General Assistance Benefits Saved

BayLegal recently achieved a significant victory in Alameda County.

On June 11, 2008, the Alameda County Superior Court issued a temporary restraining order preventing Alameda County's Department of Social Services from implementing its plan to drop over 3,000 of the 8,500 General Assistance (GA) recipients from its roster on July 1, 2008.

BayLegal's own Steven Weiss, Public Benefits Attorney, was a leader in bringing the suit against the county. BayLegal, in connection with Public Interest Law Project and Heller Ehrman, seeks an order permanently prohibiting Alameda County and the Social Services Agency from implementing the GA terminations. The suit asserts that the GA recipients affected are being unlawfully stripped of state-mandated subsistence benefits that help to keep them from becoming homeless.

For individuals like Frank Knight this initial victory means that he will keep his housing. Mr. Knight, a sixty-year old veteran recovering from brain tumor surgery, was at risk for losing his sole source of income, $336 each month in GA benefits. He depends on food stamps and a monthly GA check of $300 for rent and $36 left over to buy BART tickets, so he can travel to his medical appointments, and buy toiletries. If Mr. Knight were to lose his GA benefit he said "I would probably sleep on the steps of the Veterans Building."

On June 18, after the court granted a temporary restraining order enjoining the county from implementing its plan, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, by a vote of 4 to 1, suspended action on the Social Services Agency's GA redesign proposal.  The Board will now convene a GA working group to report back to the Board on program redesign within four months. 

The Social Services Agency is attempting to trim about $10 million from the Alameda County budget. However, as Dr. Michael Siegel of the Boston University School of Public Health notes, "Over 90 scientific studies demonstrate the strong connection between social support and disease." He estimated that, considering the increase in public health costs alone, and "under quite conservative assumptions," the agency's actions "will likely increase costs to Alameda County "by close to $7 million in the first year."

What is General Assistance (GA)?  GA is a lifeline for thousands of the Bay Area's poorest residents. The county program provides a small stipend of $336 a month for poor, non-homeless adults. The benefit provides minimal subsistence income to people who are impoverished, most of whom are unable to obtain or maintain employment due to physical and/or mental disabilities.

Steven Weiss of BayLegal said, "Recipients of GA who lose this last resort lifeline will be thrown into mental and physical health crises. Some will end up in hospital emergency rooms. Many will become homeless."