Welfare program fails to meet federal standards

Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2004 | 10:45 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Nevada's welfare program failed to meet federal standards in fiscal year 2003 and could face a penalty of $2.1 million as result.

The state's program failed to put enough of its welfare recipients back to work or into training programs.

But Nancy Ford, the administrator of the state Welfare Division, said Tuesday she thinks the state will avoid the penalty because it is now exceeding the requirement of the federal government.

In the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2003, the state recorded 47 percent of its welfare cases in work or training programs. The federal requirement was 50 percent. Ford said the state boosted participation to an estimated 53 percent in fiscal 2004, which ended last Sept. 30. "We're making progress," Ford said.

After 9/11, Ford said, there were massive layoffs in the Las Vegas area and the welfare division was the "safety net." The division had to divert its staff from getting jobs for those on public assistance to handling the major number of applications coming in.

In fiscal 2002, there was a 47.5 percent increase in welfare cases, the highest rate in the nation, the division said.

"In order to address the increased public assistance applications associated with massive layoffs in the resort industry, the welfare division diverted staff who normally were assigned to help clients with work activities to application processing."

Unemployment shot up to 6.7 percent in December 2001, she said. That made it tough to place the welfare clients.

But unemployment last month was at 3.7 percent. And Gov. Kenny Guinn said there were 50,000 new jobs created in the last year.

Ford said that has helped boost the rate of placement. But she said about 35 percent of the recipients have mental problems, drug or alcohol abuse histories or spousal abuse problems. That makes it harder to place them in jobs or training programs.

The 2003 Legislature gave the division 150 new employees and a new office was opened in Clark County. The number of cases of temporary assistance to needy families has decreased, said Ford but the number of applicants for food stamps and Medicaid continues to rise.

Mike Willden, director of the state Department of Human Resources, said before any penalties are assessed for failing to meet the 50 percent quota, the state is allowed to file a corrective action plan. If the federal government accepts the plan and if the state follows through, then a penalty would not be assessed.

The threshhold for the welfare program could be raised in the future. A bill pending in Congress would require the states to find 70 percent of the recipients jobs or have them in training, Ford said.