# Presentation: 877280

## Providing Services Through TANF to Support Homeless Families

- Policy Academy**Homeless Families with Children**
* **Miami, FL – January 27, 2004*

**Providing Services Through TANF to Support Homeless Families**

**Don Winstead**
- Deputy Assistant Secretary for Human Services Policy
- Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
- Department of Health and Human Services

## Using TANF to Support Homeless Families

- Some Basics
- Service and Funding Strategies
- TANF Reauthorization
- Discussion

## Brief History

- 1601 – Elizabethan Poor Laws
- 1935 – AFDC
- 1980’s **Welfare Reform Demonstrations**
- 1996 – PRWORA/ TANF
- 2002 – TANF Reauthorization

## TANFTemporary Assistance for Needy Families

- Block Grant Funding
- No Individual Entitlement
- Work Requirements
- Time Limits
- Broad State Flexibility

## Purposes of TANF

- To provide assistance to needy families so that children may be cared for in their own homes or the homes of relatives;
- To end the dependence of needy parents on government benefits by promoting job preparation, work, and marriage;
- To prevent and reduce the incidence of out-of-wedlock pregnancies and establish annual numerical goals for preventing and reducing the incidence of these pregnancies; and
- To encourage the formation and maintenance of two-parent families

## Funding Under AFDC

- State Match

- Federal Match

**22%-50%**

**50%-78%**

## The Agreement Under TANF

**75% if participation requirements are met*

## TANF Block Grant

- Available to States *without fiscal year limitation*
- Can be used in any manner *reasonably calculated* to accomplish the purpose of Federal law (subject to certain limitations)
- Can also be used in *any manner that the State was authorized to use Title IV-A or IV-F funds* under prior law
- States can *transfer up 30%* of TANF Block Grant to SSBG and the Child Care Development Fund with SSBG limited to 10%

## TANF Block GrantBase and Supplemental Grants

*Note:  Puerto Rico not shown due to complexity of territorial funding*

## Cash Assistance Caseload FY 1996 through FY 2003

## The TANF Caseload

**Families with an adult**
- Includes single parent and two parent families
**Child-Only cases**
- Children with relatives
- Parent(s) receiving SSI
- Parent(s) ineligible (i.e. non-citizen status)

**Notes:**
This shows the taxonomy for cash assistance cases in Florida.  The funding includes both TANF funds and TANF-MOE funds.

## Caseload Change by Family Type

**3.6 million**

**0.98 million**

**1.22 million**

**0.81 million**

- -66%

- -17%

**Notes:**
This chart shows the differences in caseload trends for “child-only” families and the families with an adult.  The families with an adult are subject to Florida’s time limits and work requirements.

For families with an adult the decline has been 86%

For child-only families, the decline has been 26%

## AFDC/TANF Spending1996 vs. 2002

## Federal TANF and Child Care FundsCompared to TANF Caseload

## New Services – Expanded Eligibility

- Monthly Income

- No Earnings 		         Earnings

**Cash Eligibility and/or Services or “Non-Assistance”**

**Eligibility for Services**** or “Non-Assistance”**

## Thinking About Servicesfor Homeless Families

|  | Primary Service Issues
 |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Children Are | Economic

With parents | Beyond Economic
 (e.g. health, mental health, substance abuse, etc.)
With parents |
|  | Economic

Not with parents | Beyond Economic
 (e.g. health, mental health, substance abuse, etc.)

Not with parents
 |

## Mental Health and Substance Abuse Treatment

- TANF Funds may be used for _**non-medical**_ Mental Health or Substance Abuse treatment, counseling or support services
- Must be consistent with a TANF purpose
- State MOE may be used for medical services for eligible families if not co-mingled with Federal TANF Funds (and not paid by Medicaid)

## Assistance vs. “Not-Assistance”

- Ongoing vs. short term
- Basic needs vs. services
- TANF requirements like work activities and child support enforcement
- Time limits
- Reporting requirements

## Assistance vs. “Not Assistance”The Details

**§ 260.31 What does the term ‘‘assistance’’ mean?**
- (a)	(1) The term ‘‘assistance’’ includes cash, payments, vouchers, and other forms of benefits designed to meet a family’s ongoing basic needs (i.e., for food, clothing, shelter, utilities, household goods, personal care items, and general incidental expenses)
-      (2) It includes such benefits even when they are:
- (i) Provided in the form of payments by a TANF agency, or other agency on its behalf, to individual recipients; and
- (ii) Conditioned on participation in work experience or community service (or any other work activity under § 261.30 of this chapter)
-      (3) Except where excluded under paragraph (b) of this section, it also includes supportive services such as transportation and child care provided to families who are not employed

## “Assistance” Excludes:
(1) Nonrecurrent, short-term benefits that:
(i) Are designed to deal with a specific crisis situation or episode of need;
(ii) Are not intended to meet recurrent or ongoing needs; and 
(iii) Will not extend beyond four months.
(2) Work subsidies (i.e., payments to employers or third parties to help cover the costs of employee wages, benefits, supervision, and training);
(3) Supportive services such as child care and transportation provided to families who are employed;
(4) Refundable earned income tax credits;
(5) Contributions to, and distributions from, Individual Development Accounts;
(6) Services such as counseling, case management, peer support, child care information and referral, transitional services, job retention, job advancement, and other employment-related services that do not provide basic income support; and
(7) Transportation benefits provided under a Job Access or Reverse Commute project, pursuant to section 404(k) of the Act, to an individual who is not otherwise receiving assistance

- (1) Nonrecurrent, short-term benefits that:
- (i) Are designed to deal with a specific crisis situation or episode of need;
- (ii) Are not intended to meet recurrent or ongoing needs; and
- (iii) Will not extend beyond four months.
- (2) Work subsidies (i.e., payments to employers or third parties to help cover the costs of employee wages, benefits, supervision, and training);
- (3) Supportive services such as child care and transportation provided to families who are employed;
- (4) Refundable earned income tax credits;
- (5) Contributions to, and distributions from, Individual Development Accounts;
- (6) Services such as counseling, case management, peer support, child care information and referral, transitional services, job retention, job advancement, and other employment-related services that do not provide basic income support; and
- (7) Transportation benefits provided under a Job Access or Reverse Commute project, pursuant to section 404(k) of the Act, to an individual who is not otherwise receiving assistance

## Potential Funding Options

- From:  *Helping Families Achieve Self Sufficiency: A Guide on Funding Services for Children and Families through the TANF Program.*   HHS/ACF/OFA

## TANF EZ Eligibility Process

- Parent or pregnant woman?
- TANF Purpose?
- Citizen or Eligible Non-Citizen?
- Financial Eligibility (if needed) on back of form

## Working Toward IndependenceThe President’s Plan to Strengthen Welfare Reform

- Strengthen the Federal-State Partnership
- Maximize Self-Sufficiency through Work
- Promote Child Well-Being and Healthy Marriage
- Encourage Abstinence and Prevent Teen Pregnancy
- Improve Program Performance and Facilitate Program Integration
- Enhance Child Support Enforcement

## Unobligated and Unliquidated Fundsas of 9/30/03

*Based on initial reports from States on TANF Financial Reports*
*Note:  Puerto Rico not shown due to complexity of territorial funding*

**Amounts in $millions**

## Key Issues

- Universal Engagement
- Work Requirements
- Marriage Promotion
- Program Integration Waivers
- Child Care Funding