Welfare

[LEROY]

Now i don't want to start any problems here. the news said hawaii county offices might close welfare offices, and the people who are going to apply for welfare are going to have problems because they cant afford afford fax,e-mail,phone.what i am getting at is don't these people know someone with any of these technologies? I have been in a store here in puna where girls have big gold bracelets and hand ebt to cashier,then get into their newer suv. I grew up on a welfare program for my family,it did help a lot. the thing is we never thought of it as long term. Maybe people should try to not depend on welfare, but try to get a job anywhere the could. If not downsize and sell your gold and your newer car.

[mdd7000]

Welfare and SNAP (food stamps/EBT card) are separate things. I believe Hawaii has a time limit on welfare payments and there are eligibility requirements that involve training, classes, etc. to result in the person obtaining work. I *think* the time period is something like 3 years now? due to welfare reform. There are also programs for housing (County Housing assistance) but I believe that program is "full" and has people on a waiting list. There is also WIC (women, infants, children) which provides extra food assistance for very specific foods. Then there is TANF (temporary assistance for needy families) that gives some sort of cash payments to families, but is also very very temporary. There are also school lunch programs and school bus programs as well.

From what I have read, there are limits on vehicle ownership and assets, so maybe the woman stays unmarried and the vehicle is in the working boyfriend's name? That would enable the benefits to keep flowing. One could really rack up some nice benefits if they milked it properly? Just a guess.

[whalesong]

Today's headlines: "State may not be able to pay the POOR Welfare"
Nothing last forever, everything must come to an end.
The "Cruise Control Mentality" have a RUDE awakening!

Hawaii is 6 months or less away from being able to cover "Unemployment Compensation" and becoming insolvent.
[url][/url]http://projects.propublica.org/unemployment/

Your on your own! YOYO

[LeeE]

Yes, they do know someone, but scheduling an appointment can be difficult.

[Greg]

I believe the welfare system needs to be revamped. It should include more training, coupled with quality childcare. As it stands now, it is designed to trap people in an "almost enough to get by" situation, and punish them for trying to better themselves and their families.

Take food stamps for example;
A recipient gets x amount of benefits a month depending on the size of family. If this person takes the natural course and tries to get a little ahead by working a side job, the amount they make is deducted from their benefit(or they are commiting a crime).

Where's the motivation to work? People are more inclined to just collect their benefits and not rock the boat. It turns into a generational problem.

The way it stands now, the system begs for abuse. Maybe the poor should unionize, hire lawyers and lobbyists, and really milk the system like corporations do for their government handout. []

Stoneface

[Hazen]

I have an ex who is a single mom, she tried to sign up for welfare a few monthes ago so she could get enough help together so she could get out of the no car, no money, full time unnassisted parent hole.

She eventually gave up after a month of working without compensation. She wanted to sign up so that she could get daycare, so that she could work a job, so she could afford a car and maybe claw her way up out of EBT reliance. The system was so thwarting that after a month of cajolling babysitter help from friends and taking the bus to Hilo (2.5hrs roundtrip) she gave up. She hadn't spent any time with her child (5yrs/old) in a month, was exhausted and broke and didn't see any help anytime soon. She would have been moving into a situation in which she spent little time with her child, and worked to find a minimum wage job that would count against her EBT.

My opinion: FAIL. Clearly the sytem is broken. I will be the first to argue that the social welfare system in Hawaii is abused. But clearly its being setup in such a way that some benefits are ridiculously easy tp get and others near impossible. I think it's a situation of just pushing people into manageable roles and then dismissing them. It seems more important that things flow smoothly than actual aid be fairly and equitably dipensed. Some people don't want to get out fo the system, some desperatley do. I can't imagine that it's easy to figure who's who, but it's ceratinly not working the way things are now. Like education (or most social programs), i think the welfare system is a victim of politics. Constantly changing goals and guidlines, politically appointed and motivated management, and poor payrates/apathy have left a system without a hope.

Real overhaul, very rarely happens in american politics anymore.

[robguz]

There is a 5 year limit on welfare unless you are certified physically or psychologically disabled by an independent medical board, i.e. not your personal doctor. Welfare recipients are mandated to go into a First to Work program, and if they don't do paid work, they have to do volunteer work for 20-35 hours per week depending on if they have young children or not. If you don't work the hours, you lose your financial. Most of the people on welfare are under educated, came from families that were messed up, didn't emphasize education or responsibility, and almost none of them were given access to birth control and/or told they were going against god if they use it. On welfare they generally get less than minimum wage equivalent. Unemployment is 12% on this island, and really, there are rarely good career jobs and those that exist pay far less than in mainland cities. There are many problems with the welfare system, but not doing anything and abusing the system aren't really problems. I think the biggesr problems are lack of education, basic job skills, basic computer skills, etc. I work with people on welfare for a living. I don't know any that I would trade places with, or would have even in the worst time in my life. Sure, some of them can have boyfriends/girlfriends that pay for things, but there is no security and often abuse that goes with that. Welfare cuts hurt people that are barely scraping by. When people barely scrape by they do what they have to do to cope--crime, drugs, etc, and that costs tax payers far, far more.

[missydog1]

Hazen, thanks for that post, and robguz as well.
I wish people who have never been in the shoes of people wouldn't make judgments.

>>> Most of the people on welfare are under educated, came from families that were messed up, didn't emphasize education or responsibility, and almost none of them were given access to birth control and/or told they were going against god if they use it.

It sounds like you're speaking from experience here, but people can fall through the cracks if they're educated and came from a good upbringing. In fact, one of the first hard lessons I learned when I left home was that the great education I'd been working on for all those years of school didn't help me get a job. A whole other set of skills that I'd never been taught were required. I was a valedictorian and National Merit Scholar - and the only job I could get was as a waitress. ;-)

[Chuysmom]

I know two success stories from First to Work. They are now hardworking paid employees off Welfare. They are also in their mid to late 30's. I'm wondering if the incentive is just not good enough for some of younger Welfare recipients? It's the old, "Why should I work at McDonalds when I can get free money..." thing.


Carrie


"The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it." Galadriel - LOTR

[missydog1]

well, why should people have to work at MacDonald's instead of getting training and finding meaningful work? The welfare system is hard to leave because it's very hard to get past the approval process and then you get cut off as soon as you start earning anything (more or less), even if you aren't really on solid footing, and more importantly perhaps they cut off your medical coverage even though you start earning but with no benefits. So one real illness in the family and you're in a deep hole of debt.

The programs seem to be run by people who are good at coming up with forms and rules and crunching numbers, but understand nothing about the human spirit and what feeds it.
And it's such a myth that people on welfare are living the fat life. Anyone who thinks so, try it. It takes people's self esteem away to be in the system and sets unrealistic amounts of money for survival. The allowances are so unrealistic that people pretty much have to fudge on it or they'll be on the streets. They have to find ways of making unreported income or getting help from friends, relatives, SO's because no one can rent a livable home and pay utilities and eat with what they give you. That's supposed to be an incentive for people to magically jump out of the hole but it doesn't work. Training programs for real careers are needed so much more than all this money that goes to pay for the social services bureaucracy, forcing people to report like parolees every month, forcing people into dead end low-paying jobs ... and then they wonder why people do drugs, get depressed, give up.