TIME RUNNING OUT FOR 43,000 MANY L.A. WELFARE RECIPIENTS TO LOSE BENEFITS.

Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer

More than 43,000 of Los Angeles County's 521,000 welfare-to-work recipients will lose their benefits in January on the five-year anniversary of welfare reforms, according to a report released Tuesday.

``For some families, this will push them over the edge, and some will become homeless,'' said Daniel Flaming, president of the Economic Roundtable, which co-sponsored the report along with the county's Children's Planning Council.

``For families who are very poor, this will take away some of their cash grants, baby-sitting services, health insurance and reduce their food budget,'' said Flaming. ``It will be a serious hardship for a lot of families.''

The report says the greatest barrier to employment for those welfare recipients is lack of affordable child care. Other obstacles are insufficient education, little job training and lack of housing and transportation. Every month in 2003, thousands of welfare recipients will be cut from the rolls in the county.

Department of Public Social Services Director Bryce Yokomizo said only adults in welfare-to-work programs will be affected, and the average household will lose $131 a month in welfare benefits, partly offset by an increase of $40 a month in food stamps. He said CalWORKS recipients are only a portion of the 2 million people in the county receiving welfare benefits.

``The way it has been characterized is the whole family will be taken off welfare and they will end up on the streets,'' Yokomizo said. ``Obviously, a lot of people will be impacted, but this will be the adults who have not moved off welfare in the last five years.''

The report was issued six months before 43,167 of the county's CalWORKS recipients will no longer be eligible for public assistance because they will have received aid for five years, the maximum period now allowed under federal law.

The report included a survey of more than 8,500 current and former welfare recipients as well as people living at or below the poverty level who have never received public assistance. The survey found 44 percent cited the lack of child care as the primary obstacle to their getting a job.

The survey respondents said they want Yokomizo's department, which is facing a $100 million shortfall this fiscal year in its $3 billion budget, to focus its resources on helping them find good-paying jobs, paying for child care and providing education and job-skills training programs.

While the nation's welfare rolls dropped 53 percent since welfare reform laws passed in 1996, California's rolls only fell 39 percent. In Los Angeles County, caseloads only dropped 31 percent.

Flaming said statistics show welfare reform has not worked well in the county, pointing out that only 23 to 29 percent of former and current welfare-to-work recipients are employed, and their average level of education is 9.8 years.

``It suggests that being on the county's welfare-to-work program is not associated with increased levels of education,'' Flaming said, ``that is a predictor of their likelihood of getting a job and keeping it once they get it.''

Yokomizo said the county has higher unemployment rates than surrounding counties, making job placement more difficult, and in rural areas of the county with large numbers of welfare recipients, such as the Antelope Valley, there is often not enough public transportation to get those people to jobs.

``Nonetheless, five years ago, we had 255,000 families on welfare, and today's that's been reduced to 192,000 families receiving public assistance,'' he said.

The U.S. Senate is currently debating whether to reauthorize 1996 welfare-reform legislation.

The survey was conducted by about 120 community volunteers over a three-week period in April and May.