October 5, 2007
IT'S ABOUT TIME!
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Doing more for those who have the least |
New York's basic public assistance grants haven't been increased since 1990, and the actual standard of need hasn't been updated since the late 1960s— about forty years ago.
Now Assembly Democrats—including new Social Services Committee Chair Keith Wright of Harlem—are doing something about it.
Housing Works Legislative Counsel Michael Kink provided testimony to Wright and Committee Members Aurelia Greene (D-Bronx) and Crystal Peoples (D-Buffalo) and staff in Troy, N.Y. last Friday at the last of three hearings on the adequacy of public assistance grants in New York.
Other leading antipoverty groups in New York have provided their input at hearings held in September in New York City and White Plains, including the Empire Justice Center, the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, and the Fiscal Policy Institute. State Welfare Commissioner David Hansell offered comprehensive testimony as well.
It's all part of building the case for an increase in cash benefits—and maybe shelter allowances—to help poor families and individuals in New York survive. A grant increase could be at the top of the Assembly's agenda for next year's legislative session in Albany.
Not surprisingly, lots of the testimony in Troy related to soaring housing costs, the impact of unstable housing situations and homelessness, and the utter inability of the current welfare grant to meet real-world needs. Fair-market rents faced by the vast majority of poor households in New York are far beyond the amount of the entire welfare grant, much less the portion of the grant slated for shelter.
Housing Works supports the effort to increase welfare grants, and also used the opportunity to outline the links between homelessness, poverty and HIV infection, and to rally support for state HASA for All legislation that Wright has committed to reintroducing in January and for the 30 percent rent cap bill he's already backing.