A study released in January by the Independent Budget Office registered an increase of 5,000 people in New York City who were receiving welfare benefits in the last quarter of 2001.

The report noted a drop in the benefit rolls of some 6,400 people from November to December last year. This decline was due to the fact that 38,800 families in New York City alone were cut off federal welfare programs in December after reaching the five-year lifetime limit set in 1996 by the Clinton administration. The survey also warned that more people who have lost federal assistance will turn to state-financed programs in the coming months.

Under the 1996 legislation responsible for the devastating cutback in welfare benefits and the elimination of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), the states are to assist those ineligible for federal programs with funds doled out in block grants by Washington. These programs are not entitlements guaranteeing benefits to all who need them, as was the case with AFDC. Concerned with the number of people who are needing assistance, officials from several state governments are saying their funds will soon run out. One official in New York state said the government was being left "holding the bag when the national economy slows and people need help."

The economic situation has deteriorated so rapidly that the state of New York has had to submit a request for a $740 million loan from the federal government to be able to pay unemployment benefits.

The onset of the recession has brought to light the increased number of bureaucratic obstacles put in the way of workers who need benefits. The Independent Budget Office survey estimates that at the present time five people, including children, will be added to the rolls for every 10 jobs lost. A decade ago, before the Clinton "welfare reforms" were enacted, eight people began receiving benefits for every 10 jobs lost.

A feature article in the Los Angeles Times January 12 focused on the record number of homeless people in major cities across the country. The article reported that there has been a dramatic increase in the number of families being evicted from their homes and apartments because they are not able to pay the rent.

"We are going to see some people who never dreamed of being homeless, homeless or living in their cars. Or desperate," J. Thomas Mullen, president of Catholic Charities in Cleveland, told the Times reporter.

The newspaper cited a recent survey by the U.S. Conference of Mayors showing a drastic increase in the need for shelter in two dozen major cities. Request for beds in homeless shelters increased by at least 20 percent in Kansas City, Denver, New Orleans, and Trenton, New Jersey.

The sharp raise in homelessness has been spurred by the growing shortage of affordable housing. The Washington Post reported January 23 that in the nation's capital alone there are 12,000 names on the waiting list for government Section 8 housing vouchers, and 8,400 families waiting for public housing.

Officials in New York City say that the increase in the cost of housing, combined with a reduction in the number of landlords honoring government vouchers and further cutbacks in social programs, could force thousands of people with AIDS and other disabilities into the streets.

Charities that provide emergency funds to families on the verge of becoming homeless are quickly running out of money due to the overwhelming demand. "There is nothing out there, absolutely nothing," a social worker with the Salvation Army told the Los Angeles Times.  
 
 
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