Improving the Health, Safety, and Well-Being of Young Adults by Clare Stroud

Author:Clare Stroud
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook
Publisher: The National Academies Press
Published: 2013-12-16T00:00:00+00:00

WELFARE SERVICES

Many young adults are poor, observed Elizabeth Lower-Basch, policy coordinator at CLASP. The official poverty rate for adults ages 18-24 is 20.6 percent, but it would be much higher if the rate included the approximately one-third of young adults who are living with roommates or with their parents (DeNavas-Walt et al., 2012). Many young adults are still in school, which is generally considered a good thing, though they can still lack enough income to achieve well-being. But many young adults are neither in school nor employed, and these rates are especially high among vulnerable groups.

The safety net in the United States varies greatly by family status. Parents can receive cash assistance and services under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, but nonparents cannot, said Lower-Basch (with the exception of some services for youth up to age 24 and noncustodial parents). The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), historically known as food stamps, is available to both parents and nonparents, except that able-bodied adults ages 18-50 without children generally are limited to 3 months of receipt in a 36-month period unless working or in a work activity for at least 20 hours per week or unless they are exempt, with additional rules applying for college students. Medicaid is more available to parents than to nonparents. However, beginning in 2014, low-income adults without children will be eligible for Medicaid in every state without need for a waiver, and additional benefits will be available in the states that adopt the Medicaid expansion (CMS, 2013). The earned income tax credit is a larger subsidy for people who have children than for people who do not, and childless workers under age 25 are not eligible for the earned income tax credit at all.

According to estimates prepared by CLASP, only about 40 percent of poor young adults ages 18-25 receive food stamps—the most widely available benefit (Lower-Basch, 2013). Only 4 percent of poor young adults receive welfare under TANF or Supplemental Security Income. Looking at absolute numbers, in 2010 about 302,000 teens ages 16-19 received case assistance through TANF, along with 86,000 parents under age 20 and 557,000 parents ages 20-29 (ACF, 2010). Also, in 2011, SNAP served more than 6 million young adults ages 18-25. These benefits were not limited to parents, had higher income limits than other forms of assistance, and often were not subject to time limits, many of which were suspended during the recession.

More than half of the adults who receive TANF benefits are younger than age 30 (Falk, 2012). Under the program’s rules, teen parents under age 18 must live in an adult-supervised setting and attend school. Teen parents can be counted as engaged in work if they maintain satisfactory attendance at secondary school or the equivalent or participate in education directly related to employment for at least 20 hours per week. Education is much less emphasized for adults, who must average 30 hours per week of work participation or 20 hours per week if a single parent of a child under age 6.

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