Ughghg. I am so sick of hearing this (mainly from my Republican/Tea Party friends). They perceive that people living on assistance have an easy life. After all, they are obviously not working, right? If I didn't have to go to work and could sit on my bum eating bon bons all day, life would be awesome!
But that's not what life on assistance is like. Sure, there may be a scammer here or there, but the reality is not pretty for most people on assistance. We like to hold up the example of the fraudsters and claim everyone is just like them. But that would be like saying Fred Phelps represents most Christians, or that Lady Gaga is a what most 30-yr old women are like.
I would hope we can all agree on assistance for the elderly and disabled. As a civilized society, I don't feel we should be seeing our elders living on the streets, or our disabled locked away in institutions. What seems to really burn people up are the "fraudsters" and "moochers." So how many people on assistance are scamming the system? This federal study says 91% of all assistance recipients are either 1) elderly (53%), 2) disabled (20%), or 3) working-poor (18%). Ok, then that means 9% of the recipients are able-bodied and should be working, right? Except the majority of that 9% is receiving unemployment benefits (meaning they did work at some point), receiving medical assistance, Social Security survivor's benefits, or Social Security retirement benefits for those 62-64 years old. It is approximately 2% or less that are receiving some kind of assistance that are otherwise able-bodied and able to find employment.
It is easy to hid behind generic statistics and not see the reality of a situation. So I will break down my "reality" using actual data for the county where I live. I am in Jackson County, MO. The average household income for four people is $71,200. Typically this means two adults earning $35,600 ($17/hr roughly) each and two children. To qualify for assistance, the entire household must be earning much less than the average. Let's say we have two adults each working for minimum wage and together they earn $30,576 per year. This is less than half of the average, so surely they would qualify for some assistance. Let's see:
1. Housing - The average two-bedroom apartment in this county costs $780/month or $9,360 per year. That comes out to 13% of the average household's income. For non elderly/disabled, rent vouchers are available once rent exceeds 40% of the household's income. That means a four-person household has to be earning UNDER $23,400 in our county to even begin to get housing assistance. But for our family working at minimum wage, rent is taking up 30% of their monthly income and they don't come close to qualifying for assistance.
2. Food - To even begin to qualify for food assistance, a four-person household can not have an income higher than $29,064. The household also can not have more than $2,000 in savings. Let's be generous and "give" the family $400/month for food - $100 for each week. To qualify for that assistance, their monthly income can not exceed $893, or a yearly income of $10,716. Our family does not qualify for any assistance, but food is taking up 16% of their monthly income.
3. Utilities - A family of four applying for LIHEAP would have to earn $2593/month or less (so our family would finally qualify for some help here). The max benefit is $800 to help with winter heating bills (available after Nov 1st), and possibly $300 in crisis funding during the summer - but you have to have an active disconnect notice to qualify for this assistance. Let's assume an average electric bill of $75 and an average gas bill of $50 for that two bedroom apartment. That would be $125/month for heating & cooling combined, or $1,500/year. $1,100 in max assistance wouldn't even cover all of the utilities.
This is just barely scratching the surface here. Most of these apartments don't have laundry facilities, so families are in laundromats washing clothes at $2.00/load (that is to WASH - let's assume they take the clothes back home to line-dry). We only have three people in our family and I do four loads of laundry per week. That would be $32.00 per month just to operate the machine at the laundromat. And what about buying those clothes in the first-place?
What about transportation? KC is not the most public-transit friendly place around. I live in a suburb and commute 10 miles each day to work. To find a bus that would take me there, I would have to leave my house two hours before my shift started and I would not arrive back home until at least an hour after my shift had ended. It may be faster just to buy a bike and ride it each day if I couldn't afford to drive.
But let's get back to that average household income. $71,200 for a family of four. How much do they pay in Federal taxes to support these benefits that others are receiving? At $71,200 (assuming NO deductions), they paid $9,854 in federal taxes if they are married and filed jointly, or 14% of their income. But not all of those taxes go to assistance programs. Here's where that money goes:
So breaking down that $9,854 in federal taxes, only 12% is going towards "Welfare" (Safety Net Programs), or $1,182. And our family earning $30,576 working two minimum wage jobs only qualifies for $800 in assistance, but has paid $3,700 in federal taxes, with $444 of that going back to the very assistance programs that helped them.
So do I think that someone living on assistance, on my "dime" of $1,182 per year, is living better than I do on $71,200? Absolutely not! No one denies the fact that fraud exists. But please, let's all give up the stereotype that those on assistance are lazy and just out to scam the system. It does nothing to help the true problem of fraud and merely lets us mask the fact that there is a deep and true need in our society for these programs.
This is actually the best argument I've ever read in favor of the Welfare system. As a mom of four on WIC, I'm grateful for the program even though I'd be thrilled if we finally made enough to not need it. Without it, we would have lost our house trying to feed our kids. Do I feel like I"m living off the system? No. My husband and I pay our taxes every year, and thankfully get to benefit from them currently.
ReplyDeleteThis is why I am glad we have the "Safety Net" programs!! So those who need them can benefit while they have a need, and hopefully graduate off the system and pay back into it when they are in a better spot in life. <3
DeleteI am on a SNAP outreach team for Harvesters Food Bank. Prior to joining AmeriCorps and serving on this team, I fought with the idea of assistance. But to first hand witness those that seek out assistance and are working and living hard lives; it humbles me and breaks my heart that they not only face difficulty paying for necessities...but they get the grunt and mumblings from those that do not understand and shun them. Thank you for this blog post...between my morning run in the streets of Kansas City and my outreach work at my position and now your article, today has been an incredibly humbling day and re-affirms what I am doing.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for coming by to comment! I agree that face-to-face contact with those in need makes me so humble and grateful for all that I have, and increases my desire to help others.
DeleteAfter I read this, I wanted to give myself a couple days to process. I realize that its a small minority who are gaming the system but its that minority that annoys me. I don't think elderly folks should go hungry or be homeless. Up here, they can't shut one's heat off in the winter months so there is protection for that. My main gripe with WIC is that it discourages breastfeeding. I get that not everybody can do it but I wish people would at least try. I also just watched a 60 Minute special about how about 25% shouldn't qualify for disability but hire good lawyers to get it for them. There will always be abuses of any system that has the good of the general population in mind but it is what it is.
ReplyDeleteNo system will ever be perfect. But I know from people that work in a WIC office that they do try to support breast feeding as much as possible. A big step would be for more employers to also support it. At my nice office job it is not a big deal to take pumping breaks. But for someone in a retail or manufacturing job it would be much more difficult to work around. Or for people like Rebecca (above) that had multiples with special needs. I know one lady who EBF twins with a LOT of support from her husband and she was a SAHM, but for most it is a very overwhelming task! TBH, I don't know that I would be willing to go through all of the hassle of pumping if we are able to have another kid. Depends on how independent Aly is by that point.
DeleteI hate it when people take advantage of the "system", but I believe that it's my job to not judge the whole because of the actions of a few. Even if the 20% of people on welfare are on disability, and 25% of those should never have qualified, that's still only 5% of the total number. It is unfair to those who really need help to label them all abusers.