Tag: welfare

HUD Explores Cash over Housing Vouchers

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is toying with the idea of providing American renters cash aid instead of vouchers. Current vouchers only demand that tenants pay 30% of their income on rent, while the US taxpayers foot the rest of the bill. The department says it is still too difficult for would-be tenants to use these vouchers and would like to provide them with cash to use as they see fit.

Pilot programs are appearing across America. Philadelphia swapped out vouchers with cash for 300 renters across the city. Since the government is incapable of efficiently running these smaller programs, the waitlist for housing vouchers in Philadelphia overwhelmed the city to the point that it was shut down for a decade. Those in the pilot program earn under 50% of the local median income with a child under the age of 15. Not only is their portion of rent reduced to 30% of income, but the government has provided them with debit cards to cover the additional portion of rent. Technically, they can spend it however they see fit.

Housing development agencies say cash is preferable to vouchers as landlords bypass discrimination laws and are more likely to reject potential tenants who use government vouchers. If someone has a business, does it not make more sense that they would be hesitant to partner with someone who they know cannot pay? Advocates believe “red tape” items like unit inspections are causing delays. Advocates also insist that providing cash will directly will help these people move to safer neighborhoods, neighborhoods where the residents work and pay their share of taxes into the system. These people insist that everything should be done to provide for those who remain underemployed or underemployed without addressing the root problem.

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Walgreens Agrees to Pay $107 Million to Settle Allegations of Falsely Billing Medicare, Medicaid

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc., one of the nation’s largest retail pharmacy chains, has agreed to pay $106.8 million to settle allegations of submitting false claims to federal health care programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a press release.

The allegations involve claims for prescriptions that were processed but never dispensed, spanning a period from 2009 to 2020. This settlement resolution falls under the False Claims Act, a tool for addressing fraud involving taxpayer-funded health care programs.

The DOJ alleged that Walgreens billed federal health care programs for prescriptions that beneficiaries never picked up, allowing the company to receive millions of dollars in payments for medications that were never provided.

Walgreens, which is based in Deerfield, Illinois, did not admit liability in agreeing to settle.

“Due to a software error, we inadvertently billed some government health care programs for a relatively small number of prescriptions our patients submitted but never picked up,” the company said in an emailed statement to The Epoch Times.

“We corrected the error, reported the issue to the government, and voluntarily refunded all overpayments. We appreciate the government acknowledged our compliance efforts as part of resolving this matter.”

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Biden-Harris initiative could be giving well over $1 billion in federal benefits to Haitian migrants

A Biden administration migrant welfare program could be handing out in excess of $1 billion in benefits to those crossing the Southern Border.

The CHNV program has allowed hundreds of thousands of nationals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to enter the US. 

It allows 30,000 migrants to apply for asylum each month and be flown to the US on the taxpayer dollar, as long as they have a sponsor who passes a background check. 

The undocumented migrants are given a two-year grace period to obtain status and in the meantime can live and work lawfully in the country on ‘humanitarian parole.’

According to figures from Border Protection, over 520,000 migrants from the four countries were paroled into the US between January 2023 and June of this year. 

This was broken down into 109,000 Cubans, 205,000 Haitians, 90,000 Nicaraguans, and 115,000 Venezuelans. 

Haitians and Cubans that are involved with the program are immediately eligible for taxpayer-funded federal benefits like Medicaid, food stamps and welfare. 

Analysis by DailyMail.com indicates that the Medicaid cost, which costs around $9,175 per enrollee, would cost $1.8 billion if every Haitian who entered the country received it. 

SNAP benefits, more commonly known as food stamps, would cost the country $451 million, with general welfare benefits climbing to $1.2 billion. 

The three figures take the overall spend on benefits only to over an eyewatering $3.4 billion. 

Even if only a quarter of the Haitians are getting all the benefits they are entitled to receive, that figure would stand at $850 million.

Average costs were obtained from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the Department of Health & Human Services, and a Medicaid Commission.

Court documents show that the vetting process isn’t stringent, with an approval rating of 98.3 percent for Haitian applicants from January to June of last year. 

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Under Biden More Americans on Welfare and Fewer Americans Working

Socialists want higher taxes, increased reliance on government, and if possible, the complete elimination of the private sector.

They aim to transform the US into a country where, like much of the world, 1 in 5 youths are NEET—“not in employment, education, or training.” In the US, the percentage of those aged 16-24 qualifying as NEET has already reached 11.9%, and as welfare and unemployment benefits increase, so will this number.

They advocate for universal basic income (UBI), which is defined as “an unconditional cash payment given at regular intervals by the government to all residents, regardless of their earnings or employment status.” The country appears to be moving in this direction.

Under Biden, more people are on government assistance than at any time in US history, and the workforce participation rate is at the lowest point since 1978, when women became fully integrated into the workforce.

The low workforce participation rate is the result of liberal government unemployment and disability payments, as well as food and rent assistance, that make it more profitable to stay home and collect checks than to work.

Those who support welfare programs often downplay the amount of money recipients receive by citing a single program like SNAP, where the maximum benefit for a family of four is $931.

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ICE is apparently losing almost all of the millions of illegal aliens Mayorkas let in

When the Democrats ended Trump’s “remain in Mexico” policy and Obama’s “detain them at the border policy”—which only became an issue when Trump continued it— they assured us that the millions of illegal aliens streaming in would still have to defend their refugee status before a judge. One day. Perhaps in a few years. However, even that window dressing won’t happen because it turns out that Biden’s government is, on average, losing 99% of all illegal aliens who entered the country with the government’s permission.

Nobody knows how many illegal aliens have entered America since Biden took office. Including known entries and estimates of “gotaways,” it’s something in the range of 5-8 million. It used to be that those who sought asylum as refugees had to make their case before being released, unsupervised, into America. Biden, however, started the practice of giving these people court dates and sending them on their way based on their “parole” or promise that they’d show up in court on the given date.

Well, they’re not showing up:

More than 99% of illegal immigrants caught and released a year ago as part of a special border “parole” program are still at large, according to government data that signals how difficult it will be to unwind the millions of migrants who have gained a foothold under President Biden.

These migrants present a critical test case for the Biden administration. A federal judge has demanded unprecedented transparency in the Department of Homeland Security’s handling of 2,572.

All of them were supposed to have reported in by last summer, but data filed with the judge at the one-year mark shows 25 hadn’t checked in with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

ICE, meanwhile, has failed to issue immigration court summonses to 340 others, meaning they are not in deportation proceedings after a year.

ICE said it can confirm the deportation, departure or death of just 14 people, meaning 99.5% of all of the migrants caught and released under this parole program are thought to still be in the U.S. Only one of the migrants was being held at the time ICE reported to the court in late May.

As Gomer Pyle would say, “Suh-prise! Suh-prise! Suh-prise!”

We all knew that this was exactly what would happen, in significant part because everyone understands that these people are not refugees escaping political persecution. They have no case to make in court. Instead, they are simply leaving a poor country for a richer one with welfare benefits.

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U.S. Department of Commerce Has Plan Already in Place to Digitize the Identities of all Americans Receiving ‘Public Benefits’

Federal ‘Guidelines’ have already been secretly adopted for a Digital ID program that will start off as ‘voluntary’ but only the most gullible Americans would believe that’s anything but temporary.

In the globalist drive toward the creation of a national digital ID for all Americans is well under way, and the first group of citizens to be coerced into accepting a digital ID will be those receiving public benefits of one type or another.

Government healthcare benefits, Veterans’ benefits, Social Security benefits, and of course low-income welfare programs of every type will all be fair game for digital IDs, and the U.S. government is already far down the road to adopting a strategy of digitizing all government-dependent citizens.

It all begins with a little-known program within the U.S. Department of Commerce.

I bet you didn’t know that the federal Commerce Department has a sub-agency called the National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST for short, and that NIST has already adopted a set of “digital identity guidelines.”

These guidelines are ostensibly designed “to better support public-benefits programs.” Biometric Update reports that these programs assist beneficiaries with essential needs such as food, housing, and medical expenses, and then goes on to explain NIST’s role in digitizing all these government beneficiaries.

As is almost always the case, the federal agency has partners in the private sector to help it fulfill its mission of bringing in the technocratic/biometric beast system designed to replace people’s free will with government mandating every facet of their lives.

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San Francisco opens city’s first $5 million taxpayer-funded free food ‘market’

San Francisco opened its first $5.5 million free food “market”, where approved residents can show a benefits eligibility card, put what they want in their carts, check out to keep track of outgoing inventory, and leave without paying.

The Bayview-Hunters Point facility aims to be a food pantry alternative that replicates the supermarket experience in an area where many grocery stores have come but few have remained due to high crime.

The 4000-square foot District 10 Market is the first of San Francisco’s food empowerment “markets” funded by the San Francisco’s Human Services Agency. Eligible individuals receive a Costo-like benefits card that allows use of the facility once per month. Eligibility is limited to individuals who live within one of three zip codes, be verified social services clients, have dependents under 25 or a qualified food-related illness, and be referred by one of eleven community organizations in the market’s referral network.

Geoffrea Morris, who spearheaded San Francisco’s Food Empowerment Market legislation in 2021 while working for a county supervisor and is a senior consultant for the District 10 Market, explains the program is meant to supplement food stamps that run out towards the end of the month, especially due to rising food costs from inflation.

“This is a supplemental source for food. Food stamps should be the primary source. This is a supplemental source especially close to the end of the month when families are facing the pain, especially with inflation,” Morris told The Center Square.

The facility is designed to closely replicate the supermarket experience, with individuals’ items weighed and scanned upon “check-out” to keep track of inventory and manage supply chains. District 10 Market, which is operating on a $5.5 million grant from San Francisco, uses taxpayer funds to purchase high-quality fresh produce from Rodriguez Brothers Ranch in Watsonville, and largely relies on donations from other grocery stores for its shelf-stable items and toiletries.

“If we didn’t tell you it was free you’d think you’d have to pay,” Morris said.

Morris also detailed how District 10 Market’s referral process is meant to ensure use of wraparound services.

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95% of This Historic City’s Welfare Dependents Are Illegals. Now, Democrats Are Trying to Place Them in People’s Homes.

The city of Westbrook, Maine, is considering a new ordinance that would permit private homes, churches, and community centers to serve as homeless shelters. Most housing assistance applicants are recent migrants, and the proposal comes after the city’s welfare program official acknowledged that “90 to 95 percent” of welfare recipients are migrants, referred to as “New Mainers” by open borders activists.

Jennie Franceschi, Westbrook’s Director of Planning and Code Enforcement, indicated that the ordinance would enable single-family homes and churches to become emergency shelters if community needs dictate. The proposal does not mandate homeowners or churches to house homeless individuals but allows them to register as official homeless shelters voluntarily.

Resident Martin Malia argues the current proposal could lead to an 11.4 percent tax increase. Malia expressed fears that the ordinance might also attract more homeless immigrants, further taxing the general assistance program and municipal resources.

Despite these concerns, the Planning Board did not address Malia’s points in detail. The board ultimately voted unanimously to move the ordinance and another establishing a licensing process for homeless shelters to the city council.

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Migrants Protest for More Free Government Benefits in New York City

A group of several dozen migrants joined liberal Democrat politicians in New York City on Thursday to protest for even more government benefits for “newcomers.”

The New York Immigration Coalition joined a group of elected Democrat officials on the steps of City Hall to demand more money from the city budget to be dedicated to migrants, according to Caribbean Life.

The activists demanded an array of higher spending, including an additional $109 million for free legal services for immigrants, $5 million for language services, $25 million in support for two city programs for illegal aliens, and an end to policies that evict migrants from shelters after a prescribed time.

Council Member Alexa Avilés, for one, demanded that New York Mayor Eric Adams increase spending for migrants, and added, “Our priorities remain crystal clear: legal services, transfer schools, language justice and more.”

Council Member Shahana Hanif, who has advocated for permanent free housing for migrants, insisted that New York City should prioritize providing “quality education, good jobs, adequate healthcare, and dignified housing, reflect our unwavering commitment to building a city that uplifts all New Yorkers, regardless of their immigration status and no matter when they arrived.”

Hanif went on to claim that Biden’s tidal wave of illegal immigrants are “our new neighbors” who she claims face “roadblocks … when accessing housing, employment, and education.”

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No, Illegal Immigrants Do Not Make the Country Rich

There is a joke about immigration: “If illegal aliens grow the economy, then the countries they left must be rich.” The reality is, however, that rather than making the country richer, illegal immigrants cost the country money. The amount of money the government spends on illegal aliens each year is “the equivalent of $500 per American man, woman, child, and retiree.”

Every day, approximately 5,000 illegal aliens enter the United States. The media claims that immigration is growing the US economy, using this argument to justify open borders and illegal immigration. However, there are several intentionally misleading points here. First, the economic growth attributed to immigration includes the wages earned and taxes paid by legal immigrants, which has nothing to do with illegal immigration. The fact that legal immigrants contribute to the economy does not justify what is happening at the southern border.

Yes, every additional person living in the country adds to GDP; however, there is nothing special about illegal aliens that contributes more to this growth. In fact, legal aliens are significantly better for the economy because they pay taxes and are less likely to send most of their earnings out of the country. Legal immigrants are more likely to buy a home and pay property taxes, which fund local schools. They are also more likely to start a business, creating jobs.

Adding people to the economy who do not work or contribute only grows the economy by the amount of government transfer payments they spend. However, these transfer payments come from taxes already paid by citizens or from government debt that will need to be repaid in the future. Additionally, these transfers draw funds away from existing social programs.

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