What is the current crisis for Michigan’s poor?
• 15,000 Michigan residents lost their food assistance as of Oct. 1, 2011. DHS sent out about 5,000 letters to food stamp recipients telling them they were being removed from the program because their assets were believed to be higher than $5,000; Another 80,000 letters were sent to food stamp recipients who may not qualify under the new law. Those recipients had to provide proof of assets by September 30th or be cut off. The state estimates 15,000 families will lose benefits immediately, with more families cut off as recipients undergo their annual case reviews over the next 12 months.
• Another 11,000 families are expected to have lost their cash assistance by October 1st, because of the state’s new 48-month lifetime limit on cash assistance. At the same time, a program that helps pay heating bills for 95,000 needy families is on the blink.
• In July, the Michigan Court of Appeals struck down the financing system used by Michigan’s
Low Income and Energy Efficiency Fund. The Legislature hasn’t created a new funding
mechanism, so heating assistance will become an issue. (December Update: there is now a temporary mechanism to deliver this assistance. A "real" fix will have to come later."
• Aside from more people needing food assistance, our area is losing the working population. As they move away to get a job, we are losing regular Soup Kitchen donors.
• The legislature has also eliminated the tax credit that allowed a taxpayer a $100 per year tax credit (or $200 for couples) for donations made to food banks and soup kitchens. It may not sound like much, but this credit was estimated to have produced about 2.4 million dollars last year.
WHERE DOES THIS LEAVE US?
The timing of assistance cuts couldn’t be worse. When added together, it will be devastating. The direct assistance to those in need is reduced or eliminated, and other legal changes and the poor economic climate are also reducing donations and donors to the voluntary non-profits who serve those populations.
We do not know the full extent of the effects, but we are bracing for higher numbers of daily meals and the higher costs associated with that. We have seen a steady 7% increase in the number of meals we served in the three months BEFORE the reductions in benefits. We were up over 10% in November.
How does it affect us here, in Berrien County? We have seen a none-too-subtle shift in our clientele over the past three years. Our population used to be about 97% black male adults, but it is not that way any more. There are many more women, many more children and young people, and many more Caucasians coming to The Soup Kitchen for a daily meal.
We are seeing many new clients who fit the following pattern: they have worked all their
lives, but now they have lost their job, and when unemployment benefits ran out they lost their home. The next move is to one of the shelters, and finally we see them at The Soup Kitchen for a daily meal. These people usually do find work after a month or two, but most say that their old job was much better, paid more, and had better benefits.
Michigan governor Rick Snyder's answer to the question, "Who will pick up the slack?" was that he expects the non-profits to jump in and fill all the gaps that government reductions are making. With the loss of the tax credit for donations and the rumblings in Washington about reducing the deductibility of charitable donations overall, the hopes of the poor seem poor indeed.
• 15,000 Michigan residents lost their food assistance as of Oct. 1, 2011. DHS sent out about 5,000 letters to food stamp recipients telling them they were being removed from the program because their assets were believed to be higher than $5,000; Another 80,000 letters were sent to food stamp recipients who may not qualify under the new law. Those recipients had to provide proof of assets by September 30th or be cut off. The state estimates 15,000 families will lose benefits immediately, with more families cut off as recipients undergo their annual case reviews over the next 12 months.
• Another 11,000 families are expected to have lost their cash assistance by October 1st, because of the state’s new 48-month lifetime limit on cash assistance. At the same time, a program that helps pay heating bills for 95,000 needy families is on the blink.
• In July, the Michigan Court of Appeals struck down the financing system used by Michigan’s
Low Income and Energy Efficiency Fund. The Legislature hasn’t created a new funding
mechanism, so heating assistance will become an issue. (December Update: there is now a temporary mechanism to deliver this assistance. A "real" fix will have to come later."
• Aside from more people needing food assistance, our area is losing the working population. As they move away to get a job, we are losing regular Soup Kitchen donors.
• The legislature has also eliminated the tax credit that allowed a taxpayer a $100 per year tax credit (or $200 for couples) for donations made to food banks and soup kitchens. It may not sound like much, but this credit was estimated to have produced about 2.4 million dollars last year.
WHERE DOES THIS LEAVE US?
The timing of assistance cuts couldn’t be worse. When added together, it will be devastating. The direct assistance to those in need is reduced or eliminated, and other legal changes and the poor economic climate are also reducing donations and donors to the voluntary non-profits who serve those populations.
We do not know the full extent of the effects, but we are bracing for higher numbers of daily meals and the higher costs associated with that. We have seen a steady 7% increase in the number of meals we served in the three months BEFORE the reductions in benefits. We were up over 10% in November.
How does it affect us here, in Berrien County? We have seen a none-too-subtle shift in our clientele over the past three years. Our population used to be about 97% black male adults, but it is not that way any more. There are many more women, many more children and young people, and many more Caucasians coming to The Soup Kitchen for a daily meal.
We are seeing many new clients who fit the following pattern: they have worked all their
lives, but now they have lost their job, and when unemployment benefits ran out they lost their home. The next move is to one of the shelters, and finally we see them at The Soup Kitchen for a daily meal. These people usually do find work after a month or two, but most say that their old job was much better, paid more, and had better benefits.
Michigan governor Rick Snyder's answer to the question, "Who will pick up the slack?" was that he expects the non-profits to jump in and fill all the gaps that government reductions are making. With the loss of the tax credit for donations and the rumblings in Washington about reducing the deductibility of charitable donations overall, the hopes of the poor seem poor indeed.