In response to growing GA caseload and costs, the Human Services Agency (HSA) began meeting with stakeholders, including community partners and staff, in April, 2011 for the purpose of examining various options to contain GA program costs while preserving critical client services. As a result, HSA is proposing changes to the County’s rules and regulations for GA program administration. These recommendations are brought to the Board for approval as required by Ordinance Code Section 2.30.050:
A. Revising the eligibility determination re-approval cycle for GA recipients from monthly to quarterly.
Currently GA recipients are required to submit monthly income reports which are reviewed by HSA Benefits Analysts to ensure ongoing eligibility. GA is the only public assistance program in the County that continues to require monthly reporting. Moving to quarterly reporting will align the GA program with other aid programs in the County resulting in administrative savings.
B. Limiting the number of separate vendor transactions per GA recipient to a maximum of five vouchers per month.
Currently GA recipients receive a maximum of $58 in cash per month, with the remainder of their grant in form of vouchers or direct vendor payments. Other basic needs such as rent, utilities, food, and incidentals are paid directly or by two party warrants. As of April 2011, there are 575 GA vendors for 831 active GA clients with over 1,600 vouchers issued. HSA issues an average of two warrants per client per month. HSA has several clients, however, for whom five or more warrants are issued per month, triggering an increased workload demand. By limiting the number of warrants to five per recipient each month, administrative savings will be realized.
C. Utilizing estate recovery as the primary method to obtain repayment of aid as opposed to executing liens on GA recipients’ assets.
As a condition of eligibility, GA applicants are required to execute liens on any real property owned or thereafter acquired to secure the repayment of GA monies. The lien execution agreement process is labor intensive requiring multiple appointments and the notarization of documents and the costs of this process far outweigh the resulting limited collections. Accordingly, HSA proposes that GA recipients sign a general agreement indicating that the county shall be entitled to pursue estate recovery as a repayment of aid received. This streamlined process will result in administrative savings.
D. Aligning GA grants with CalWORKs using a tiered reduction approach.
We are requesting an alignment of the GA grant to be consistent with the CalWORKs grant level that will become effective July 1, 2011, which will be 12% less than current GA grant levels. This grant reduction is to be implemented using a tiered approach with the first 6% reduction on August 1, 2011 and a second reduction of 6% on January 1, 2012, as follows:
Effective August 1, 2011:
• From $359 to $338 for individuals who are living independently, in shared housing, or are homeless. For individuals in this group who are not eligible for and receiving Medi-Cal and therefore rely on the County of San Mateo to provide for their health care needs, $40 of this $338 will continue to be the value of in-kind health care needs, resulting in an decrease to $298.
• From $425 to $399 for individuals residing in a board and care facility.
Effective January 1, 2012:
• From $338 to $317 for individuals who are living independently, in shared housing, or are homeless. For individuals in this group who are not eligible for and receiving Medi-Cal and therefore rely on the County of San Mateo to provide for their health care needs, $40 of this $317 will continue to be the value of in-kind health care needs, resulting in an decrease to $277.
• From $399 to $374 for individuals residing in a board and care facility.
Since 1993 the County has set its GA grants based on the CalWORKs “safe harbor” levels set forth in the in Welfare & Institutions Code §§ 17000 and 17000.5. The proposed GA grant reductions will exceed, and eventually match; the CalWORKs grant level and will continue to be within the “safe harbor” limits. The proposed reductions will not affect the distribution of grants, which will continue to consist of cash and vender/vouchers for housing, food, and incidentals. The maximum cash payment issued to recipients will remain at $58.
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