SPECIAL REPORT:

The State of New York’s Social Safety Net for Today’s Hard Times,
Over a Decade since Welfare Restructuring: a Closer Look at the Changes, Opportunities, Limitations and Current Day Needs

The Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies (FPWA) released a report that examines the outcomes of the first decade of New York’s Welfare Reform Act. The State of New York’s Social Safety Net for Today’s Hard Times: Over a Decade since Welfare Restructuring, a Closer Look at the Changes, Opportunities, Limitations and Current Day Needs identifies several disturbing trends that are especially troubling given rising unemployment in New York and the increased need for safety net assistance.

The welfare caseload dropped by 61% from 1997 to 2008, and the report identifies several barriers to access that contributed to the declining caseload, including high denial rates due to various compliance requirements, long wait lines at application centers, agency mishandling of client cases, and the sanctioning of clients. These barriers to access kept the welfare rolls low despite increases in unemployment, poverty and applications for assistance. For example, despite dramatic job losses from December 2007 to December 2008, the first year of the recession, the public assistance caseload in New York State increased by only 1% -- from 266,474 to 269,258 cases.

Since the report was issued in spring 2009, FPWA has continued to track public assistance rates, because with an unemployment rate of 10.3% in New York City and 9% in New York State, access to the welfare safety net is critical to meeting the basic needs of low-income and unemployed New Yorkers. Unfortunately, the trends uncovered in the report continue: From January through October 2009, the number of public assistance cases increased by only 4%, or by 7,987 cases, despite the pool of approximately 62,100 jobless people who are ineligible for unemployment insurance and potentially eligible for public assistance.

A number of policy recommendations to improve accessibility and increase training and workforce development opportunities are outlined in this report, and FPWA will continue to conduct advocacy and research on this vital issue. New York City and State must address the barriers that prevent eligible New Yorkers from accessing these safety net benefits.

• View Key Points From the Report
  
• View Press Release

Press Coverage:

• The New York Times, As More Apply for Welfare, Concern for Those Denied
  
• El Diario La Prensa NY, Una red de seguridad social debilitada (view English version)
  
• New York Nonprofit Press, Safety Net Fails Many Says FPWA Report
  
• Public Advocate’s Corner, PA Gotbaum On Denials of Public Assistance for New Yorkers in Need
  
• NY1, City’s Back to Work Program Called Into Question
  
• CitiLimits.org, Looking for a Safety Net and Finding ‘Initiatives’
  
• CitiLimits.org, No Thank You, Uncle Sam: NYC Keeps ‘SNAP’ Stance