Q&A
Impact of employment on benefits and transitional assistance
1:14:14
·
5 min
Council Member Ayala inquires about how quickly individuals lose their benefits after securing employment and what transitional assistance is available. Scott French explains the process and available supports.
- There is a 6-month earned income disregard for cash assistance clients, up to 200% of the federal poverty level
- The impact on benefits depends on how much the job pays
- 12 months of additional child care is offered to eligible individuals who leave the caseload
- Some short-term transportation assistance (about a month of MetroCards) is provided during the transition
- Council Member Ayala emphasizes the need for better transitional support, particularly for transportation costs
Diana I. Ayala
1:14:14
Okay.
1:14:15
And how soon after an individual is linked to a job, do they lose their their benefits?
Scott French
1:14:26
So it will depend on how much the job pays.
1:14:28
So that that impact will be different depending.
1:14:32
For cash assistance clients, right, there is a 6 month earned income disregard.
1:14:37
That is up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level, if I'm remembering that correctly.
1:14:43
I know there is interest in advocating at the state level to see if that could be increased.
1:14:47
But for individuals who secure jobs, who still who would still be at or below 200 of the federal poverty level, they would remain on cash assistance for 6 months.
1:14:57
So there would be a ramp down period of understanding.
1:15:00
Right?
1:15:00
In 6 months, this part of your income, right, will be reduced, but it allows a period of time for them to adjust to what does it mean for full time employment?
1:15:09
Right?
1:15:09
What are some of the other things I need to put in place?
1:15:12
For other individuals who get higher paying jobs, the change could be quicker, right, given depending on how much how much they're actually making.
1:15:22
So it would vary depending on that.
1:15:23
But we definitely try to look at, right, the the benefits clip, as people say, and other things that would impact people and through our services, really provide people with services and understandings around, like, what does it mean to transition to employment?
1:15:37
What does it mean to transition off benefits?
1:15:40
Which can be challenging depending on how much experience someone has or has not had with the work force.
Diana I. Ayala
1:15:46
Is there any assistance in terms of transportation costs and childcare?
Scott French
1:15:50
Yes.
1:15:51
So for cash assistance clients, there is, for those eligible, for those people who leave the caseload, there is 12 months of additional child care that has offered 2 individuals, which is a great help.
1:16:02
Right?
1:16:03
And, you know, some other individuals do receive some short term transportation assistance as they transition.
Diana I. Ayala
1:16:09
Short term, meaning one of them.
Scott French
1:16:11
Metrocards about
Diana I. Ayala
1:16:12
a month.
Scott French
1:16:13
I think it's about a month for folks.
Diana I. Ayala
1:16:17
Okay.
1:16:18
See, that's something that Jobs Plus does better.
1:16:20
They if you should bring your paycheck stub your your pay stub, they'll give you a metro card for the month.
1:16:27
And so So, you know I mean, transportation is expensive in in New York City.
1:16:31
Yeah.
1:16:32
It doesn't matter how you That's
Scott French
1:16:33
why it's important.
1:16:34
Everyone knows about Fairfield.
Diana I. Ayala
1:16:35
How you get into work.
1:16:36
But that but that's that also leads back to my first concern, right, about the type of jobs that we're connecting to.
1:16:41
Because the idea is not to connect the person to a job, and then they still qualify for Medicaid and food stamps.
1:16:47
Right?
1:16:47
That that that's, you know, that's not success to me.
1:16:52
And it just it means that we're paying for it twice.
1:16:56
When we could, you know, do it properly the first time by, you know, taking time to educate folks, give them the option to go back to school, provide them with the level of trainings that they need, and then connect them to, you know, higher wage employment opportunities.
1:17:13
That's to me what, you know, that's the goal.
1:17:16
Right?
1:17:17
That should be the goal.
Scott French
1:17:18
An HRA has advocated for that for the last many years, often getting the state to expand their requirements, especially around education, which used to be very limited, which has more options now for individuals in making it clear that training and education are the foundation for some people, 2, connecting to sustainable employment, and that, engaging in that should be considered an equivalent activity as someone who gets a job.
Diana I. Ayala
1:17:46
Yeah.
1:17:46
Yeah.
1:17:47
You know, it's it's not easy out here on these streets.
1:17:53
Okay.
1:17:54
So I guess I have a question a couple of questions regarding the career service programs.
1:17:58
HRA introduced the pathways to industrial and construction careers program to support workforce development in the local buildings and construction and transportation, distribution, and logistics industries.
1:18:08
Is HRA considering similar programs for other industries if so, which industries and what is the projected timeline for such program?
Scott French
1:18:18
So currently, we are in the midst of implementing the pring program.
1:18:22
The model itself, we think, is a is a strong model and is something for us to look at in other ways.
1:18:27
Right?
1:18:28
There isn't right now other industries.
1:18:30
We are currently expanding to, but we are learning from this implementation as to how you really do create those relationships from the training providers to apprenticeships or say unions to actual employers and how do you create pathways that are sort of seamless for individuals where they can enter it and they continue on a path that ultimately results in employment.
1:18:53
So while we're still implementing that program, We are definitely seeing the model itself as something that is very effective, and we think we're actually also creating really strong partnerships with, you know, other stakeholders who are essential to the success of a program like that, say it's the unions or other large scale employers of to the value, which then we will look in the future to to leverage to create similar programs in other industries.