PRESS RELEASE

August 19, 2002

Contact: Janice Houston, Senior Research Analyst
(801) 288-1838, ext. 123
janice@utahfoundation.org

IN THE WAKE OF WELFARE REFORM, UTAH CASH-ASSISTANCE WELFARE ROLLS HAVE DECLINED BUT DEMAND FOR OTHER ASSISTANCE IS INCREASING

Utah Foundation has released its July Research Report cataloging welfare benefits available in Utah since the reform legislation of 1996 and an analysis of the monetary value of those benefits to recipients. The report is entitled "Welfare in Utah: What Programs are Available and How Have Federal Reforms Affected Them?" The report should accompany this release if you are receiving the emailed release; if not, it may be obtained at http://www.utahfoundation.org/reports.html. Key highlights of this report are:

• During 1999, 1.4 percent of Utah households received assistance under TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families), compared to 2.6 percent nationally. This ranks Utah 36th in the nation.
• The value of food stamps has declined in Utah since 1996. In 2001, the average monthly benefit was worth, in inflation-adjusted terms, $69.86 compared to $73.50 in 1997.
• Utah ranks 25th in the nation for the percent of school age children receiving reduced price or free lunch. Utah is also one of the top ten fastest growing states for this benefit.
• Utah's two-tiered Medicaid system has higher monthly income limits for TANF participants than for poor residents that are not receiving TANF. This creates a barrier to the non-TANF poor population that is seeking assistance with medical expenses.
• Nonprofit, non-religiously affiliated charitable organizations report an increase in demand for their services since the inception of welfare reform.

The report also quantified the monetary value of welfare benefits and what hourly wage level would be necessary to replace those benefits. For a person receiving the 'average' bundle of welfare benefits, the monthly value is approximately $736. For a person who received assistance from all the federal programs available, the value climbs to $1,697 a month.

"Perhaps the most concerning aspect of welfare reform is with block grant funding, demand for services outstrips supply. For example, in Utah during fiscal year 1999, only 15 percent of TANF recipients also received federal subsidized housing benefits and the length of time a person waited for a subsidized rental also increased," said Janice Houston. For those who do receive the benefit, housing subsidies contribute an average of $456 a month to a TANF recipient's budget. This is the second largest contributor to the difference between the values listed above, behind childcare subsidies.

Finally, the report compares the purchasing power of minimum wage and the average hourly wage in Utah to the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) and found that in most years since 1974, the average worker in Utah, were he the sole wage earner for a family of three, earned less than 200 percent of the FPL. This enabled his family to qualify for some type of government assistance.

Utah Foundation is a nonprofit, non-advocacy research organization. Our mission is to encourage informed public policy making and to serve as Utah's trusted source for independent, objective research on crucial public policy issues.