Income Security means that society offers all its members an equal opportunity to carve out a safe and secure life for themselves and their families. To ensure that all people can achieve this, FPWA believes that society should maintain a safety net for vulnerable individuals and families who are unable to meet their basic needs. FPWA further supports program and policy efforts at all levels of government that will meet these needs; provide fair compensation for employment; make work pay adequately, particularly for those receiving public assistance; and help people move out of poverty. An adequate public income security system, which includes a public assistance (or “welfare”) program, is an indispensable component of economic security.

FPWA advocates for policies that will empower people in poverty to achieve economic security and stability, including policies that will:

• Ensure that public benefit levels and eligibility standards are appropriate, given the realities of the high costs of living in New York State, and particularly New York City.
  
• Protect the most vulnerable, particularly children, the elderly, people with disabilities, and those with unmet needs from homelessness, hunger, and destitution.
  
• Expand opportunities for individuals to receive all supportive services necessary to sustain their overall economic security and prevent repeated cycles of poverty.

State

• Increase the basic public assistance grant level
  
• Increase the Earned Income Disregard (EID) for public assistance households
  
• Eliminate the public assistance income eligibility standard of 185% of the Standard of Need, so that families can earn their way up to the federal poverty level without losing eligibility.
  
• Increase the child support pass-through to $100/mo. for families with one child and $200/mo. for families with two or more children.

• Add funding to the Emergency Food Assistance Program (EFAP)
  
• Create a wage supplement program to provide cash payments on top of earnings from wages to raise the overall income closer to standards needed for self-sufficiency.

For more information contact Jill Poklemba, MPP Senior Policy Analyst.