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Unemployment soared to 11 percent in DC this year — reaching a 25-year high — as thousands of residents lost jobs in the recession. That’s terrible news. Yet in some neighborhoods that have suffered from chronic unemployment for years, that jobless rate would actually be a blessing. In Ward 8, for example, 28 percent of residents are unemployed — meaning that they are actively but unsuccessfully looking for a job.
The fact is that even when times were good, too many DC residents lacked the skills and resources to get a job that would support their family. And unfortunately, DC’s programs to help families move to work have not performed well, failing families at a time when jobs were more plentiful.
Consider Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) — DC’s welfare-to-work program — which serves more than 16,000 families and one in three District children. TANF provides job training, supportive services and cash assistance, but it isn’t doing any of these particularly well.
How do we know? Because we asked TANF recipients themselves, in a series of focus groups. They told us that the District often pushes TANF recipients to find a job — any job — as quickly as possible, under a “work first” approach. Education and training are downplayed, and as a result, most TANF recipients end up in jobs with poverty-level wages. Even before the recession, the average wage for TANF recipients who found jobs was just $9 an hour.
They also told us that TANF recipients facing barriers to work — such as low literacy, a lack of computer skills or health problems — rarely get the help they need. Many were surprised that DC’s TANF program offers many of these services, because they had never heard about them. Finally, the TANF recipients we spoke with told us that their cash assistance benefits leave them unable to make ends meet. At just $428 a month for a family of three, TANF recipients are so busy trying to get by that it’s difficult to focus on improving job skills.
‘People Need to Be Dealt With Case-by-Case’
Many of our focus group participants expressed frustration with TANF’s job readiness services, saying that they did not get the education and training they needed to find decent-paying jobs. Most DC TANF recipients get only the most basic job readiness services, such as resume writing and help with job searches. Not surprisingly, most end up in very low-paying jobs, and nearly half are unemployed again within six months. Those who go back on TANF often find themselves revisiting the same job-readiness organizations and going through the same motions.
The District offers education and training options through TANF, but many recipients in our focus groups were completely unaware these services existed, and the District’s own data also show that few recipients are referred to them. Five times as many TANF recipients participated in the work-first programs than in all the TANF program’s education and vocational training programs combined in fiscal year 2008.
‘If You Don’t Get the Right Kind of Support, It’s Hard’
Nearly all TANF recipients face challenges that make it difficult to find and keep a job — such as low levels of education, a mental health issue or the need to care for a child with disabilities. More than half of all DC TANF recipients face three or more of these barriers.
DC’s TANF program is intended to help recipients with these challenges, but in practice, recipients are rarely made aware of or referred to services. Many of our focus-group participants were surprised to hear that they could get help from TANF for problems like domestic violence and health issues.
District government data underscore the mismatch between help needed and help received. While an estimated 20 percent of DC TANF recipients experience domestic violence in a given year, less than 1 percent of recipients were referred to TANF’s domestic violence service provider in 2008. This story is the same for those needing help with substance abuse and physical health challenges.
‘I Still Always Run Out That Last Week’
More than any other issue discussed in the focus groups, TANF recipients say the cash assistance they get is much too low to meet even their most basic needs. The maximum TANF benefit is only $428 a month for a family of three. Other cities with high costs of living, like Boston and New York, have much higher monthly benefits — closer to $700 a month.
Even when combined with food stamps, child care and health insurance, TANF recipients say they still run out before the end of the month. The high cost of housing in DC presents a special challenge for the two-thirds of TANF families who get no housing assistance from the District. Many of these families use up their TANF benefit the first week of the month just to cover rent.
The District’s leaders have the ability to increase TANF cash benefits, but unfortunately, the city hasn’t even invested enough funding to allow TANF benefits to keep pace with inflation. Keeping benefits so low hurts families and children — it places families at risk of homelessness, makes it difficult for adults to focus on job training, and makes it harder for children to do well in school.
Helping Welfare Work Better in a Recession
There are a number of things that can be done to strengthen the District’s TANF program and ensure that families are able to meet their goals.
The first step is to make sure all TANF recipients receive a screening for barriers to work and an orientation to the TANF program, so they know their options and are referred to the appropriate services.
Second, the city must invest in more intensive employment services — vocational training, subsidized employment and education. Helping more recipients get the training they need to build their educational and job-related skills will put more TANF recipients in a position to provide for their families when the economy rebounds and jobs become available.
Third, the families with children on TANF need greater income support. There always will be some families needing help from TANF, especially during an economic downturn. During that time, these families should have adequate income to focus on more than just daily survival.
Strengthening the TANF program will connect recipients to the services they need to find good jobs and help to build strong families and healthy communities. |
