Action Alert:make your voice heard to help end poverty in Illinois

The idea behind public safety net programs and services is that the government will be responsible for ensuring that all citizens are provided the opportunity to maintain a minimum level of wellbeing. Unemployment insurance, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Medicaid, housing assistance: These exist because we as a country are responsible for providing a minimum standard of living for people who are not able to achieve that standard on their own.

The New York Times just issued a report of public safety-net service variations in take-up across states.

Illinois

9%: Share of poor children and parents that receive cash welfare

43%: Share of unemployed that received benefits

30%: Share of eligible households that receive housing benefits

79%: Share of eligible people that receive food stamps

38%: Share of uninsured poor adults covered by government programs

77%: Share of uninsured low-income children covered by government programs

The most shocking of these figures should be fairly obvious.

Of the poor children and parents in Illinois only 9% actually receive the cash welfare assistance that was designed and implemented specifically to help this population reach a minimum standard of living. Compare that to our neighbors:

Indiana: 29%

Michigan: 32%

Minnesota: 35%

Wisconsin: 14%

Missouri: 29%

The national average is 29% and the state with the highest cash welfare take-up rate is Vermont at 49% while Wyoming comes in with the lowest rate of 2%.

A number of things should stand out from these numbers:

1. There is great variation between states. This is the point of the Times piece and there are all sorts of reason why this would be the case: size, population, state economy, infrastructure, distance, level of technology, systemic inequality of access.
2. No state provides cash welfare to even half of the people who are eligible for the aid. The national average is 29% and the state that most successfully provides this service is only at 49%. Not that we should really take consolation in the fact that no state is doing this well.
3. Illinois is far worse than its neighbors in providing cash aids for poor children and families. In fact, Illinois is 13^th from the bottom in providing cash welfare. Worse than Alabama (10%) and just barely better than Mississippi (7%).

We know that there are almost 1.5 million Illinoisans living in poverty, meaning a meaning a family of three making no more than $17,600 per year. We know that there are over 670,000 Illinoisans living in extreme poverty (meaning half of the poverty line: A family of three earning $8,800 per year). But in order to be eligible for cash aid a family of three cannot earn more than 33% of the poverty line, meaning that not even all of the 670,000 Illinoisans in extreme poverty qualify for the cash assistance.

And yes, all of this is ridiculous.

House Bill 2383 (Burns/Collins) is a key step in correcting this problem to provide more access to the thousands of the people in need of assistance by increasing the maximum income from 33% to 50% of the federal poverty line so that all of the people of Illinois who are living and struggling extreme poverty would be eligible for this support.

Your Senator needs to hear from you now to support legislation that will lift thousands in Illinois out of extreme poverty. In this time of economic crisis, we need to provide critical support to the most vulnerable in our state. HB2383 would reform the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families Program (TANF), a time-limited income support program targeting families that have little or no income. Having already successfully passed the House of Representatives, this bill will be coming for a vote in the next week in the Illinois Senate. Your Senator needs to know that you consider it a priority today.

HB 2383 makes several needed changes to the TANF program:

1. Makes all families living in “extreme poverty” (below 50% Federal Poverty Line, $9156 a year for family of three) eligible for TANF.

2. Encourages parents to seek employment and allows families to receive limited assistance until their earnings have lifted them out of poverty.

3. Provides applicants with more timely assistance to stabilize their lives and then a thorough assessment to guide their assignment to work activities.

4. Protects victims of violence by expanding crisis assistance and extending protection to victims of sexual violence.

Take action NOW to ensure that this bill makes it to the governor’s desk. More than 600,000 Illinoisans living in extreme poverty are counting on you