On the other side are those who believe government should take a direct role in providing services to the needy, including oversight and funds for private and religious groups to administer. This is a spectacular change. The dominant strain of public policy in the 20th century was that federal policy was most competent to deal with social problems such as poverty and despair. Government programs became riddled with bureaucracy and regulation, promoting an inflexible approach that forgot human needs while merely shifting wealth from class to class. Pope John Paul II took note of this in 1991, when he wrote of how the welfare state drains human energy from a society.
Government programs concentrate mainly on maintaining income and benefits.
The down side is this creates an unintended incentive to stay on the programs. In this respect, private welfare is different. Providers focus on providing genuine help that considers the unique situation of the individual or family in need. Underlying causes are addressed. Dependency is not promoted but discouraged.