Many people are surprised to find out how many DC households are struggling to get by. As we reported on the District Dime just a few weeks ago, DC’s combination of low-wage jobs, highly competitive job market, and high cost of living means that many families have a hard time finding year round, full-time work with wages that can support a family. And in the wake of the Great Recession, it has become even harder.
But sometimes even these dire statistics can be overblown or misinterpreted, including a recent presentation from DC’s Department of Human Services that nearly 40 percent of DC residents receive Medicaid, food stamps, or TANF — or some combination of the three. While this figure was shocking to some, it is really important to understand the factors behind it and the impact of the recession on program participation.
The biggest contributor to this figure is the 32 percent of DC residents who receive Medicaid, which covers adults up to 200 percent of poverty ($37,000 for a family of three) and children up to 300 percent of poverty ($56,000 for a family of three). Many of these are working households who cannot get adequate coverage through their job. DC’s Medicaid eligibility is the key reason that our uninsured rate is one of the lowest in the nation. That’s something to embrace, not run away from.
About 21 percent of DC residents get food stamp benefits, now known as SNAP. SNAP is a food assistance program for low-income residents, from the elderly to the unemployed to the working poor. Since SNAP is available to people with incomes below 130 percent of poverty, it is not surprising that our SNAP participation rate is about the same as the city’s poverty rate — which is now 19 percent.
Finally, just 8 percent of DC residents are in our basic welfare program ‘ TANF ‘ and two-thirds of those enrolled are children. TANF provides cash assistance and job training to very low-income families with children.
And it is no surprise that enrollment in these programs rose significantly in the recession. In fact, many of these programs continue to see participation rise as unemployment is now higher in DC than at any time during the recession. Participation in SNAP has grown the most since the recession began — by nearly half over the past three years — while TANF participation has risen 38 percent, and Medicaid enrollment has grown by 17 percent.
When the private market doesn’t provide access to health care and a weak economy leaves thousands of residents unemployed, it is reasonable for the District to have programs to help families meet their basic needs like medical care, food, and job training. Ensuring residents can find jobs with pay and benefits that can support a family is rightly Mayor Gray’s number one goal. But DC shouldn’t limit access to these vital programs before that is done.
