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Politics & Government

Supervisor Knabe Calls for General Relief Reform

Close to 70 percent of all General Relief benefits are out of Los Angeles County.

A motion by Fourth District Supervisor Don Knabe on the agenda for tonight’s Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors meeting calls for specific recommendations for restructuring the county’s General Relief program to reduce fraud and direct resources to the neediest people.

General Relief is mandated by the state, and requires counties to provide assistance to indigent adults who do not qualify for other benefits. Almost 70 percent of the total statewide population receiving benefits is from Los Angeles County.

Over the past two years, the county has been restructuring the program, focusing on efforts to assist participants to get on one of two paths: employment or disability. According to Knabe’s office, during a review process it was discovered that almost one-third of the assistance payments were being made to individuals who were not pursuing either path, which is required of those participating in the program.

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“During these tough times, we have seen the caseload for General Relief rise dramatically, with an alarming cost to the county,” Knabe said in a statement. “On top of these already sizable demands on our system, the economic crisis has increased the number of people needing our services, due to a foreclosure or job loss. Many families are using county services for the first time, desperate for help. As a result, we have been more aggressive about ensuring that scarce taxpayer resources are properly used to aid those most in need and the results to date have been very positive. But we cannot ignore the fact that a huge number of program participants are not playing by the rules. This simply isn’t fair to those who are actively seeking employment or moving onto disability.”

The county’s Chief Executive Officer and Department of Public Social Services developed a list of options to reduce costs for administrating the program earlier this year, including verifying residency, increasing case management, and strengthening the sanction policy when participants refuse or fail to comply with requirements of the program.  

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