This Week in Poverty: Will the Poor Get Poorer in the Land of Lincoln?

http://www.thenation.com/blog/167601/week-poverty-will-poor-get-poorer-land-lincoln

At an Appropriations hearing in the Illinois State House last week, the Department of Human Services (DHS) informed the legislature that it has insufficient funds to meet its Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) obligations through the fiscal year ending in June.

This is particularly disturbing since Illinois provides TANF benefits—which is cash assistance—to just 13 of every 100 families with children in poverty, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP). Prior to welfare reform in 1996 the state helped nearly 87 of every 100 families with children in poverty. Further, the benefit level is only 28 percent of the federal poverty line, or roughly $4,800 annually for a family of three, similar to a majority of states.

According to Dan Lesser, director of economic justice at the Shriver Center in Chicago, Illinois will find the funds to pay the TANF benefits one way or another—but just how the state will do it is a significant question.

That’s because without the supplemental, Illinois will pay cash assistance by diverting money DHS had intended to use to fund the state’s child care assistance program.

Under welfare reform, a state can use its federal TANF block grant in a variety of ways, including cash assistance, child care, education and job training, transportation, aid to children at risk of abuse and neglect, and other services to help low-income families. Since the block grant was set in 1996 and isn’t indexed for inflation, those dollars don’t go nearly as far—in fact, the block grant has lost nearly 30 percent of its value since that time. Also, because it’s locked in at the 1996 funding level, the program has proven unable to respond to greater need during the recession.

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Vital Statistics

US poverty (less than $22,314 for a family of four): 46 million people, 15.1 percent of population.

Children in poverty: 16.4 million, 22 percent of all children.

Number of poor children receiving cash aid: one in five.

Poverty rate for people in female-headed families: 42 percent.

Single mothers with incomes under $25,000: 50 percent.

Single mothers working: 67 percent.

Deep poverty (less than $11,157 for a family of four): 20.5 million people, 6.7 percent of population.

Increase in deep poverty, 1976-2010: doubled—3.3 percent of population to 6.7 percent.

Families receiving cash assistance, 1996: 68 of every 100 families with children living in poverty.

Families receiving cash assistance, 2010: 27 of every 100 families with children living in poverty.

Impact of public policy, 2010: without government assistance, poverty would have been twice as high—nearly 30 percent of population.