September 2002 - Vol. 1, No 5

• New Reports and November Ballot Address California's Housing Shortage
• Economic Roundtable Surveys Los Angeles Welfare Recipients
• Department of Child Support Achieves 750,000 In-Hospital Paternity Declarations
• California Prison and Felon Policies Investigated
• California Budget Update
• New Census Data Available for California

New Reports and November Ballot Address California's Housing Shortage

According to a new report from the Washington, D.C.-based National Low Income Housing Coalition (available at www.nlihc.org), California ranks second in the nation for housing wage, the amount a full-time worker would need to earn to rent a two-bedroom apartment ($19.69/hour for California). Seven of the top ten least affordable counties in the nation are located in California (San Mateo, San Francisco, Marin, Santa Clara counties in the top four rankings, and Contra Costa, Alameda, and Santa Cruz counties in positions six through eight). According to the California Housing Law Project, 48.6% of children in renter households lived in overcrowded housing and 79% of very low-income renters paid over half of their income in rent (the accepted standard is 30% of income) in the mid-1990's.

The number of homeless in California was estimated at 361,000 on the average day in 1999. A report to the governor (available at www.hcd.ca.gov) specifies that while 63% of California's homeless are single men, 37% are families of single women and children. The proportion of families constituting the homeless is increasing and is predicted to significantly surge in January 2003 when approximately 100,000 reach their time limits on welfare. Further, most homeless families are transitionally homeless, meaning they spend less than six months of the year on the streets and cycle in and out of housing. Some of the top reasons for transitional homelessness listed by the Governor's Task Force include lack of affordable housing, lack of sufficiently paying jobs, mental illness and substance abuse, and domestic violence.

On November 5, 2002, California voters will have the opportunity to vote at the state and local levels on the following housing-related measures:

• Proposition 46, "Housing and Emergency Shelter Trust Fund Act of 2002," sponsored by Senate President Pro Tem John Burton (D-San Francisco) and endorsed by many homeless advocates, would provide $2.1 billion of state money to be invested in rental housing for low-income families, homeownership programs, emergency shelters (for seniors, battered women, mentally ill persons, and veterans), and farm worker housing. The money will also include incentives for localities to pursue new affordable housing developments and neighborhood revitalization. See www.nonprofithousing.org for more details.
• Proposition N, "Care Not Cash," sponsored by Supervisor Gavin Newsom on the San Francisco ballot, would cut General Assistance monthly cash aid from $395 to $59 for the 2,895 recipients who self-declare as homeless. Though Newsom has sponsored the bill with the expressed intention to apply savings in cash grants (that he says would likely be used for drugs and alcohol) to affordable housing and social services, critics doubt that enough quality housing and services will be provided to fill the projected need. The bill is predicted to produce city savings of $10 million in reduced welfare costs.
• Proposition O, "Exits from Homelessness," sponsored by Board of Supervisors President Tom Ammiano, would maintain the reduction to $59 of G.A. grants but would require that 1,000 units of housing and 700 addiction treatment slots be provided within two years. Those for whom transitional or permanent housing is not found in three months, are assured of having their cash benefits restored. Please see 9/22/02, 8/17/02, 8/8/02, and 7/9/02 articles at www.sfgate.com for more details on both bills.

An estimated 92% of California's homeless live in cities or surrounding areas, and much of the homelessness debate can be witnessed at the local level:

• The San Francisco Department of Public Health has been criticized for underreporting the number of homeless deaths in 2001. Though 135 homeless persons were reported to have died on the streets in 2000, only 77 were reported in 2001. Officials cite diversion of staff effort following September 11th as the cause for negligent reporting. (9/12/02 article at www.examiner.com). Additionally, "San Francisco's Housing Crisis Report Card" by the Nonprofit Housing Association of Northern California is available at http://osiris.kattare.com.
• Sheriff Lee Baca of Los Angeles County has proposed an open-air homeless camp in response to the needs of the county's 25,000 homeless persons. The camp would house 200 homeless at any given time and cost $2.6 million a year. Advocates would prefer to see the money be applied to winter and more transitional housing, and also express concerns over environmental health hazards at the site. (9/18/02 article at www.latimes.com and www.lacehh.org). Please also see the LACEHH website for a comprehensive plan to reduce homelessness in L.A.
• Sacramento County has been sued by Legal Services of Northern California and the Western Center on Law and Poverty for approving private development on 1,003 acres of land reserved for affordable housing. (8/23/02 article at www.sacbee.com).

For a more in-depth look at homelessness in California, please visit the websites of the California Housing Law Project at www.housingadvocates.org; the Los Angeles Coaltion to End Hunger and Homelessness (www.lacehh.org), and the Western Center on Law and Poverty at www.wclp.org. A list of local coalitions can be found at the National Low Income Housing Coalition website at www.nlihc.org.

Economic Roundtable Surveys Los Angeles Welfare Recipients

As many recipients and service providers in the state are prepare for the termination of welfare benefits for the first round of California families hitting their five-year lifetime limits in 2003, the Economic Roundtable has prepared a report detailing women's experiences with CalWORKS (available at www.economirt.org). The 8,536 women interviewed expressed the following:

• Forty-three percent of surveyed recipients had worked during the previous year, for an average of thirty weeks.
• Many recipients expressed frustration with interactions with welfare caseworker and office staff, describing inaccessibility by phone, rude workers, and the frustrations of dealing with different workers each time and lost paperwork by workers.
• The barrier to employment most cited by women was lack of childcare (44% of women). More than a third also expressed challenges due to limitations in education, job experience, housing, transportation, and English skills.
• Recipients' priority for services included the creation of adequate jobs (70%), childcare (68%), education (65%), health care (58%), and information on finding good jobs (57%).

New data on CalWORKS receipt is also available from the Los Angeles County of Department of Social Services at www.ladpss.org/dpss/rr_and_s/default.cfm.

Department of Child Support Achieves 750,000 In-Hospital Paternity Declarations

On August 21, 2002, the California Department of Child Support announced that it has achieved 750,000 paternity declarations through its Paternity Opportunities Program, or P.O.P, since 1997. By declaring paternity, an unmarried father parent establishes legal ties to his children. After sixty days this declaration cannot be rescinded by either parent except in a court of law (and even then only under very specific conditions). In California if the parent is not living with the child, that parent can be held legally obligated to pay child support until the child reaches 18 years of age. Though paternity may be voluntarily established in the hospital at the time of birth, actual support orders for noncustodial parents are established through court, and in California 70% of these orders are established through default action (see March 2002 California Policy Briefing of CFFPP) (www.childsup.cahwnet.gov).

California Prison and Felon Policies Investigated

• The Lancaster state prison outside of Los Angeles has suspended visitor privileges for all black inmates housed in one of the four prison's cellblocks since August 12th. The 300 inmates lost their privileges after the beatings of prison guards by a small group of yet unidentified inmates believed to have been black. Officials intend to restrict visitor privileges until those who committed the beatings are identified. The NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, among other concerned advocates, cite discrimination and civil rights violations as reasons the denial may be unconstitutional. A California Department of Corrections spokesman defended the action citing that many prisons currently restrict privileges based on race or gang affiliation. (9/13/02 article at www.latimes.com).
• California advocates and legal service providers have raised questions regarding the apprehension of and suspension of benefits for past felons in the Supplemental Security Income program (SSI). The fugitive-felon program was instituted in the welfare reform law of 1996 and encouraged the FBI and Social Security Administration to compare registered lists, though implementation was delayed until 2000. So far 2,831 elderly and disabled social security recipients have been arrested in California (90% for probation and parole violations or other nonviolent crime) and the federal government has saved $130 million in the suspension of benefits for 7,500 California recipients and requirement of benefits repayment. Please see the report, "Income Injustice: The Impact of Welfare Reform's Fleeing Felon Regulations on SSI Recipients," at www.cjcj.org/reform/SSIFFPaper.pdf and the 9/6/02 article at www.latimes.org for more information.
• The Urban Institute has recently released a report on California investment in youth corrections facilities. According to the report, 20,000 youth are held in custody on any given day in the state, representing one in five of the national incarcerated youth population (despite the location of only 13% of the country's general youth population in California). More than other states, California has favored investment in the construction of increased prison space over alternatives to incarceration (especially for nonviolent offenders). The report, "Youth Corrections in California," can be accessed at www.urban.org.

California Budget Update

On September 5, 2002 Governor Davis resolved the $24 billion deficit in a two-month overdue budget (please see January 2002 California Policy Briefing by CFFPP). The final budget relied primarily upon $235 million in program cuts (75% of which were in health and human services) rather than increases in tax revenue, which has many predicting that further cuts will again be necessary in next year's budget. Programs that were cut in the final legislation included Healthy Families expansion to parents of children in the program (please see July 2002 California Policy Briefing of CFFPP) and over $30 million in reductions in CalWORKS adult education and support services for CalWORKS community college students (please see May 2002 California Policy Briefing of CFFPP). Significant cuts were also maintained in housing with the prediction that $2.1 billion in housing bonds under Proposition 46 would be approved by voters in November 2002 (see first page of this briefing). Please visit the California Budget Project's website for more details on the state budget at www.cbp.org.

New Census Data Available for California

According to recently released data from the 2000 U.S. Census, state poverty rates remained the same from 1990 to 2000, during a period of overall economic boom, and the median income declined to $47,262. Census data is available by state and county at http://factfinder.census.gov. For data analyses related to California, please see "The Changing Face of Child Poverty in California" at www.nccp.org and the California Budget Project website at www.cbp.org.

Three new reports are available that inspect the new data's findings in relation to poverty and racial segregation in the state:

• "A Decade of Progress?: The Poor and Affluent in California, 1990 and 2000" investigates changes in poverty by geographic location across the state. There remains an increasing disparity between income levels in Los Angeles and the Bay Area: over the ten-year period, median income decreased in L.A. to $42,189, and increased to $62,024 in the Bay Area. Poverty rates remained stable in the Bay Area (as in the rest of the state), at levels of 8.6%, while poverty increased in Los Angeles to 17.9% of households. Please see the full report at: www.sppsr.ucla.edu/lewis/PressRelease.pdf.
• The Public Policy Institute of California has analyzed census data at the city and neighborhood levels to determine the extent of racial segregation in different communities across the state. African Americans were most likely to live in diverse neighborhoods, while non-Hispanic whites were most likely to live in segregated communities. According to the study, despite being a highly diverse city overall, Los Angeles was the most racially segregated city at the neighborhood level. Please see the full report at www.ppic.org.
• The California Budget Project (CBP) found that wages for the lowest 20% of workers increased only 1.4% during the period, while wages for the top 10% of earners increased by approximately 20%. Two-thirds of California workers earn less than the $20.89 hourly wage deemed necessary by CBP to support a family of three. In addition, the rate of growth for low-wage jobs ($7.51 to $10 hourly wage) is expected to increase 22% by 2008 while the availability of higher paying jobs ($20 to $30 hourly wage) is expected to increase at only half that rate. The full report may be accessed at www.cbp.org.