Food Stamps: New Report Outlines 5 Possible Ways To Combat SNAP ‘Benefits Cliffs’ at Federal Level — Would They Save Recipients Money?

by Erik Randolph | Nov 28, 2023

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Food Stamps: New Report Outlines 5 Possible Ways To Combat SNAP ‘Benefits Cliffs’ at Federal Level — Would They Save Recipients Money?

A benefits cliff is when a household loses more in net income and benefits from governmental assistance programs — like SNAP — than it gains from additional earnings. According to a report by the Georgia Center for Opportunity, this net loss is a “perverse incentive” discouraging any desire to increase income.

“The very basic concept is that when you lose more in taxes and benefits than you receive from a gain in additional earnings, that’s how we’re defining a cliff,” Erik Randolph, GCO’s research director, told The Center Square. “Let’s say that you get a pay raise worth $2,000, but you actually lose $3,000, you’re $1,000 behind; you’re worse off financially than what you were.”

Read the full article here

Georgia report finds steps Congress should take to SNAP ‘benefits cliffs’

by Erik Randolph | Nov 28, 2023

Georgia report finds steps Congress should take to SNAP ‘benefits cliffs’

Design flaws in the federal food stamp program hinder recipients’ upward economic mobility and effectively force them into governmental dependency.

That’s the upshot of a new Georgia Center for Opportunity report exploring possible solutions for addressing the benefits cliffs in safety-net programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Erik Randolph, GCO’s research director, told The Center Square that the report — “Solving the Food Assistance (SNAP) Benefits Cliffs” — identified several steps federal authorities can take to ensure that SNAP functions as safety net programs should. In doing so, the federal government can eliminate SNAP benefit cliffs without spending more money.

“The very basic concept is that when you lose more in taxes and benefits than you receive from a gain in additional earnings, that’s how we’re defining a cliff,” Randolph said. “Let’s say that you get a pay raise worth $2,000, but you actually lose $3,000, you’re $1,000 behind; you’re worse off financially than what you were.

“The trade-off is that you can accept the pay raise but end up with less money,” Randolph added. “If someone’s acting in a rational manner, why would they do that? But in the long term, it’s going to harm them because it’s going to reduce their economic mobility. So, the system shouldn’t have that as part of it. It should be a hand up and not a handout that prevents you from making the right decision or that’s encouraging you to make the wrong decision.”

Read the full article here

Getting serious about teen violence in Washington, D.C.: Louisville, Kentucky, provides a solution

by Josh Crawford | Nov 28, 2023

Getting serious about teen violence in Washington, D.C.: Louisville, Kentucky, provides a solution

In this opinion editorial published in The Washington Times, Joshua Crawford highlights the escalating crime crisis in Washington, D.C., particularly focusing on a significant surge in violent crimes, including a staggering 104% increase in carjackings from the previous year. Crawford points out that a majority of carjacking arrestees in the city are under 18, with many being repeat offenders associated with or recruited by street gangs. The author suggests that Washington can learn from Louisville, Kentucky’s successful efforts to address teen violence. In Louisville, Republican state Rep. Kevin Bratcher spearheaded House Bill 3, a comprehensive measure aimed at holding violent juvenile offenders accountable and providing treatment. The bill mandates immediate detention for juveniles charged with serious violent offenses, offering a disruptive intervention in the cycle of violence. It also allocates funds for a new detention center and treatment programs, including cognitive behavioral therapy.

“The new law creates early intervention points for truants who show no improvement in their diversion programs. It does so by allowing an interdisciplinary team to alter the treatment modalities earlier and a judge to hold noncompliant parents accountable if they willingly refuse to aid in their child’s diversion plan. Unresolved truancy is strongly predictive of future juvenile delinquency and even adult criminality. So, getting it right with those children today can prevent serious violence tomorrow.”

Crawford emphasizes the importance of early intervention, proposing measures like altering treatment modalities for truants and holding noncompliant parents accountable. He also advocates for stronger penalties for adults involved in driving juvenile violence, citing the success of Kentucky’s stricter penalties for recruiting juveniles into gangs.

The article concludes by asserting that, while juvenile violence continues to rise in Washington, D.C., Louisville has seen a leveling off and signs of decline in total shootings, suggesting that bold action and the adoption of effective policies can reverse the trend in public safety.

Read the full opinion editorial in The Washington Times.

New crime dashboard will report ‘real-time gun violence’ to expand transparency in Louisville

by Josh Crawford | Nov 27, 2023

New crime dashboard will report ‘real-time gun violence’ to expand transparency in Louisville

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg will hold a press conference Tuesday, introducing a real-time, comprehensive reporting tool that will expand information transparency on the city’s crime statistics.

A media release said the dashboard aims to create more collaborative work opportunities with and within the Louisville community.

“As a general rule, more data and more transparency is a good thing,” said Joshua Crawford, the Director of Criminal Justice at the Center of Opportunity.

Crawford sees a lot of benefits with this new dashboard. One of them being allowing people to see the reality of violence in the city.

“One of the things that people get wrong is that they think entire neighborhoods are riddled with violence,” Crawford said. “What a dashboard like this can demonstrate is that there are parts of the city people may feel uncomfortable being in, but there’s really not a reason to be uncomfortable because they’re not as violent as people perceive them to be.”

That’s not to say that there isn’t violence in the city. LMPD says there’s been 140 homicides so far this year.

Crawford said the violence happens at the micro location level.

“So at the one block street segment level, or at the outside of particular bar level, or the outside of particular abandoned buildings level,” he said.

Crawford says it’ll not only benefit people to know where there’s a history of violence, but also it might ease some concerns.

“To know that a particular area is not nearly as violent or criminogenic as you thought has benefit as well,” Crawford said.

With people being able to see all the information in real time, we asked Crawford if the areas with a higher level of violence will be ostracized.

“I think that’s only possible if you don’t do anything about it,” he said. “If it continues unabated then it may have that problem, but that’s a failure of government as much as it is this dashboard.”

Crawford said officials need to send services and resources to areas of violence to help the citizens in those places.

Read the full article here

Missouri is first state to pass law addressing benefits cliffs

by David Bass | Nov 15, 2023

Missouri lawmakers<br />
Senate Bill 82<br />
public assistance provisions<br />
benefits cliffs<br />
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)<br />
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)<br />
child care subsidy programs<br />
transitional benefits program<br />
poverty level<br />
state median family income<br />
welfare programs<br />
fiscal note<br />
Medicaid<br />
self-sufficiency<br />
workforce solutions<br />
government assistance<br />
economic opportunity<br />
dependence on the government<br />
benefits cliff phenomenon<br />
social and economic opportunity

Missouri is first state to pass law addressing benefits cliffs

Key Points

Missouri Leads the Way: The enactment of Senate Bill 82 establishes Missouri as the first state in the nation to address public assistance provisions, breaking ground in reforming safety-net benefits and combating the cycle of dependence on government support.
Benefits Cliff Challenge: The legislation acknowledges the pervasive issue of benefits cliffs, where individuals and families face a sudden loss of government assistance as their income increases. The law aims to mitigate this challenge by introducing transitional benefits programs in TANF, SNAP, and childcare subsidy programs.
Incomplete Solution: While the Missouri law is a commendable first step, there are concerns about its comprehensive effectiveness. The legislation, utilizing new funds, creates a supplemental program to ease the loss of benefits but doesn’t address underlying program variables contributing to benefits cliffs. Additionally, potential underfunding and the absence of Medicaid in the scope raise questions about the long-term sustainability and impact of the solution.

Missouri lawmakers recently took an important step toward helping poor and working-class residents escape safety-net benefits cliffs and experience the dignity and opportunity of work. By enacting Senate Bill 82, the Show Me State is now the first in the nation to address public assistance provisions that often entrap program participants by punishing work and perpetuating dependence on the government.

It’s no secret that many Americans rely on government assistance programs to make ends meet. But they often get caught in a Catch-22 situation—a benefits cliff—which disincentivizes them from looking for more meaningful work and gaining independence.

These benefits cliffs occur when an individual, family, or household experiences a sudden, steep loss of government assistance as income increases. Perversely, this net loss undermines the natural desire to earn more income because it takes a huge pay bump to overcome the cliff. The unintended consequences of a benefits cliff can be devastating—trapping individuals and families in a cycle of poverty.

How the new law works

This new Missouri law modifies benefits cliffs to enable residents to more easily earn additional income and experience the fulfillment and belonging that comes with social and economic opportunity. It does so by easing the loss of benefits in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and child care subsidy programs for families that lose income eligibility for these programs.

Specifically, this law establishes a transitional benefits program for TANF and SNAP—subject to funding from the state legislature—to help the transition off of benefits and reduce the impact of the program cliffs. The benefit is stepped down on a one-to-one basis as income increases.

It also helps to alleviate the loss of benefits from the child care subsidy program by creating a transitional benefits program using a sliding scale that steps down transitional benefits until the household reaches 300 percent of the poverty level or 85 percent of the state median family income.

When funded and implemented, this law will positively impact all individuals and families on the SNAP and childcare subsidy programs whose income exceeds program limits—but remain under income limits for the transitional benefits. It would not, however, impact TANF recipients because the program’s cash assistance tampers to zero, which means there would be no transitional benefits.

And building upon the foundation laid in Missouri, other states should similarly experiment with creative solutions to the cliffs problem.

The next step

While the new Missouri law is a commendable first step by a state to correct design flaws in benefit cliffs, there is still more work to do. For example, this legislation fails to address the variables in each program that drive the benefits cliff phenomenon in the first place. Instead, it uses new money to create a bridge that eases the loss of benefits when coming off designated programs.

Precisely because it uses new money, this solution represents a potentially huge and expensive expansion of welfare programs in Missouri. Indeed, the fiscal note accompanying the legislation estimates a cost of around $200 million per year in state revenue.

So rather than a comprehensive and holistic resolution to the benefits cliff problem, this new law essentially creates a supplemental program at risk of being underfunded in years when the legislature fails to fully fund at levels to meet demand—creating challenges for state agencies charged with program implementation. Moreover, the law doesn’t address Medicaid at all—the biggest driver of benefit cliffs in terms of dollar impact to families.

Despite these limitations, this new law recognizes that benefits cliffs are a real problem in need of a solution. And it attempts to address design flaws in two of the biggest-offending programs—SNAP and childcare. Finally, it recognizes the need to step down benefits in ways that eliminate cliffs as people earn additional income and learn to stand on their own with increasingly less dependence on the government.

In tackling the challenge of benefits cliffs, Missouri lawmakers have set the bar for other states to consider solutions to welfare systems that prevent people from becoming self-sufficient by holding them back from working as much as they could or should.

And building upon the foundation laid in Missouri, other states should similarly experiment with creative solutions to the cliffs problem. This includes waivers and other steps to address systemic program flaws. It also includes pilot projects to demonstrate how to eliminate cliffs with a net positive impact on those who work more, earn additional income and become self-sufficient faster than would otherwise be possible.