It’s About Time!
The last time the PA grant was raised “U Can’t Touch This” was at top of the charts
For the last 18 years, poor people in New York receiving public assistance haven’t seen an increase in basic payments.Welfare recipients must make cruel choices between basic necessities like toilet paper and food. Finally, there’s some real hope of righting this cruel injustice.
Seven public assistance recipients are named in a lawsuit on behalf of six public assistance recipients who have worked in the past. The lawsuit states that New York violates a constitutional provision requiring it to provide basic financial assistance for its poorest residents.
An individual on welfare only receives $112 a month—that’s $4 a day. In addition, as the economy collapses, more people are seeking out public assistance benefits.
“The time to fight this is now,” said Douglas Lasdon, the executive director of the Urban Justice Center, which filed the suit in State Supreme Court with the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and the CUNY Law School Economic Justice Project. “It’s been almost 20 years and people who don’t have food don’t have time to wait for this.”
Lasdon noted that Albany has been unwilling to provide public assistance to poor people. “This is a classic case where we need the courts to step in because poor people don’t have the clout in the legislature,” he said.
Although the lawsuit will likely take years to play out, advocates who have spent the last decade fighting to increase the public assistance base grant are excited about this development.
“We are thrilled that after 20 years the courts will hear about the grotesquely low public assistance being provided to the state’s most vulnerable citizens,” said Housing Works Vice President of New York Advocacy and Public Policy terri smith-caronia. Increasing the public assistance grant in Housing Works’ number one legislative priority this year.
Multiple fronts
In addition to the lawsuit, advocates are once again pushing Albany for including an increase in the public assistance base grant in the state budget. They are also hopeful that when Gov. Paterson announces his budget on December 16, it will include an increase to the public assistance grant. The Assembly suggested raising the grant by 10 percent a year over three years, at an annual cost of $76 million to the state.
Senate Republicans have quashed the proposal in the past, and though Senate Democrats are supportive we still don’t know if they will control the chamber. In the past Paterson has stated his support for increasing the public assistance grant.
“It seems like the momentum has built to a critical mass,” said Hunger Action Network Executive Director Mark Dunlea. “There’s certainly no guarantee. We have our fingers crossed.”
And even if an increase passes, Dunlea said it will unlikely be enough. A lawsuit would guarantee the rights of poor people are enforced. “This lawsuit is right on point,” he said. “We need the lawmakers to pay attention to the constitution.”
Posted on December 12, 2008 at 12:46 am
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