By Alison St John
Beginning today, families in California’s Welfare to Work program will see an 8 percent reduction in their monthly benefit checks. It’s the result of cuts proposed in March and approved as part of the final state budget signed this week.
In San Diego County 85,000 families are enrolled in Cal Works, the Welfare to Work program. It’s for families with children and provides small monthly checks, job training and subsidized childcare.
A family of three in the Cal Works program got almost $700 a month – that’s if they were in job training, or have found a job that pays well below the poverty level. Starting today, their checks will shrink to a maximum of about $640 a month.
Jean Ross is with the California Budget Project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that seeks fiscal reforms to benefit low- and moderate-income Californians. She said this cut will likely affect landlords, too.