1 / 9

What’s Next for Welfare in New York?

Explore the successes and challenges of welfare reform in New York, with a focus on the need to move beyond entitlement and implement stronger work-focused programs. Discover potential solutions to further raise work levels, reduce dependency, and rebuild aid systems.

josephinecruz
Download Presentation

What’s Next for Welfare in New York?

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. What’s Next for Welfare in New York? Lawrence M. Mead Department of Politics New York University

  2. Nationally, welfare reform has meant: • Tougher requirements on recipients: • Work tests. • Stronger sanctions. • Time limits. • More benefits to support work. • Favorable effects: • Higher work levels. • Caseload fall. • Lower poverty.

  3. New York’s results are similar: • Statewide: • Caseload fall of around 60%, 1995-2005 • Sharp fall in child poverty. • In NYC: • Sharp rise in work by disadvantaged mothers. • All public assistance drops 64%, 1995-2005 • Sharp fall in child poverty.

  4. But has NYS really reformed? • State retained partial sanctions. • No time limit. • Work issues delegated to counties. • Division in Albany. • The danger of going backward.

  5. Who implemented TANF best?

  6. Reauthorization of TANF: • Tougher 50% participation standard. • 60-month Safety Net now included under the work test. • NYS’s participation rate—adequate to date. • But reaching 50% will be difficult due to: • Partial sanction. • Lack of a time limit. • The election is unlikely to change this.

  7. What to do now? • Abandon entitlement: • Move to full family sanctions. • Phase out 60-month Safety Net for families. • Possible lesser changes. • Replace entitlement with casework. • Improve welfare work programs.

  8. Would this cause hardship? • The vast majority of recipients can work. • Work first is better than training. • Honoring the constitutional commitment to the needy.

  9. Beyond entitlement: • Needy families should go to work first. • Then government can do more to help them. • Goal should be to: • Raise work levels further. • Reduce dependency. • Rebuild aid on the other side of entitlement. • Candidates need to address how to do this. • New York could lead.

More Related