Plan to Reform Welfare Gets Mixed Review

In last week’s State of the State address, Gov. Pete Wilson unveiled a plan for some sweeping changes in welfare that would cut off aid to new recipients after one year if they don’t find jobs.

That’s half as long as under the federal legislation passed last year. Wilson followed up that announcement with a plan to end a decades-old mandate that requires California’s counties to help those who do not qualify for other aid.

As Wilson releases the specific figures, officials with social-service agencies, business groups and community leaders are watching and wondering about the feasibility of such changes.

Is Pete Wilson’s welfare reform plan reasonable?

Cynthia Caughey, executive director of Women’s Care Cottage, a shelter for homeless women:

“First of all, [many welfare recipients] don’t even have high school diplomas. You can’t get a job paying you a living wage without a high school diploma . . . It’s an absurd goal . . . What happens if, after a year, this person hasn’t found a job? . . . We’re literally saying, ‘You and your family go back on the street and starve to death.’ . . . It’s all punitive . . . Most of these women aren’t going to get jobs in a year or two . . . Are we just going to walk over them on the street?”

State Assemblyman Tom McClintock, R-Northridge:

“I think it’s a solid step in the right direction. I think one year is more than enough time for someone who is serious about finding a job . . . [Welfare] tells teenagers if you want to get out of the house and get your own apartment; if you want to have a job that gives you 365 days off a year and pays you better than McDonald’s, you can have one if you promise to have a baby out of wedlock . . . Why are we surprised that millions of teenagers are taking us up on that offer?”

Marianne Haver Hill, executive director for Meet Each Need with Dignity in Pacoima:

“They’re going to be overflowing-- the number of people who are going to want work compared to the number of jobs available . . . There’s a concern about how much the private sector is going to have to be able to absorb . . . There’s a huge number of people on [Aid to Families with Dependent Children] and other benefit programs who are simply illiterate and have very few job skills. How many low-skills and no-skill jobs are there in the economy? . . . Teenage mothers are a small percentage of the total number of people on welfare . . . Most of those who apply for welfare are pretty desperate and don’t know what else to do.”

Sandy Miller, co-chair for state issues committee for the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn., which has taken no formal position on the plan:

“It depends on the final details in the plan. The concept of going to work and helping people go to work is my philosophy rather than having entitlements . . . [but] we have to develop incentive plans for businesses to help put them to work . . . It really comes down to seeing how he [the governor] expects business to employ these people . . . In concept, sure, putting people to work is one way of reforming welfare . . . The question is how do you get from A to Z?”