Elections have consequences.
Heckuva job mayor!
Any wonder why the voters disapprove of just about everything Mayor de Blasio is doing to improve the quality of life in New York City?
The NY Post reported yesterday that the city’s welfare rolls under Mayor de Blasio have reached their highest point in nearly nine years, rising after years of declines under the previous two administrations, official records show.
While the total number of those on welfare is less than 5% of their population, there were 373,504 people receiving welfare checks in October, the most since January 2007, when 377,896 were on the dole.
“Since the numbers aren’t looking as impressive as the [de Blasio] administration suggested they would be, this raises serious questions about whether their progressive agenda can improve the lives of poor New Yorkers better than what the Bloomberg and Giuliani administration did,” said Stephen Eide, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute who tracks welfare.
During the final month of the Dinkins administration in December 1993, the welfare caseload hit a startling 1,112,495. Under Rudy Giuliani, the numbers started dropping and ended up at 459,159 by the time he left office at the end of 2001. The reduction was due in large part to strict reforms enacted by Giuliani, including compelling able-bodied recipients to work. There were also improvements under Mike Bloomberg. By the end of his term in December 2013, the caseload was down to 346,398.
It has been edging up in recent months and rose above 373,000 in October, according to the most recent data on the Human Resources Administration (HRA) website. Records show that the rolls fell to 336,403 in May 2014, right around the time Steven Banks, the Legal Aid Society’s chief attorney, was named head of the HRA. Under Banks, a proponent for loosening welfare restrictions, the agency allowed recipients to substitute full-time education — including GED classes — for their work requirement.
Critics say it’s mind-boggling that welfare cases are rising even as the city’s unemployment rate has dropped from 8.3 percent when de Blasio took office in January 2014 to 4.7 percent two months ago. “It makes you wonder how bad the numbers might look like should the economy suffer another recession,” Eide said.
DCG
