Corbett Cuts Will Push Recovering Addicts Out onto the Streets, to Live off of crime

[JPZenger]

http://www.citypaper.net/blogs/nakedcity/Corbetts-budget-proposal-would-send-addicts-flooding-onto-Philly-streets-.html

Excerpts:

"For an estimated 1,000 to 4,500 recovering addicts in the city on any given day, the only option for getting clean in Philadelphia is checking into one of more than 300 informal recovery houses ... It’s a fragile network, administered mostly by former addicts and funded largely through residents’ welfare dollars, in particular the nine-month, one-time General Assistance (GA) payments offered by the Commonwealth.

In Corbett’s proposed budget ... GA is eliminated altogether. Advocates say that the impact could be devastating, affecting 34,843 Philadelphians (including people with disabilities and survivors of domestic violence) who receive GA money and pushing thousands of addicts out onto the street.

“If you cut all this, the bottom line is that the streets are going to overflow with people,” says Anthony Grasso, owner of the Next Step recovery house in Frankford. “Do you know how many people are going to commit more crimes to get what they need?”... Recovering addicts are typically awarded medical insurance and food stamps; the rest of their benefits come in the form of GA. It’s not much money: $205 monthly, unchanged and unadjusted for inflation since 1990.

GA also provides cash assistance to people who do not qualify for federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, including victims of domestic violence, those caring for a non-relative’s child, and people with disabilities — including those with applications for Social Security Disability Insurance pending. The severely backlogged Social Security Administration can take months to approve applications, and, if the initial application is rejected, the appeals process can take years. General Assistance covers applicants in the interim; if they are approved, the state is reimbursed. For many of these populations, losing GA would be a severe hardship; for recovery houses, it could be fatal... General Assistance provides between 60 percent and 75 percent of the revenue at Next Step."

[The Wielding Truth]

1. More proof that Republicans should never be in charge of government.