Director's Message

July 14, 2006

To: All DHS employees

From: Bruce Goldberg, DHS Director

"Poverty is the worst form of violence."

~Mahatma Gandhi

I attended a meeting in Washington, D.C., this week where my counterparts from other states and I heard about the federal changes planned for the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program (TANF), which provides a safety net for children in families that are the poorest of the poor. I came away concerned about how these changes will affect Oregon. Poverty is a tragedy that a nation as wealthy as ours should be able to address, but these changes do not fully consider the issues facing low-income families.

Too many Oregonians have too hard a time making ends meet. Nearly 400,000 Oregonians live in poverty, fully 10.9 percent of our state's residents. Fortunately, the state's poverty rate has declined in recent years, but that statistic masks the hardships these families face. The economic realities that have limited the state's budget during the last few years have reduced the availability of services. DHS is able to provide cash, food, medical and job assistance to 18,000 families each month through TANF, down from more than 40,000 families 10 years ago.

TANF recipients typically reach this level of need due to job loss or other catastrophic life events. There are a lot of myths and prejudices about families who are poor, such as they're poor because they have too many children, they like to be on welfare because it's an easy life, or -- the most common of these -- they're lazy and don't like to work. None of these myths is true.

The reality is that the average size of families who are TANF clients is the same as in the general population. The 18,000 families currently in TANF include approximately 31,000 children. And TANF doesn't make life easy. The maximum subsidy a family of three with no other income can receive is $514 a month, which is less than one-third of the poverty level. In addition, most adult TANF clients are required to participate in work-related job training or subsidized employment programs, and where necessary to enroll in alcohol or substance abuse counseling. There's no taking it easy. And by and large, TANF clients want to work. Fully 40 percent of TANF clients find unsubsidized employment within a few months. Those who stay on TANF longer are families with severe physical, mental or substance abuse challenges.

The requirements for participating in TANF, however, are about to change, and in a way that does not appreciably help our neediest citizens. Effective Oct. 1 of this year, the federal government is implementing a more restrictive definition of acceptable work-related activities and requiring at least half of all adults participating in TANF to engage in those activities at least 20 hours a week. That doesn't sound too bad on the surface, but remember that we focus our efforts on moving work-capable families off TANF as quickly as possible, which skews the remaining recipients toward those who face barriers to engaging in work-related activities. If not enough of those remaining adults in TANF are able to meet the new work requirements, Oregon could face significant financial penalties.

Our TANF program staff estimates it likely will cost a minimum of an additional $20 million to $50 million every biennium to implement the program changes needed to comply with these new federal work requirements. Our staff also will face increased administrative reporting burdens and workloads that include more complex data collection, reporting and verification processes, as well as daily monitoring of all TANF clients' work-related activities.

All of this is going to mean a huge cost and a huge workload, and all to solve a problem that doesn't exist, that is, in fact, a myth -- that low-income people are too lazy to work.

As my counterparts from other states and I learned more at the D.C. meeting about the details of implementing the new federal requirements, we became increasingly concerned about the potential to negatively impact the very people TANF is designed to help. During the months ahead we intend to work with our federal representatives to attempt to address and resolve some of these issues.

I believe our goal should be to provide people with the services they need to find and retain jobs that lift them out of poverty and allow them to lead independent, productive and self-sufficient lives. I encourage everyone at DHS to stay focused on that goal in the months ahead, regardless of the outcome of discussions with our federal representatives. Whether the new federal requirements remain the same or are changed, let's keep our eye on the purpose of TANF -- to assist people to become independent, healthy and safe. That's what we're here to do.

To provide feedback email: DHS.Directorsoffice@state.or.us

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