Social Action Linking Together

SALT Testimony

ORAL TESTIMONY TO ARLINGTON LEGISLATIVE DELEGATION—SALT

December 17, 2007

Thank you for the opportunity to speak on behalf of Social Action Linking Together, or SALT. I am Dale Dean, a member of the SALT Leadership Group and also of the advocacy network of my own parish—St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Arlington. We seek your support for SALT’s legislative priorities to address critical issues of homelessness and poverty in Virginia. Our priorities for this year are rental assistance, TANF benefit increase, transitional assistance for former drug offenders and child care assistance. Thank you for your past support of social justice initiatives.

We approach our priorities from a social justice perspective that emphasizes the dignity of the human person and choosing the option for the poor and vulnerable.

Rental Assistance: SALT joins the Virginia Catholic Conference and the Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness to urge adoption of a pilot rental assistance program. Low-wage, full-time workers are in our homeless shelters because they cannot afford homes of their own. Rental assistance could help working families afford housing, enable family and employment stability and clear space in homeless shelters for those who truly need it.

We commend Delegate Englin, who will introduce this legislation in the House of Delegates, and thank Senator Whipple for agreeing to sign onto it. We also thank Senator Colgan for his support of this legislation in the Senate.

TANF Benefit Increase: SALT advocates a 15% increase in benefits for recipients of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), to be funded primarily from a federal block grant. Future TANF benefits should be indexed to annual increases in the cost of living. Virginia families on TANF have received only one increase in their benefits over the past 23 years, a 10% increase in 2000. Inflation over that same period was 93%. TANF payments amount to less than one-fourth of the federal poverty income level. Our proposal would be less an “increase” than a partial “restoration” of benefits.

Transitional Assistance for Former Drug Offenders: SALT urges the General Assembly to lift the lifetime ban on TANF benefits for convicted drug felons who have satisfied the terms of their release when their prison sentences are served. We commend the General Assembly for lifting in 2005 the lifetime ban on such persons receiving food stamps. It is now time to lift the ban on TANF benefits. The ban penalizes spouses and children of former offenders, and hinders offenders’ re-entry into society. TANF federal grant funds can finance this change; no state funds would be required. Our thanks to Senators Ticer and Puller, and Delegate Hamilton for patroning this legislation.

Taken together, these initiatives will help low-income working Virginians. SALT appreciates that legislators face budget constraints and conflicting priorities, but we urge you to exercise an option for those struggling in our society against the financial pressures of low wages and high costs.

Thank you again for your attention and your past support.

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STATEMENT TO THE FAIRFAX DELEGATION TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

On Behalf of

SOCIAL ACTION LINKING TOGETHER (SALT)

JANUARY 5, 2008

Meeting Chair and Members of the General Assembly:

Thank you for the opportunity to speak on behalf of Social Action Linking Together (SALT). I am Bruce Neilson, a member of the SALT Leadership Group. I am seeking your support for a pilot program for Rental Assistance, TANF benefits for certain former offenders, smarter spending on the corrections system, and subsidized child care for the working poor.

SALT joins with the Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness to ask you to appropriate funds for a pilot Rental Assistance program. We are alarmed that in our homeless shelters, there are residents working in low-wage, full-time jobs who are unable to afford a home of their own. Rental assistance can provide the help working families need to get into their own homes, and to free the space at the shelter for other homeless individuals who now fill waiting lists.

We also ask you to support legislation to lift the lifetime ban on TANF benefits for convicted drug felons who have satisfied the terms of their release when their prison sentences are served. The lifetime ban was enacted federally in the 1990's to curb drug offenses and has been shown not to accomplish its intended purpose. What it has done is to impose a life sentence on spouses and children of

former offenders. This is unfair and applies to only a few hundred cases each year. In 2005, Virginia exempted Food Stamps from a lifetime ban, and it is time we do the same with TANF benefits. Federal TANF grant funds can finance this change, and no state funds would be required.

SALT urges legislators to stop building new prisons and instead to invest in cost effective and proven alternatives. Public funds could be better spent on re-entry programs that are far less costly and proven to reduce recidivism and the future need for prison spaces. States with re-entry programs are spending smarter and reducing their prison construction needs. We can follow the lead of for example, Texas, Florida and Maryland, and cut the demand for future prison construction while at the same time reducing reincarceration rates.

Each of these priorities respects human dignity and supports church social teachings. We seek justice for the less fortunate among us as a matter of faith. Passage into law of any of these proposals will improve the lives of working, poor Virginia families. We thank you for your past support, and we hope you will vote with us in the upcoming session of the General Assembly.