Your Opinion: Response on safety net

Dear Editor:

A letter in the Aug. 23 News Tribune implied that safety net programs entice people to become poor. Empower Missouri has been addressing public policy issues related to poverty and hunger since 1901. The research we have seen and the people we have met cause us to believe safety net programs respond to poverty rather than causing it.

In WW II, many draftees were rejected for malnutrition-related conditions. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, commonly known as food stamps) has greatly improved health in the U.S. SNAP serves very vulnerable people; 44 percent of its recipients are children, 20 percent are elderly or disabled, and 22 percent are adults with children. Most of those parents would be thrilled to have a job with a wage high enough to take them off of SNAP.

The Special Supplemental Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) is another safety net success story. By providing protein and iron-rich foods to pregnant and nursing women and very young children, better outcomes have been produced. Four dollars in health costs are saved for each one dollar spent on food.

The number of persons helped by safety net programs has dropped steeply in Missouri. According to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, for every 100 poor families with children, only 28 received financial assistance from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families in 2013-14, down from 82 in 1995-96. Those parents are largely not going into family-supporting wage jobs. Nationally research by H. Luke Shaefer and Kathryn Edin shows that the number of children living in households with less than $2 per person per day rose 159.9 percent between 1996 and 2013.

More than 30,000 childless adults have lost access to SNAP in Missouri since May 2015 because they could not meet stringent work requirements. Because of Senate Bill 24 from 2015, Missouri is enforcing those rules even in the 50-plus counties with unemployment rates high enough to qualify for a federal extension. Members of the General Assembly have the mistaken belief that less than $4 per day in food stamp benefits is an incentive for Missourians not to seek work.

We can and must do better. We hope policymakers will attend "Changing the Story: From Trauma to Hope," our 115th annual conference on October 6-7 to learn more about the realities of poverty. Details are available on our website.