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Project Description

The new policies have changed the focus of welfare from providing open-ended financial aid to providing transitional assistance while the head of household secures work. Key policies include a time limit on receipt of cash assistance of five years or less and strict work regulations with a loss of benefits to families that to not comply.

Project duration: Jun 1997 -

Sites studied include Boston, Massachusetts
San Antonio, Texas
Chicago, Illinois

Sample Characteristics and Sites Studied

3,000 low-income households with children in low-income neighborhoods (one-half welfare families).

Random sample, with oversampling of welfare families.

Recent Findings in Brief

10/01/04: Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three City Study: After Welfare Reform: A Snapshot of Low-Income Families in Boston

Data collected between 1999 and 2001 suggest that in Boston:

• Welfare recipients remain confused about the rules of governing receipt of benefits and many have trouble understanding time limits and work requirements.
• While health-care coverage remained high for low-income families and their children during the period under consideration, respondents who recently left the welfare system reported a worrisome drop in food stamps and WIC.
• Recent leavers, in comparison to the families who remained on welfare, report higher earnings which account for significant reductions in poverty among the group. However, on average, these gains are offset by higher expenses and a reduction in the receipt of cash and noncash benefits.
• Most families report having trouble balancing the household budget that is stretched to cover such expenses as childcare and employment-related costs. When additional costs of housing are factored into the household budget, a large percentage of low-income households experience a severe burden trying to make ends meet. Although the availability of a housing subsidy helps to reduce the burden, housing costs still extract a considerable toll on low-income families.
• Some fo the most vulnerable families still on welfare experience a confluence of forces such as material deprivation, low levels of human and social capital and poor health, which hinder their chances of transitioning off the welfare rolls and may also increase their chances of being sanctioned by the welfare system and experiencing a TANF-related case closing for rules violation.

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