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Politics & Government

As Economy Drags, Morris Families Seeking Aid

State report details continued need for aid for the unemployed as job creation stutters.

Morris County saw the third-largest percentage increase in the number of families seeking Temporary Aid for Needy Families in February, according to the state Department of Human Services.

The February figures are the latest statewide numbers to be released by the Division of Family Development.  For Morris County in February, 33 TANF cases were closed, but 36 new ones were added. There were 871 households receiving TANF, a 16.2 percent increase from February 2010, the report said.  Of that number, 307 households were headed by a single parent.

In addition, 13,221 Morris residents, representing 7,623 households, were receiving food stamps, a 39.9 percent increase from 2010. In February, there were 355,763 New Jersey households that received  food stamps—an increase of 65,762, or 22.7 percent, over February of 2010. There were 723,887 people receiving food stamps as of February 2011, an increase of 134,34,  or 22.8 percent, since February 2010.

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Officials said these figures are indicative of the persistent weakness of the financial recovery in the  region, even as the state’s unemployment rate hit 9.3 percent in March, and Morris County’s rate has dropped to  7.2 percent in March.

Mary Jo Buchanan, Morris County’s director of human services, said, "this is like the perfect storm."

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The county Office of Temporary Assistance is the first stop for residents seeking aid of all types. Since 2008, when the first of many financial services workers appeared, the office has been the center of activity. Last fall, Buchanan reported to the Morris County freeholders that the number of visitors topped 5,000 for a month.

The county’s unemployment rate in that time rose from 3.7 percent  in January 2008 to the current 7.2 percent, peaking last February at 8 percent.  Now, Buchanan said, many of those workers have seen their unemployment insurance end, even among some whose unemployment terms were extended.

Rosemary Gilmartin, executive director of the Interfaith Food Pantry in Morris Township, said the number of people heading to the county office lags behind the increase in the number people who visit the food pantry for the first time. In 2010, the food pantry served 4,811 different households, including 11,583 different people. Volunteers delivered food to 144 families last year. The food pantry distributed 727,133 pounds of  food last year.

“We saw a big increase two years ago when people lost their jobs and used savings and other funds to get by,” Gilmartin said. The food pantry is serving 35 percent more people than two years ago, she said.

Those residents often didn’t qualify for state assistance programs because even out of work, they had too many assets, she said.

“But now, those funds have most likely run dry and people are doing what they can to hang on to their home,” Gilmartin said.

Buchanan agreed with that assessment. She said the greatest concern is job creation, and whether the economy can create enough high paying jobs in the future.

An additional concern, Buchanan said, is the number of single-parent households seeking aid. Of the 871 Morris households that received TANF aid in February, 307 were headed by a single parent, the state reported.  Those figures mirror 2010 Census estimated discussed last week by Christine Marion, planning director for Morris County.

Even though there are low poverty numbers for Morris County, Marion told a conference of Morris nonprofits, of the 2,290 households living in poverty in 2009, 681 are headed by a single woman. Looming in Trenton are potential cuts to many programs that aid the poor, disabled and seniors, as state politicians try to create a 2012 state budget.

Among the announced cuts are $43 million  for subsidies for a welfare to work program, more than  $2 million for homeless prevention and another cut that would raise the bar for continued enrollment in the family care subsidized health program.

Other proposed cuts: 

  • General assistance down to $81.7 million, from $97 million.
  • The child benefit provided under the Work First New Jersey program, a back to work program,  down to $121.2 million from $130.6 million. 

The cuts in aid break down for an individual as follows:

  • General assistance, employable: $132.15 per month, down from $151.
  • General assistance, unemployable,$213.89 per month, down from $243.85.
  • Work First New Jersey assistance: $107 per month, down from $133. 

There is proposed an increase in the amount for emergency aid, up to $101.8 million, from $98.6 million. The aid change for an individual would go from $654 per month to $854.

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