Opinion: Progress in welfare-to-work

In a legislative session noted more for backsliding than progress, it was refreshing to see legislators move closer to crafting a humane and effective welfare-to-work policy.

A bill introduced by Sen. Tom Lee, R-Brandon, creates a pilot program extending the time that Hillsborough and Manatee county residents leaving welfare are eligible for transition benefits and cash assistance. The bill also provides for income supplements to bring new wage earners up to the federal poverty line, and it allows current welfare recipients to earn slightly more income without being kicked out of the program.

All that is good news, but it is going to take a broader, sustained investment to build a system for helping the working poor of which Floridians can be truly proud.

Five years after legislators made welfare-to-work support available statewide, a full 92 percent of those making the transition to jobs still live below the poverty line. Recipients get help with education, transportation and child care, coupled with temporary cash assistance to supplement their wages. Still, legislators found that the typical former welfare recipient now working full-time makes only about $13,500.

The new legislation partially addresses the problems, but studies have concluded that cash assistance is vital for welfare-to-work families making up to 185 percent of the federal poverty level.

For now, enrollment in the state's welfare program, called Work and Gain Economic Self-Sufficiency, or WAGES, guarantees that families will live substantially below poverty -- even if they work. Even after entering the transition to work, families in the demonstration areas can receive only 12 monthly subsidies after leaving WAGES. If the first group of families in the new demonstration project reports inability to meet basic needs, lawmakers should raise that time limit before the program goes statewide.

Florida has come a long way since 1996, when earning any wage -- no matter how minuscule -- disqualified most families from government assistance. But many working poor families who make more than poverty-level wages still have trouble paying for basic needs such as housing, food and electricity.

We hope passage of the demonstration project (approved unanimously in the Senate) signals the Legislature's willingness to support families that are poor despite their best efforts to participate in the work force. The effort to reform welfare in constructive ways has barely begun and will require patience and generosity on the part of lawmakers.

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