Poor and disabled to lose state assistance

Come Aug. 1, hundreds of poor and disabled Utahns will lose their $261 monthly state assistance check that for many is their remaining buffer against homelessness.

"In just over a week, up to 800 people who are unable to work will begin losing the only income they have," said Tim Funk, an advocate for the homeless and disabled people at Crossroads Urban Center. "The cuts by [the state Department of Workforce Services] go too far and impact people too severely."

The department imposed the cuts as it implemented a 40 percent budget cut in General Assistance Program funds imposed by the Legislature in the new budget year that began July 1.

In effect, Funk said, the Legislature's 40 percent cutback in administrative costs in the program has become a 56 percent emergency cutback in benefits to the most vulnerable, poorest and least politically regarded segment of the population in Utah.

"Although the DWS has had since March to notify recipients and hold public hearings, the situation has been allowed to become an emergency that could well mean that on Aug. 1, housing options for even those who have severe medical conditions will be the shelters or the streets," said Bill Tibbitts, a government policy and program analyst with Crossroads.

The department has compounded the budget problem by not following Utah's statute governing administrative rule-making procedures before they told recipients in June that program eligibility was being reduced to 12 months from 24 months, Tibbitts said. State administrative rule-making procedures require a 30-day comment period and public hearing before being implemented.

"The budget approved by the Legislature really gave us no other choice," Workforce Services spokesman Curt Stewart said Wednesday. He said the department notified the recipients and invited them and advocates to meetings to discuss the best way to deal with the situation.

"We've had employment counselors in tears because they've been doing their best to come up with options, but their hands are tied," he said. A public hearing on the eligibility reduction is scheduled in August, he added, noting that Supplemental Security Income payments almost always begin well within 12 months.

The state General Assistance Program is designed to bridge the income gap between the time someone is medically certified as disabled and when federal Supplemental Security Income payments begin. Supplemental Security Income is a federal cash assistance program funded by general tax revenues — not Social Security taxes — to help aged, blind and disabled people who have little or no income buy food, clothing and shelter.