US Welfare System for Childless Adults

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This seems like it should be an easy question, and maybe I HAVE found the right answer and am just having trouble believing it because it's different from what I've seen in my country, but...

My main character is nineteen or twenty years old. He's in school, getting by on scholarships, part time jobs, etc. He comes from pretty abject poverty, in Chicago or environs.

I think his parents are chronic alcoholics, but I don't want them to actually be homeless, if I can help it. I figure that while he was under eighteen they probably got some income support for him and were able to stretch it enough to get by.

But as adults, without a dependent child, what social assistance programs are available to them? They might have had part-time or short-term jobs sometimes, but they're not steadily employed.

From what I'm finding on the web, I'm not sure they'd be eligible for welfare? (This is the part I'm having trouble understanding).

Would people like this be eligible for cash welfare? Would they get food stamps? Would "subsidized" housing be "free" housing? Or would they be dependent on shelters and food banks?

I know this seems like a question I should be able to answer with just google, but I'm having trouble with it. I'd really appreciate any assistance.
 

DeleyanLee

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You're probably having problems because this isn't a federal program, but differs from state-to-state.

As a working poor adult, sans children, I can tell you that I get nada cash assistance from the state (not the feds, it's a state by state thing). I do get some food stamps each month, but that amount drops every time I requalify (every 6 months).

There is a Section 8 program, which I think is subsidized by the federal gov but run by the state, which assists in paying rent & utilities for low-income adults. It's something of a PITA to get into--last I checked the waiting list was about 3 years long before you even get the interview to see if you're qualified--and you have to requalify every year. This does limit your housing options because your landlord has to be registered by that department and pass an annual inspection as well. I have a friend who's on this and have watched him jump through the hoops for the last couple of years.

Hope that helps some.
 

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You're probably having problems because this isn't a federal program, but differs from state-to-state.

As a working poor adult, sans children, I can tell you that I get nada cash assistance from the state (not the feds, it's a state by state thing). I do get some food stamps each month, but that amount drops every time I requalify (every 6 months).

There is a Section 8 program, which I think is subsidized by the federal gov but run by the state, which assists in paying rent & utilities for low-income adults. It's something of a PITA to get into--last I checked the waiting list was about 3 years long before you even get the interview to see if you're qualified--and you have to requalify every year. This does limit your housing options because your landlord has to be registered by that department and pass an annual inspection as well. I have a friend who's on this and have watched him jump through the hoops for the last couple of years.

Hope that helps some.

Is it a sort of federally funded/state administered situation for the cash payments, too? Because I came across a lot of stuff about federal welfare reform that seemed like they have SOME role to play.

Does the housing subsidy ever cover the whole amount?

I guess what I'm trying to figure out is just how non-functioning my character's parents can be. In Canada, we have wider welfare eligibility (at least based on my understanding of the US system) so it's totally possible for someone to be pretty much non-functioning and still have some sort of a home and at least some level of food, forever.

I sort of assumed it was the same in the States, but my reading is making me think maybe it isn't.

I don't want my character's parents to be out on the street, if I can help it. But I also don't want them to have any money, any ambition, any hope for the future, etc. They're what he's getting away from and I don't want him to be plagued with guilt about how he should be helping them more.

So I guess I want to know to make this work in Illinois.

ETA: I'm assuming chronic alcoholism wouldn't qualify them for disability payments? But maybe one of them's a veteran with some sort of pension? Maybe a military injury? Would that give them enough to barely survive on?
 
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DeleyanLee

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I don't know about IL, but I've dealt with it in MI and PA, and they're fairly close in how things go.

For cash payments, there has to be a child under 18 in the household to qualify for ADF (Aid for Dependent Families, IIRC). When I signed up for assistance, I didn't qualify for cash help because I didn't have a minor dependent. I did get that kind of help in MI when my children were small, though.

Disability payments (either for a child or an adult) would come from Social Security (which is federal), but how that works, I'm not sure. I have a friend who is seriously bipolar with a long history of job-problems and it took her nearly 15 years to get qualified as disabled. However, now that she's on that program, she gets payments for housing, living and gets Medi-care/caid/whatever (I always get them mixed up) to cover her mandatory drugs and hospital stays.

So having a parent (or both) disabled and/or younger children in the house will take care of that, if you want.

Does the housing subsidy ever cover the whole amount?

My friend has to pay $150 of his $600 rent for a 2 bedroom house, and one utility, IIRC. Some landlords will accept whatever the program will pay, some don't. It all depends.

[quote[I guess what I'm trying to figure out is just how non-functioning my character's parents can be. In Canada, we have wider welfare eligibility (at least based on my understanding of the US system) so it's totally possible for someone to be pretty much non-functioning and still have some sort of a home and at least some level of food, forever.

I sort of assumed it was the same in the States, but my reading is making me think maybe it isn't. [/quote]

See, for about 30 years now, state and federal governments have been moving to get the "welfare moms" out of the system. Y'know, the families that have lived for multiple generations and just pop out babies so there's always some at home to get money for, and they encourage their daughters to do the same, and to live at home, so it just becomes a tragic cycle. (Yes, this is a stereotype, but it was also all too real in some areas.) Now there's conditions to be met--either you've got to be working, signed up with a state-run job placement group (thus proving you're trying to get off the dole), or medically disabled (in which case, they'll help you until you get your social security). There's been a strong push not to help people who are simply dysfunctional and refuse to help themselves out of it. This is, again, a state-by-state case, but the overall attitude is that you can't just live off the largesse of the government just because you're some kind of drunken loser (which is what I hear you're saying about his parents).

I don't want my character's parents to be out on the street, if I can help it. But I also don't want them to have any money, any ambition, any hope for the future, etc. They're what he's getting away from and I don't want him to be plagued with guilt about how he should be helping them more.

How about this, then: The folks live in a house inherited from a dead parent, all paid off so the only thing they have to pull together is the semi-annual property taxes and utilities (if they bother). One of them is disabled (already gone through that process), or a vet, or both (disabled vet goes through different channels, IIRC), which is their income. Easy to understand and you can spend more words on their relationship with your character rather than why they live the way they live.

That help?
 

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The inherited house is a great idea! If I combine that with the disability, it should totally work! Excellent!

Thanks!
 

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This seems like it should be an easy question, and maybe I HAVE found the right answer and am just having trouble believing it because it's different from what I've seen in my country, but...

My main character is nineteen or twenty years old. He's in school, getting by on scholarships, part time jobs, etc. He comes from pretty abject poverty, in Chicago or environs.

I think his parents are chronic alcoholics, but I don't want them to actually be homeless, if I can help it. I figure that while he was under eighteen they probably got some income support for him and were able to stretch it enough to get by.

But as adults, without a dependent child, what social assistance programs are available to them? They might have had part-time or short-term jobs sometimes, but they're not steadily employed.

From what I'm finding on the web, I'm not sure they'd be eligible for welfare? (This is the part I'm having trouble understanding).

Would people like this be eligible for cash welfare? Would they get food stamps? Would "subsidized" housing be "free" housing? Or would they be dependent on shelters and food banks?

I know this seems like a question I should be able to answer with just google, but I'm having trouble with it. I'd really appreciate any assistance.

It isn't as simple as it should be. In violation to the pronciple of Equal Protection before the law adults without dependent children are not egigible for any cash benefits from the feds or states. They usually are eligible for SNAP (foodstamps), and they probably are eligible for subsidized housing. To a very large degree they are dependent on food banks and shelters. But many of the impoverished adults are eligible for SSI or other benefits. The majority of people in that kind of condition are physically or mentally impaired.
 

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Some states have assistance payments for disabled adults (including those disabled from alcoholism or drug addiction) but it usually pays even less than SSI (Social Security disability payments to those who have no work history) or around 320 dollars a month. I don't know if Illinois has this program or not.
 

Canotila

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Even with kids, welfare payments are incredibly tiny and not enough to pay for housing on. When my ex took off and left me jobless and homeless with two small children, we qualified for food stamps, medicaid, and $380 a month. That wouldn't have even paid for child care so I could find a job, much less housing.

Section 8 housing is a possibility. They look at your total income and calculate your share of the payment based on a specific % of your income. I forget the percentage, I think you're expected to contribute 30% or so? So if you get $500 a month, you're only paying half of what someone getting $1000 a month pays and the housing authority picks up the rest.

There are other ways to live that don't involve renting an apartment or owning a house. RVs are cheap. Sometimes you can pick up older mobile homes for free or extremely cheap, especially if they need work and are already in a park (too expensive to move or take to the dump), and then you only need to pay the monthly space rental in the trailer park which tends to be pretty cheap.

If you make one parent old enough to receive social security that would work, or one or both on disability. I know one old alcoholic who is on disability due to problems caused by alcoholism (severe edema in the legs making a wheel chair or walker necessary, blood clots, etc.)
 

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I live in Illinois and used to work for a social service agency that tried to help move women from welfare to work. There is a lifetime limit on cash benefits, even for women with children.

Lots of impoverished people find ways of scraping by--sharing housing, taking care of other people's kids for a little money, shacking up with someone who has money, turning to drugs or prostitution or theft--I've seen it all. I knew of one young woman who was kicked out of her house at age 14. She lived in the storage space of a friend's apartment building and traded informal work at a restaurant for food because she was too young to actually be on the payroll.

I was on disability when my kidneys failed, after working full-time for 22 years. My monthly check was based on my lifetime of hours worked, and I got extra because I had a child under the age of 18. It was actually quite a bit of money ($1800 a month total) but somebody who has not worked steadily would not receive the same benefits (social security disability benefits come from a tax you pay as a working person, so they are not available to someone who has not paid into the system). For the record, I went off disability after I had a transplant so, no, I'm not one of those moochers you see on 60 Minutes.
 

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I worked social welfare back in the 80s. There was a program for adults without children then, at least in Kansas. It was called General Assistance. If the recipient were living on his own he might get as much as 100$ a month. Grants were prorated depending on how many people were living together--80-60$ was about average for a monthly grant. Add to that a whopping 63$ in food stamps and you can see that nobody gets rich on welfare. Of course that program was cut back even from that slim amount, in the nineties.

If your character can live on that amount he would have to become an emancipated minor to receive it. Otherwise it would go to his parents or an authorized rep. We had a couple of Vietnamese kids who qualified for this program when they first came over--before the Refugee Assistance Act, which gave them an ADC payment.

Finish high school? Not likely, unless he was living with an adult who would receive his benefits. On his own he would be obligated to work for his grant at some Community or State program.

Pregnant girls used to be put on GA (General Assistance) until the last month of pregnancy. Once the baby was born she was eligible for a monthly ADC payment of 263$--IF she lived alone. Otherwise the grant would be prorated. I'm not sure they still do that.

Often the GA "Jobs" turned into a real job. One of the school custodians in my old town started as a pregnant teenager on GA. The school was impressed by her work and hired her on after the baby was born. A librarian in another town was put to work shelving books for a GA grant and then eventually graduated high school and community college to became a librarian.

This avenue might work for your character. First call your local welfare office and find what programs are available. I am sure they can give you the information--s6
 
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GeorgeK

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One of the things I used to hear about was people basically selling their food stamps at 50-75 cents on the dollar for cash which they then could use for tobacco, alcohol and drugs. There was a scandal in the 80's IIRC regarding government cheese and welfare recipients selling the cheese
 

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The Section 8 thing I believe is also state run, no?

There was a big piece in someplace, the NYer or NYMag, about Bloomberg's basically killing it, putting something else in its place and then that lost funding, so people are seriously screwed. Let me see if I can find it.

Here it is, in The New Yorker - it's specific to New York City, but has a lot of info on people navigating social services. It's about the teeny tiny mayor, Bloomberg, and the rise of homelessness under his administration recently.