year, 40% cut, and in the 5th year a 50% cut. • Five-year limit • Non-exempt adults must start in a jobs program immediately • $50 child support passthrough is eliminated There are changes in other pubhc entitlements programs too: FOOD STAMPS — • Non-working, able-bodied childless adults will only be entitled to three (3) months of food stamp benefits in every three-year (36 month) period. Adults who are working at least 20 hours per week or participating in an approved job training program will still be eligible for food stamps. • The amount of benefits will be slightly reduced for everyone. • Legal immigrants will not be eligible for food stamps, unless they worked for 10 years • Parents and children under the age of 22 who live under the same roof will be treated as one household, regardless of whether they prepare food separately. • All of the fraud disqualification periods are doubled. MEDICAL — • The QUEST managed care program will be expanded to include almost everyone who used to be on Medicaid. Aged, blind and disabled persons will now be covered by QUEST, but people in longterm care will still be covered by Medicaid. (Legal Aid is assessing reports that persons may not qualify for Medical QUEST if they earn more than 62.5% of federal poverty level.) HOUSING — • Families who have a 20% welfare benefits cut should report the cut immediately to continued page 7

Examples of 20% PONO cuts in monthly benefi»s Family size 20% cut Balance remaining 2 -$113 $452 3 -$142 $570 4 -$172 $687 5 $202 $805 6 -$231 $922 i t - i

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Welfare reform: good and bad ,from page 7

their Section 8 worker, so their rent ean be adjusted. • The current waiting list for Section 8 in Maui County is eight years long and the Coimty has stopped taking applications. • Section 8 has stopped helping people to make their security deposits. WORK REQUIREMENTS — • DHS will require the following people to enroll in the First to Work program: ablebodied single parents with no babies under 6 months old; and independent teen parents who are heads of households. • The First to Work program provides job training, job counseling, child care payments, car mileage reimbursements, and coverage of some work-related expenses (uniforms, tools, union fees, etc.). Teens may attend school under First to Work if they don't have their high school equivalency degrees. • People to fail to comply with the First to Work

requirements ean be cut off PONO. Allowable work activities include: • unsubsidized employment • subsidized private sector employment • subsidized public sector employment • work experience only if sufficient private sector employment is not available • on-the-job training • job search and job readiness assistance up to six weeks • community service programs • vocational educational training (12 month limit) • job skills training directly related to employment • education directly related to employment where client has not received high school diploma or equivalency • satisfactory attendance at secondary school or course of study leading to GED if recipient has not finished secondary school.