Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.

Fewer take
welfare, saving
$11 million

Hawaii assists the smallest
number of applicants in five
years, not solely due to new
work requirements

Former recipient now helps others

By Treena Shapiro
Star-Bulletin

For the first time since 1994, the number of families on welfare has dropped significantly. But officials are not sure how much of the decline can be attributed to the improving economy and how much to stricter welfare rules.

Between July and November of last year, some 1,500 families went off welfare. The total caseload is down to 21,953, the lowest it has been in more than five years. The Department of Human Services says that's an $11 million decrease in welfare spending. Projected expenditures are now $122 million for the fiscal year ending in July.

"We're assuming that it has something to do with employment," said Kris Foster, DHS financial assistance program administrator. "Nothing has changed but the number of people working."

Hawaii's unemployment rate dropped to 4.4 percent in December, the lowest in six years. Foster said a decline in unemployment usually coincides with a decline in welfare.

But Foster acknowledged that part of the decrease in welfare spending is because some families were dropped for not meeting federal work requirements.

Still, the number of families who lost their benefits for not working does not account for the total decline in the number of families who have left welfare. In September, more than 1,300 families were sanctioned for not meeting work requirements, but most families came into compliance and received benefits the following month. Only 175 families were sanctioned in December, according to the Department of Human Services.

Currently, 9,732 recipients hold at least part-time jobs.

Susan Chandler, head of DHS, said the number of new applications has also fallen, perhaps due to the holiday season. "A lot of people can get part-time work in the winter," she said.

But at the Institute for Human Services, executive director Lynn Maunakea said she has not seen a decrease in homeless families.

"We are still turning people away in the family shelter; we do have a waiting list."

Another factor that may account for the drop in welfare cases is a five-year limit. Foster said about 3,000 families will be cut from welfare in November 2001 when limits take effect. "A lot of them have adapted already by doing things like working more than one job or living with family or doing whatever it takes to survive."

By the time welfare reform hits the five-year mark, Foster said she hopes none of the original group will need assistance. "Our concern is the unemployment rate. We need jobs. The key is the economy -- if the economy improves, welfare reform will be very successful."

---

Former recipient
climbs out and
urges others to try

By Treena Shapiro
Star-Bulletin

CAROLYN "Susie" Lua, a former welfare recipient, is working to get more welfare recipients in her Haleiwa community self-sufficient.

Lua, 61, a widow and mother of six, found herself on welfare three years ago when her clerk-typist job at the state Department of Health was cut after 14 years. "I had this kind of freak-out," she said. She didn't know computers, so she couldn't get back into her field, and she started experiencing problems with anxiety.

This wasn't her first time on welfare, and Lua wasn't happy to be back. "It was devastating that I found myself back in that position again."

But thanks to micro-enterprise training she received from Parents and Children Together three years ago, Lua was off public assistance a year later. She has her own dried fruit business, Tutu's Country Kitchen; she works part-time for PACT doing community outreach; and she also teaches others that they can support themselves, too.

"Welfare is great when you need it, but don't become dependent on it," she warned.

Lua said she doesn't think people want to stay on welfare, they're just afraid they'll get reduced benefits as they transition off. "The fear is 'can I really jump off this bridge and fly?' "

Young mothers have a particularly hard time, Lua said. "Going off welfare means wanting to be with your children and not being able to."

Fear keeps them from acknowledging the five-year lifetime cap on benefits, Lua explained. "They just keep thinking it's down the line and you can push it off."