MPR: Ventura Proposes a Boost Toward Self-Reliance

Ventura Proposes a Boost Toward Self-Reliance
by Michael Khoo
February 3, 2000

Governor Jesse Ventura wants to strengthen Minnesota's social safety net by nearly $200 million. Yesterday, the governor proposed using a reserve fund of federal dollars to assist families moving from welfare to self-reliance.

THIRTY MONTHS FROM NOW, a federal five-year limit on welfare benefits could squeeze thousands of Minnesota families who haven't yet made it off the rolls. Governor Ventura wants to tap a pot of federal dollars known as known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF while time remains.

Ventura: I ask the 201 legislators to join me, my administration, 87 counties, and thousands of county social workers to take personal responsibility for these families to help them in their effort to move up and out of poverty and into self-sufficiency.

Minnesota receives roughly $267 million a year in TANF aid, and shrinking welfare caseloads have led to a gradually accumulating surplus of $223 million. But while more families are moving off of public assistance, the ones who remain behind often face multiple challenges: mental or physical barriers, chemical dependency, or poor job skills.

Last week, reports from the Department of Human Services and the legislative auditor recommended tapping into the surplus to reach this hard-to-serve population. Ventura says he'll do just that, spending $173 million over the next three years. Nearly half would fund housing programs. Kit Hadley is the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency Commissioner. She says stable housing is a cornerstone of self-reliance.

Hadley: The lack of affordable housing is one of the biggest barriers to family stability, finding and retaining jobs and improving school performance of children. We increase the likelihood that families will move successfully into self-sufficiency to the extent that they have affordable housing. And this is the basis for the governor's housing initiative.

Ventura would also direct some of the TANF surplus to county social service programs. He says he'll offer plenty of flexibility for local case-workers to tailor the assistance to each family's unique circumstances.

DFL State Senator Don Samuelson of Brainerd chairs the Health and Family Security Budget Division. He says allowing local discretion is important.

Samuelson: Every county's a little bit different, has a little bit different type of client to deal with. In the metro area, they have more folks here with an English-speaking problems as an example. People that come over here from other countries. Rural communities have different issues - maybe transportation. And certainly housing is statewide. So I think the general package is a good framework.

Samuelson says his is only concern is that the Ventura plan may draw down the reserve too low, leaving the state in a bind if the economy turns sour and welfare rolls expand.

Representative Kevin Goodno says he, too, has questions. Goodno is a Republican from Moorhead and chairs the House Health and Human Services Finance Committee. He says he supports helping the neediest families before they reach the five-year limit. But he says he's not sure the Ventura proposal targets the money effectively.

Goodno: The housing dollars may not be targeted to those groups and I'm not sure. I need to find out more about their proposals to find out what the intent is with those dollars. Because it doesn't seem to me under this proposal that that's targeted at the 60-month people. And if it's not targeted at those at risk of hitting the 60-month time limit, then I think it's money that we're, quite frankly, wasting.

Goodno says he doesn't want to spend the surplus simply because it's available. But Ventura says sitting on the money is equally foolish. He says the federal government may attempt to reclaim the TANF funds if it looks like Minnesota isn't going to use them. Ventura says it would be "stupid" not to take advantage of the available money.

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