"Despite an increase in the need for public assistance a year into a deep recession," declared FPWA executive director Fatima Goldman, "the welfare rolls in New York City have actually decreased in 2008 by nearly 70,000 recipients." Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum and Queens City Councilman Eric Gioia (who is running for Gotbaum's seat) stressed the need for reduced red tape as more and more people lose their jobs; Manhattan Councilwoman Gale Brewer left a hearing on the city's "Back to Work" welfare program for long enough to decry how only 2.7 percent of welfare recipients in the program are pursuing college degrees, yet "if one is going to get out poverty, education is the best method."
It was a stark contrast to the report issued a week before by Mayor Bloomberg's own Center for Economic Opportunity, which claimed that the mayor's much-publicized anti-poverty initiatives are starting to bear fruit. "Early Achievements and Lessons Learned" cites 11 new programs as having been proven successes, with Bloomberg writing in an introductory note, "By keeping our focus on innovation and accountability, we can continue making the fight against poverty more effective than ever."
It's nothing new, of course, for the mayor and advocates for the poor to disagree over the merits and outcomes of city policy. But a look at the two reports reveals the depth of the schism over whether to view the city's treatment of its needy as a success or a failure.
The FPWA report, which consolidates the results of recent reports, such as critiques by the grassroots group Community Voices Heard and Gotbaum's office, as well as its own data culled from state and city documents, paints a picture of a welfare bureaucracy that presents unnecessary roadblocks to those seeking government aid. In addition to the usual horror stories of government red tape – including the previously reported story of a woman who had to make three separate trips just to file an application for food stamps – the FPWA report reveals one remarkable new statistic: According to official figures from the state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, while the welfare caseload in both the city and state have plummeted over the last decade, that's not true of welfare applications. In fact, notes the FPWA study, the number of applications for welfare in New York City rose from 221,895 in 1999 to 341,635 in 2007, a 54 percent increase.
What's kept the rolls down has been an equally dramatic rise in application denials and withdrawals. While the OTDA data doesn't break down the reasons for denials beyond "non-compliance" with various program rules and regulations, several welfare experts speculate that they could be the results of such policy changes as the requirement that anyone applying for welfare spend 45 days doing "job search" activities in the city Back to Work program before their benefits can begin.
