General Relief

Gov. Pete Wilson and legislators like state Sens. Ken Maddy and David Roberti have put a vital government benefits program on the chopping block, while simultaneously considering relieving counties of their legal obligation to provide health care to the indigent. The cuts they propose will do little to remedy the state’s budget deficit, but they will have a devastating impact on the poorest members of our community.

Most Californians, mercifully, are not familiar with General Relief (GR), which provides bare-bones assistance for extremely poor, unemployed and disabled people who do not qualify for federal programs. Most applicants for GR are homeless. Most recipients have no other source of income. No one is getting rich by collecting GR. Los Angeles County pays GR recipients a maximum of $341 per month, while even the cheapest apartments and residence hotels charge almost that much for rent.

General Relief is a “workfare” program. All able-bodied recipients are required to work off their entire grants at minimum wage. The county provides the work assignments, which consist of menial tasks such as picking up trash beside roads or sweeping floors.

Wilson asserts that reducing or eliminating GR will force able-bodied adults into the labor market. Yet unemployment figures rise monthly, particularly in Los Angeles area. Does the governor honestly believe that the recession-plagued labor market can absorb even a tiny fraction of the people who will be left destitute if their last safety net is pulled out from under them?

Since the unrest following the King beating verdict much attention has been focused on bringing resources and new investment into economically disadvantaged areas of Los Angeles. The irony of cutting or eliminating GR is that it will curtail a substantial flow of money into many of these same areas. Businesses will lose customers and landlords will lose their tenants. Cutting GR will cripple the economic revitalization of Los Angeles and drive our community’s poorest members out onto the streets.

WILLIAM LITT, Law Clerk

LISA MEAD, Directing Attorney

Homeless Assistance Project

Public Counsel, Los Angeles