Homeless Assistance

a. Issue:

Should the homeless assistance program in Sacramento be reformed to give more money to the homeless while allowing them to apply to the program more than once?

b. Facts:

Currently in Sacramento, the homeless can apply for homeless assistance only once in their lifetime except for certain extenuating situations. The current program is a success. The amount of people in the program living below the poverty line has fallen 21% in the last seven years. Since 2000, the amount of families applying for the program has dropped 69%. Experts claim the fall in numbers comes from the fact that people can't apply more than once. In 1996, the homeless were allowed to apply for assistance more than once in their lifetime, but this was changed as the experts thought there were too many abuses. Now the only time one can get assistance more than once is if the family finds itself homeless again because of domestic violence, the sudden inhabitability of their home, or certain physical or mental illnesses. While these exceptions are good and cover a good deal, they don't get most of the homeless. The program also comes with certain snags. One of these is that the rent of the housing the assistance goes to must be less than 80% of the maximum amount CalWORKS gives for a family of the same size. The amount of money families have to pay after the assistance to keep the housing usually comes out to about 2/3 of the salary. With the rising housing prices, analysts predict that it is going to be increasingly harder for the homeless to get housing, first time or not.

c. Arguments:

This issue pretty much breaks down into two sides. Those who wish to change the system (the homeless and their advocates) versus those who defend the status quo (the government). The government's side is simple. This program is a success right now and many people are getting out of poverty. The state also recognizes that California is

in a massive debt. Funding for the program, while possible, is not fiscally responsible. As for not allowing the homeless to apply for assistance multiple times, the government holds that there were too many abuses. I could not find any numbers as to how many abuses there have been. Apparently the number was rather high. In the government's eyes, this program is a success and doesn't need to be tampered with. The government’s evaluation has been much focused on the big picture rather than investigating the minutiae.

Those who wish for change are taking a more focused view of the program. They don’t just look at the successes of the program and accept the status quo as a good thing. They look at numbers such as the rising price of housing in Sacramento and want more money given for assistance. They look at how many of the people in the program are on welfare and paying the difference on their rent sucks up a lot of their monthly paycheck. The number of people applying for the program is down and January, the latest data, shows applicant number at an all time low. There hasn't been a huge decrease in the number

of homeless people in Sacramento. This means that the reason for the decrease must be the fact that the people can't apply twice for assistance. This side is worried for the homeless who can't get help from a program that