Lawmakers have approved changes designed to help families in need more easily navigate the state’s Reach Up benefits program.
The Senate on Wednesday gave final approval to H.673, which modifies Reach Up’s work, education, vehicle-ownership and case-management requirements. The House approved the bill in February.
Department for Children and Families officials say they don’t expect the changes to increase the program’s enrollment or costs. Rather, the idea is to help current Reach Up families “be more successful,” said Erin Oalican, who directs the program.
“The ultimate goal is, people will be able to move off of Reach Up,” Oalican said. “But while they’re participating, it needs to be structured in a way that meets their needs.”
Reach Up is the state’s version of the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. In Vermont, the program provides case management, work assistance and cash benefits to eligible residents.
Eligibility is based on factors like income, living expenses, asset value and the number of people in a household. Sen. Debbie Ingram, D-Chittenden and a member of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee, said income guidelines for Reach Up range from 50 percent to 75 percent of the federal poverty level.
“For a household of three, that’s from about $10,000 to $15,000 per year,” Ingram said. “So that’s obviously very low income indeed.”
There are about 2,800 Vermont families on Reach Up currently. Department statistics show that the program’s census has been declining steadily since fiscal year 2014.
“It’s really closely tied to the economy,” Oalican said. “When the economy is better, the caseloads decline.”
But for those still enrolled in the program, state officials wanted a way to streamline some benefits and allow more flexibility for others. So H.673 makes changes in four areas:
• The bill allows families, when determining their eligibility for the Reach Up program, to exclude “the equity value of one operable motor vehicle for any child of driving age who needs a vehicle to attend school or work.”
Regulations currently allow both parents’ vehicles to be excluded from a family’s assets for eligibility calculations.
But, given that 2,200 of the state’s Reach Up families live outside major transportation hubs, officials said it’s also important to allow older children to obtain a car.
“Being such a rural state, we wouldn’t want to keep any kids from getting to school or to their jobs,” Oalican said.
• The legislation also makes a number of modifications to work requirements that must be met in order to maintain Reach Up benefits.
In only one instance — for households where only one parent who is able to work, and the youngest child is under age 6 — are work requirements reduced under H.673. Otherwise, officials say the bill streamlines work requirements and aligns them with federal standards.
Currently, “families can be in one of about eight different categories … and about six variations in between,” Ingram said. “The actual federal requirements are much simpler.”
The bill also introduces more flexibility for parents to share work requirements, Oalican said.
• H.673 places more emphasis on education, as well.
Current law allows for modification or deferment of work requirements if a Reach Up participant is engaged in at least 25 hours of classroom time per week. Lawmakers want to change that to 15 hours per week “to encourage parents to take advantage of educational opportunities,” Ingram said.
• Lastly, H.673 deletes a requirement that the Department for Children and Families initiate a mandatory case review 18 months after a family enrolls in Reach Up, and again at the 36-month mark.
“What DCF found is that case managers are actually contacting their families frequently, as needed,” Ingram said. “To have this stipulation of exactly 18 months and 36 months is really an unnecessary burden, and the proper case management is taking place without that kind of stipulation.”
The proposed Reach Up changes drew support from Vermont Legal Aid, which lauded “efforts to make the program more efficient.”
In recent testimony submitted to the Senate Health and Welfare Committee, Jessica Radbord, a legal aid staff attorney, said Reach Up families “face significant barriers to self-sufficiency that can be carried from one generation to the next.”
Radbord said efforts to provide better access to transportation and education can reduce those barriers. She also said she sees clients who “piece together part-time work, odd jobs and seasonal employment to meet their work requirements” for Reach Up.
“This bill presents a much less complicated set of work requirements that will allow families to better comply with the rules and participate in Vermont’s workforce,” Radbord wrote.
