(11/21/97) Mayors' Welfare Reform Survey Finds Problems With Job Availability, Transportation to Jobs, Child Care And Housing Needed By Welfare Clients

For Release November 21, 1997

Many Cities Report Little Influence in State Planning for Welfare Reform

A 34-city survey released today in Washington found that many major cities do not have the numbers of low-skill jobs for welfare clients that are needed to meet the requirements of the nation's new welfare law, and that many of the services needed to help move these clients into jobs are not available.

The survey, conducted by The U.S. Conference of Mayors and released by the Chair of the Conference's Task Force on Welfare-to-Work, Philadelphia Mayor Edward Rendell, found that while less than half of the cities were able to supply the jobs data needed for analysis, all but one of those that could (92 percent) said they will not have a sufficient number of low-skill jobs to comply with the welfare law's work participation requirements. Eighty-four percent of the survey cities reported that the availability of transportation to get welfare and food stamp recipients to jobs also posed a problem, but three-quarters of the cities said they had a plan or a program in place to address this problem. The new welfare law, which was enacted in August 1996, requires that, each year, an increasingly larger proportion of the welfare caseload in each state must work increasingly longer hours per week. The states which do not meet this work requirement will face federal fiscal sanctions.

On the positive side, officials in all of the survey cities said local private employers were willing to hire welfare recipients. Asked about their own ability to create jobs in public or non-profit community service for welfare clients -- jobs in areas such as child care, health care or recreation -- officials in the survey cities gave themselves a score of 3.5 on a five-point scale.

Most of the survey cities are concerned about the ability of welfare clients to find affordable child care so that they are free to seek, and retain, jobs. Seventy-one percent of the cities said that state reimbursement for child care does not cover the average, current cost for full-day, center-based care; 62 percent of the cities said state reimbursement does not cover home-based care.

Relatively few of the jobs that welfare clients would be entering provide them with private health insurance, according to the survey. Officials estimated that an average of 27 percent of the low-skill jobs in their cities provide health insurance.

The survey cities are also concerned about the impact that changes in the welfare system are having on assisted housing. Across the nation, fewer individuals will be receiving welfare assistance, and many will be experiencing lower income levels. As a result, they will be able to contribute less to the cost of their housing, and housing agencies will be forced to contribute more. All but one of the survey cities expect problems, including increased demand for housing, competition between transitional welfare recipients and the working poor for housing, and less income to housing authorities from welfare recipients whose incomes have been cut.

Requests for emergency food and shelter are also reflecting the problems now being experienced by welfare clients in the wake of welfare changes and cuts in food stamps. Four out of five of the survey cities say requests for emergency food increased during the first half of this year, with 41 percent of these cities attributing this mainly to welfare changes. Three out of five of the cities say requests for emergency shelter increased during this period, and 15 percent attribute this mainly to changes in the welfare system. More than half of the cities are planning new initiatives to provide emergency assistance to former welfare clients and food stamp recipients, and half say that agencies are adding beds in response to increased shelter demand.

The process of implementing welfare reform in the states received generally mediocre marks from officials in the survey cities. Just over three out of five of the cities say they were consulted by their state's welfare agency during this process, and officials in the survey cities rated their interaction with the state agencies at 2.7 -- just above the mid-point -- on a five-point scale. Just under half of the cities say they were consulted by their state legislature during the implementation process, and survey city officials rated their interaction with the legislatures at 2.4 -- just below the mid-point -- on a five-point scale.

Cities surveyed were Abilene, Alexandria (VA), Baltimore, Boston, Charleston (SC), Charlotte, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, East Orange, Fort Wayne, Gary, Kansas City (MO), Knoxville, Laredo, Little Rock, Los Angeles, Louisville, Nashville, New Orleans, Norfolk, North Little Rock, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland (OR), Rockford, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Francisco, Santa Monica, Seattle, St. Louis, St. Paul, and Virginia Beach.

Foreword and Summary: Implementing Welfare Reform in America's Cities

The United States Conference of Mayors

J. Thomas Cochran, Executive Director
1620 Eye Street, NW, Washington, DC 20006
Telephone (202) 293-7330, FAX (202) 293-2352

Copyright © 1996, US Conference of Mayors, All rights reserved.