The Status of TANF Leavers in the District of Columbia: Final Report

THE STATUS OF TANF LEAVERS IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA:FINAL REPORTByGregory AcsPamela LoprestJanuary 3, 2001The Urban Institute2100 M Street, NWWashington, DC 20037This project was funded under contract JA-AC-CS-80071-01 between the District ofColumbia and The Urban Institute with funds from the US Department of Health andHuman Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation undergrant 98ASPEE304A. The authors would like to thank Sarah Brauner and Tracy Robertsfor their excellent research assistance. The views expressed in this report are those of theauthors alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Urban Institute or its sponsorsnor should they be construed as representing the opinions or policy of any agency of theFederal and District Governments. The authors are responsible for any errors in theanalysis of the data. THE STATUS OF TANF LEAVERS IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA:FINAL REPORTExecutive SummaryIn 1996, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act(PRWORA) eliminated the federal entitlement program that provided cash aid to low-incomefamilies with dependent children (AFDC) and replaced it with the Temporary Assistance forNeedy Families (TANF) block grant. While states and jurisdictions like the District of Columbia(DC) must use TANF money to aid low-income families, TANF emphasizes moving familiesfrom cash assistance to work.Because the goal of welfare reform is not simply to reduce the number of families onpublic assistance but to help families become self-sufficient, the Office of the Assistant Secretaryfor Planning and Evaluation in the US Department of Health and Human Services (ASPE)funded the District of Columbia and 13 other jurisdictions (states/counties) to study familiesleaving the welfare rolls and assess how they are faring in terms of their employment, earnings,use of public assistance programs, family circumstances, and overall well-being.This study reports on the status of former welfare recipients in the District of Columbia,focusing on two groups of families that left the TANF program: those that left in the last quarterof 1997 and those that left in the last quarter of 1998. The study uses administrative data fromthe DC Department of Human Services for the 1997 and 1998 groups as well as interviews witha sample of those that left in 1998, conducted approximately one year after they left.Our major findings are:• Between June 1997 and December 1999, DC’s cash assistance caseload fell by 23.8 percent,to 18,028 families. This decline is smaller than the 36.9 percent drop in caseloadsnationwide; however, caseload declines in urban areas, in general, have lagged behind thenational average. In addition, it is important to note that DC did not adopt some of thepolicies used in other states to reduce its caseload, such as eliminating all cash benefits tofamilies in which the head fails to comply with program requirements.• Families leaving TANF in DC are typical of DC’s entire caseload in most respects; however,leavers are slightly less likely to have larger families and to have children under age 6 thanthe typical TANF recipient.• Our survey of families that left TANF during the last quarter of 1998 shows that 60.3 percentwere working at the time of the interview; another 19.5 percent had worked at some pointafter leaving TANF. This employment rate is similar to those found in studies of TANFleavers in other jurisdictions as well as in national surveys.• The typical (median) TANF leaver with a job works 40 hours a week and earns over $8 anhour. Less than half of working leavers report receiving employee benefits like paid sickdays or pension plans, but almost two-thirds have paid vacations. ii• While only 31.7 percent of employed leavers have health insurance through their jobs, 40.7percent are covered by Medicaid. Overall, 21.6 percent of employed adult leavers (the headof the TANF unit) and 19.3 percent of their children are uninsured.• Working leavers generally spend a half hour or less commuting to work, and theircommuting costs are, on average, less than $3 a day. Nearly three out of five use publictransportation to get to work.• By far the most common source of child care for working leavers with children of any age isschool: 51.6 percent report that their children attend school. Friend and relative care is morecommon than formal day care: 20.5 percent of employed leavers send their child(ren) to afriend or relative and 15.5 percent have a friend or relative come over to mind the child(ren),compared with 11.8 percent of families using licensed child care providers and 5.0 percentusing family day care. Among working leavers with young children (3 years old andyounger), the use of informal care is even greater. Given the relatively low use of formalcare, it is not surprising that fewer than 1 in 20 employed leavers report receiving helppaying for child care from the welfare office.• Among jobless leavers, 23.6 percent report the