Proposed TAFDC Cuts
Part of the Governor's $353 million in mid-year FY'10 budget cuts included a large scale reduction in the TAFDC program. To reduce program expenditures, the Administration is proposing to count the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits going to parents with disabilities when determining TAFDC eligibility (with the first $100 of benefits excluded). The Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) has estimated that 8,400 families will lose all of their TAFDC benefits and another 700 families will have their benefits drastically reduced. With this major loss in income, many families will fall into housing instability and homelessness.
These cuts had been scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2010. Before finishing up the legislative session for the year the Massachusetts House of Representatives and the Senate approved a delay in the implementation of the scheduled cut so that it would not be implemented before the end of January 2009. Governor Patrick signed that delay into law on November 24.
In a statement, Mass. Coalition for the Homeless said “While this additional 30-day delay is much appreciated, we hope you will join us in the advocacy efforts to stop these cuts altogether. There is still time for the Legislature and the Governor to act to prevent thousands of families from losing their benefits and their housing.”
Impact of the Proposed Cut
According to Mass. Coalition for the Homeless:
- These already very low income families will lose more than one third of their annual incomes: 8,400 families will lose all of their TAFDC benefits averaging $416 per month or almost $5,000 per year. These families will be left with no income other than SSI, averaging only $736 per month. Another 700 families will lose an average of $468 per month or $5,600 per year of income.
- This precipitous loss of income will put families at dramatically increased risk of homelessness, hunger, illness and despair. Part of the rationale behind the SSI income disregard is that the people with disabilities often have higher medical, food and transportation costs. Also according to DTA, only half of these disabled households live in subsidized housing.
- Any “savings” for the state will be offset by higher costs for emergency shelter and by increased costs resulting from putting children’s safety, health and educational development in jeopardy.
- Other states have rejected proposals to use the SSI income of parents to make their children ineligible for state cash assistance – recognizing that the parents cannot work to make up the difference and often need their SSI just to cover their own medically related costs and living expenses.
- Congress provided the federal TANF Emergency Contingency Fund precisely to stop this sort of action. The fund provides an 80% federal reimbursement for increased spending on cash assistance for families with children.
State officials said that they regret having to make the cuts but that the state budget is in such bad shape that they have no choice. While they acknowledge the pain, they said the cuts avoid eliminating programs and preserve the state’s workforce of case managers. “In the face of unprecedented economic challenges, the governor has had to make some very difficult budget decisions,’’ said Jennifer Kritz, a spokeswoman for the Executive Office of Health and Human Services. “We recognize that there is a person behind every dollar; however, the governor has needed to make adjustments in order to close a significant budget gap. . . .’’
In addition to the cuts, which do not affect the other 41,000 families who receive transitional aid, the state will require parents who are capable of working and whose youngest child is between ages 6 and 9 will have to work 30 hours a week to get benefits, six more than required now. The advocates say the additional work requirement could lead to more families losing benefits.
For more information:
-From: “A Good Start: Legislature and Governor Approve Delay in Implementation of TAFDC Cut; More Advocacy Needed” e-mail from Mass. Coalition for the Homeless, November 24, 2009; “Budget cuts will imperil state’s poor” By David Abel, The Boston Globe, November 17, 2009,http://www.boston.com/community/moms/articles/2009/11/17/budget_cuts_will_imperil_states_poor/ , retrieved 11/25/09 and “A Look at the Governor's 9C Cuts: How Homelessness, Housing, and Benefit Programs Fared”, e-mail, Mass. Coalition for the Homeless, October 30, 2009.
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