HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 05201997 - C85 TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS F&HS-02 sE L Contra
FROM: Costa
FAMILY AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE
loCounty
DATE. May 12,1997
SUBJECT:
STATUS REPORT ON GENERAL ASSISTANCE
SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. ACCEPT this report from our Committee on the status of the implementation
of the revised Standards of Assistance for the General Assistance Program.
2. DIRECT the Social Service Director to design a tracking system for General
Assistance recipients and former recipients which will assist the Board to
know what is happening to former recipients and will allow the Board to know
whether the way the General Assistance Program is being operated is
successful or not and share its outline with the Family and Human Services
Committee before the three month in twelve provision is implemented.
3. DIRECT the Social Service Director to include in the tracking system
information on how many recipients who are cut off of SSI because of
changes in Federal law end up on General Assistance.
4. REQUEST the Social Service Director to report back to the Family and
Human Services Committee on the status of General Assistance on June 9,
1997 and each additional time our Committee considers welfare reform.
CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: YES SIGNATURE: !
RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD OMMITTEE
APPROVE OT
SIGNATURE(S): MARK DeSAULNIER NA GERB
ACTION OF BOARD ON May 20, 1997 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDEDCI_ OTHER
VOTE OF SUPERVISORS
x District III I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE
UNANIMOUS(ABSENT ) AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN
AYES: NOES: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD
ABSENT: 1S tr1C ABSTAIN: OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN.
ATTESTED MaT 70, 1997
Contact: County Administrator PHIL BATCHELOR,CLERK OF THE BOARD OF
cc: Social Service Director SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR
County Counsel
Sara Hoffman, Senior Deputy County Administerator , .� _DEPUTY
F&HS-02
BACKGROUND:
On February 25, 1997, the Board of Supervisors approved certain recommendations
from the Social Service Director regarding the Standards of Assistance for the
General Assistance Program but also referred the issue to the Family and Human
Services Committee.
On March 18, 1997, our Committee reported to the Board and asked that the Social
Service Director report back to our Committee on the experience Sacramento
County had with imposing the three-month limit on General Assistance eligibility in
any twelve month period of time as well as an implementation timetable for the
changes that had been approved by the Board on February 25, 1997.
On May 12, 1997, our Committee met with the Social Service Director. Mr. Cullen
shared the attached report with us and reviewed it with our Committee. Mr. Cullen
emphasized that the shared housing provisions and changes affecting the cash
grants were made effective May 1, 1997. The $40 deduction from the grant for the
cost of health care provided by the County has been deferred to be discussed with
the Department at the time of budget hearings. The three month in twelve month
time limit was approved by the Board of Supervisors in February and will be
implemented beginning July 1, 1997, as clients' employability is assessed.
Terminations will begin on September 30, 1997 at the earliest.
Supervisor Gerber asked how long General Assistance recipients were generally on
aid before they were able to get a job. Mr. Cullen reported that it probably averages
12 - 18 months. Supervisor Gerber's concern is what is going to happen to the
recipients that are cut off of aid before they obtain a job.
We are also concerned about the SSI recipients who are having their SSI benefits
taken away from them because they have a diagnosis of substance abuse, or
because they are legal aliens or for other reasons are eliminated from SSI and the
impact these changes are having on our General Assistance caseload.
Our Committee believes strongly that we need to be able to track what happens to
people when they are cut off of aid. We are concerned that we know whether the
way we are administering the General Assistance Program is successful. Mr. Cullen
committed to implementing a tracking system to provide the Board with this type of
data.
-2-
CONTRA COSTA COUNTY
Social Service Department
John Cullen, Director
srA,cotir�'�
TO: Mark de Saulnier and Donna Gerber
Family and Human Services Committee of the-Board of-..Supervisors of
Contra Costa County
FROM: John Cullen, Direc -' o 'al Service Department
DATE: May 12, 1997
SUBJECT: REPORT ON CHANGES TO THE GENERAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
As requested by the Board of Supervisors, this is our first report on the changes to the
General Assistance Program which were adopted by the Board on February 25, 1997.
Those changes were:
1. New General Assistance Standards of Assistance reflecting new state law
changes and court actions which addressed the following subjects:
♦ Standards of aid for all recipients adjusted in accordance with the
formula established in the Welfare and Institutions Code.
♦ Standards of aid for recipients who reside with other non-
responsible individuals reduced in accordance with the Welfare
and Institutions Code shared housing formula.
♦ Standards of aid for recipients reduced by $40 per month in
recognition of the value of health care provided by the county.
♦ Eligibility to General Assistance time-limited to three months in
any twelve month period for able-bodied recipients who are
assessed as employable, and who are offered the opportunity to
participate in job skills or job training sessions.
2. The Department was directed to conduct a pilot to evaluate the effectiveness of
a vendor payment program for food and personal needs.
The effective date for these changes was March 1, 1997 for the standards of
assistance, with implementation of the reduction for the value of health care deferred
pending development of Department budget.
Attached is our status report on these issues.
ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE: 40 Douglas Drive • Martinez • CA • 94553-4068 o Voice (510) 313-1500 e FAX (510) 313-1575
Status Report on 1997 GA Changes
This report provides the first report to the FHSC on the status of the GA Program
changes which were adopted on February 25, 1997.
These policy changes aligned GA policies with welfare reform, and recognized
'certain federal-arid state la'w'ch�anges:
1 . The Board of Supervisors adopted policies establishing the General
Assistance standards of aid in 1992 in accordance with the methodology
contained in the Welfare and Institutions Code section 17000.
We have updated our standards of aid. The GA automation system (Pegasys) was
expanded to include an automated budget computation process. All of these
recomputations have been completed.
2. Standards of aid for recipients who reside with other non-responsible
individuals were reduced in accordance with the formula permitted by the
Welfare and Institutions Code section 17001 .5. Adoption of this policy
replaced the previous policy of limiting the reduction to recipients who reside
with certain related persons.
Sixty-six percent of the current caseload live with other people. (37% live with
non-responsible relatives; 29% live with non-related persons.) Previous regulations
adopted pursuant to the decision in the Taylor v CCC lawsuit provided grant
reductions only for those who live with relatives. The change more equitably
distributed reductions across the caseload; the reductions were not as severe as
those permitted under the Taylor decision. In 1995, the Board of Supervisors
indicated its support for restoration of the broader percentage reductions if the W&I
Code was changed to permit it. The Pegasys enhancements included this regulation
change in the automated budget computation process. Rebudgeting for these
recipients was effective May 1 , 1997, and has been completed.
3. Eligibility to General Assistance shall be time-limited to three months in any
twelve month period for able-bodied recipients who are assessed as
employable and who have been offered the opportunity to participate in job
skills or job training sessions. -
Currently, 46% of the caseload is identified as employable. This includes all
recipients who do not have a verified physical or mental disability. Prior to imposing
the time-limit on any applicant or recipient (and thus start his or her "clock ticking")
we believe it is necessary to ensure that clients have been assessed and are
classified correctly as Employable or Unemployable.
Additionally, within the classification of Employable, we have added two sub-
designations: Level 1 , Client has no verified disability which precludes
May 12, 1997 FHSC: GA Status Report Page 2
employment; Level 2, Client has verified physical or mental disability which is
temporary, i.e. is expected to last no more than twelve months. Only Level 1
recipients will be subject to time-limits. Level 2 recipients will be reclassified as
Level 1 when they are no longer disabled.
An Assessment Specialist is being added to the Intake process. That worker will
have,experience in the field of, comprehensive,assessment; testingi-service plan
development, and so forth. The Assessment Specialist will conduct assessment
interviews with each applicant, which will include: Interviewing applicants, using
an established format, to determine: gross employability; reasonable suspicion of
substance abuse; short-term and long-term barriers to immediate employment;
initiate documentation of employability (applicant job search) or unemployability
(medical verification); develop initial service plan, including establishing eligibility
time-limits for Level 1 applicants; referring Level 1 individuals to JobQuest (GA
Employment Services).
Implementation of this policy will require two processes -- one for applicants, and
another for current recipients -- although they will overlap.
Applicants
As applications are processed, the applicant will be assessed and classified.
Assessments will be conducted in all three district offices. Those individuals who
are identified as employable-Level 1 will develop a service plan which includes
time-limits, and will be referred immediately to JobQuest. They will receive job
search and workfare assignments, and offered the opportunity to participate in a
job skills workshop. They will be aided for three months.
Recipients
Currently we have approximately 1 100 recipients identified as employable, and
approximately 600 classified as temporarily unemployable, Those 1700 will be
assessed to ensure that they are classified correctly. Those who are confirmed to
be Level 1 will develop a service plan which includes time limits. Some of these
recipients have already attended or been offered the opportunity to attend a job
skills workshop. Those who haven't will be referred to JobQuest and scheduled for
the workshop as soon as is administratively possible.
Additional job skills workshops will be scheduled throughout the county to
guarantee that every Level 1 recipient will receive an opportunity to attend prior to
the expiration of his/her three month period. If a recipient cannot be given that
opportunity due to staff workload constraints, his/her time period will be increased
one month at a time until the offer can be scheduled. No Level 1 recipient will be
discontinued for time-limit expiration until s/he has been offered the opportunity to
attend the workshop. To date, we have not implemented the time limit provosion.
May 12, 1997 FHSC: GA Status Report Page 3
What Other Counties Have Done
At least 15 other counties have already implemented time-limits for employables.
Most implemented effective January 1 , 1997.
Several counties, such as Solano and San Diego, did not reassess and confirm the
employability status of recipients. In-those counties; all employables'%locks"
started running at the same time. Some, such as Alameda and Sacramento,
implemented a caseload review process to ensure that recipients are categorized
correctly prior to imposing the time-limits. Because of the caseload size in those
two counties (over 7000 in each), the assessment of recipients was a time
consuming, labor intensive process. Alameda County rented space in Eastmont
Mall, and deployed staff there. Clients were scheduled for group appointments,
given a group overview of the new policy, assessed, and employables were
scheduled for the job skills training class.
County # of employable # of employable
recipients recipients
discontinued discontinued
3/31/97 4/30/97
Solano 259 52
San Diego 600 171
Alameda 170 601
Sacramento --- 633
The actions of other counties have already begun to have an impact on our
workload. Since May 1st, district staff have received numerous inquiries regarding
our policy from individuals who have indicated that they have recently been
discontinued from GA in Alameda County due to time-limits. We do not aid these
individuals, as the policy adopted in February excludes them from eligibility to our
program, as do all counties with time-limit policies. The County Welfare Director's
Association has proposed to the State Department of Social Welfare that the State
Client Index be modified to include GA recipients so that this can be tracked. It is
expected that, as near-by counties begin to apply time-limits to more of their
recipients, we will see the number of these applicants increase significantly.
May 12, 1997 FHSC: GA Status Report Page 4
Time-line for Time Limits Implementation in Contra Costa
Certain space issues in the three district offices must be resolved, and current staff
redeployed and trained to the new Assessment Specialist and JobQuest Leader
functions. The anticipated implementation date is July 1 , 1997.
Applicants: 1 We will add ,the assessment step to the-intake processs-no-alater than
July 1st in all three district offices. The first discontinuances can be expected
three months following that date.
Recipients: We will begin scheduling groups of recipients for assessments in each
office no later than July 1 , 1997. Clients who are currently classified as
employable will be assessed at the time of their regularly scheduled monthly
employment services appointment. Service plans will be developed, and if a client
has not attended a job skills workshop, an appointment will be scheduled for
JobQuest. They will receive workfare and Job Search assignments, 'as well.
Clients who are currently classified as Temporarily Disabled will be scheduled in
groups for orientation to the new policies. They will be assessed for employability,
and classified as Level 1 or Level 2, and service plans will be developed. If their
disability has worsened since the last documentation, they will be classified as
Level 3, Unemployable. Those who are classified as Level 2 will be given workfare
and/or job search requirements for the first time. Those who are classified as Level
1 will be given assignments, including one for the job skills workshop.
The job skills workshop will be reconfigured to offer the most valuable information
in the least amount of time possible, with the emphasis on personal hygiene,
appropriate dress, where to look for jobs, completing applications and resumes, the
job interview, and work habits. The workshop will last one week: five one-half day
class sessions followed by five half-day "homework" assignments, which includes
job search practice.
We estimate that persons will not reach their three month time limit before
September 30, 1997.
4. Vendor Payment for Food -- Pilot Program
We have initiated contacts with providers. Discussions with grocery chains are
taking place. Preliminary discussion with potential vendors such as Safeway and
Lucky have resulted in a very lukewarm reception. Neither accepts two-party
checks, and are fearful of potential labor issues resulting from increased workload
on their checkers and accounting staff. Neither of these large providers are
currently willing to accept vendor payments- more discussion will occur.
Communication is also scheduled to begin with the Auditor and the Dept of
Information Technology.
May 12, 1997 FHSC: GA Status Report Page 5
Securing vendors and developing a suitable check/vendor payment production
mechanism are the most difficult features of designing this pilot. We are also
considering the feasibility of operating in smaller geographical areas of the county.
At this time, we do not anticipate an implementation date prior to September 1 ,
1997. However, we will make regular progress reports to the FHS Committee
between now andw then. - -
May 12, 1997 FHSC: GA Status Report Page 6