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1986 Study of Characteristics of General Assistance - Unemployable Recipients.

Summary

The General Assistance-Unemployable Characteristics Study provides descriptions of recipient characteristics and analyzes patterns of caseload growth.

Recipient characteristics in July 1986 were obtained by merging computerized Warrant Roll and Social Service Payment System records. Major findings include:

• Forty-three percent of GA-U recipients had physical incapacities; 35 percent had mental illness illness incapacities: 30 percent had alcohol or drug abuse incapacities: 4 percent had mental retardation incapacities. Frequencies sum to more than 100 percent because some recipients had more that one incapacity.

• Two thirds of all GA-U recipients served by the Belltown Community Services Office in downtown Seattle had substance abuse incapacities, versus 30 percent statewide. Belltown GA-U recipients were more likely to be recent in-migrants thatn GA-U recipients elsewhere in the state. Belltown's GA-U recipients made up only 12 percent of the state's GA-U population.

• Twenty-two percent of GA-U recipients have used assistance for over one year in their current episode. This figure understates overall length of use because many recipients had more than one episode. Long-term recipients typically had mental illness, mental retardation, or physical incapacities. They included people who formerly would have been maintained in state institutions.

• Only 45 percent of long-term GA-U recipients were being referred to the federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, which provides aid for people with disabilities expected to last one year or longer. Low rates of referral may reflect the fact that some long-term GA-U recipients do not meet SSI definitions of incapacity. SSI referrals may also be under-reported in SSPS records.

Caseload growth was analyzed by using Average Grant statistics for past fiscal years and by comparing merged Warrant Roll-Social Service Payment System files for July 1985 and July 1986. Major findings include:

• GA-U caseloads have been increasing by more than 10 percent annually since fiscal year 1983

• Although press reports on GA-U caseloads have focused on downtown Seattle, GA-U caseloads are growing statewide. In percentage terms, caseload growth in King County and downtown Seattle was lower than in any other region of the state in fiscal year 1986. Strategies to address caseload growth must address the GA-U system statewide.

• Growth occurred primarily through increases in the number of GA-U cases being opened. GA-U openings increased by 10 percent in Fiscal Year 1986. Two thirds of these openings were for people with no welfare history in Washington State within the prior three years.

• Length of GA-U episodes remained unchanged between July 1985 and July 1986. Increased length of assistance does not appear to be a factor in recent caseload growth.

• Fifty -nine percent of the caseload growth between July 1985 and July 1986 was associated with case for which substance abuse was the only type of incapacity reported. Eighty percent of the growth involved cases with substance abuse as a primary or secondary incapacity.

• Thirty-six percent of the caseload growth between July 1985 and July 1986 was associated with increased numbers on in-migrations to Washington State who were approved for grants within three months of arrival. Three quarters of the additional immigrants had substance abuse incapacities and almost 50 percent were served by the Belltown Community Services Office (CSO) in downtown Seattle.

Modified: Friday May 19 2006

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