CAMPUS AND AREA
University Daily Kansan, April 5.1984 Page 8
Poverty aid programs stifled by inflation
By ROBIN PALMER Staff Reporter
State financing of poverty aid programs is not keeping up with the rate of inflation, forcing more Kansans to wait in soup lines and apply for welfare, the director for the Public Assistance Coalition of Kansas in Topeka, said yesterday.
Paul Johnson, the director, said that 60 percent of the Kansans eligible for benefits, or 71,000 people, were receiving welfare benefits. The remaining 40 percent that are eligible choose not to take part in the welfare program.
Eriest Dyer, section chief for income maintenance, said that in Lawrence, about 2,900 residents were receiving some form of welfare from Social Rehabilitation Services.
TO QUALIFY, an individual must have an annual income under $4,800. Also among the restrictions, Johnson said, was the value of material possessions owned by the applicant.
"The state is not picking up the federal cuts made on social services, which leaves state assistance behind." He even with small increases," he said.
If legislation would concentrate on aid for the basic necessities such as heating, housing, food and medical treatment, the support programs would be more effective. Johnson said.
He said. "The biggest problem is that legislators don't realize that low-income individuals have no choice — and have to spend money on basic necessities."
Medicaid, state-supported general assistance funds and welfare benefits are the three programs that are available to families and individuals.
MORE THAN 130,000 people received food stamps in December 1983. The program allots 45 cents per person for a single meal.
In addition to the food stamp program, Kansas has 16 emergency feeding centers and more than 350 volunteer agencies and food pantries.
The biggest budget problems for people are heating bills and rent payments. Food is the third priority, Johnson said.
He said that this summer, more than 10,000 Kansans would be without electricity.
Johnson said that federal funds for
housing had been drastically cut since 1981.
ACCORDING TO THE PUBLIC Assistance Coalition of Kansas Report, more than 100,000 households earn less than $75,000 and fewer than 70,000 earn less than $7,500 a year.
The poverty income in 1982 was $9,662 a household.
Welfare aid to families with dependent children, which is the primary welfare program in the state, gives each person an average of $99.2 for each month.
Johnson said that current studies showed less than 6 percent of the recepients remained on the welfare payrolls for more than 10 years. He said that most people only used welfare aid for short periods of time.
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