6 Ways to Increase Poverty in Missouri

Just when you thought you heard all the ways Missouri legislators and the governor have made life worse for poor people they pull another one out of the hat. This last move spells trouble for housing projects for homeless people. The trend over time has caused more despair for low-income and working poor people in Missouri.

Here is a list of six ways that have Missouri officials have found to increase poverty for people in the state.

1. Make it difficult to obtain food assistance.

In a supposed effort to improve the food stamp (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP) and public welfare application process, the Department of Social Services (DSS) in Missouri plans to consolidate 114 family support offices throughout the state. The state also removed an online application, making it more difficult for individuals and agencies to apply on behalf of individuals.

While state officials have noted a drop in unemployment and food stamp participation, anti-poverty advocates tell a different story. “I think it’s because they’ve changed the system and made it so much harder for people to get food stamps,” said Glenn Koenen, Hunger Task Force chairman of the Missouri Association for Social Welfare. Missouri stopped taking online food stamp applications recently, which made it more difficult to apply.

Food stamp applicants are told to drop off their paperwork at a family support office and wait for a telephone call from a caseworker. That often leads to missed calls, follow-up conversations with a call center operator who doesn’t know the details of cases, voice mails left for caseworkers and finally, a denial of benefits when the 30-day deadline hits.

Koenen went further in his report to task force members: "Many of us have heard horror stories from DSS 'customers' (their word) stymied by the process." He added, "I'll wager bagels and coffee that thousands of people who qualify for food stamps aren't getting them because the new system isn't working well."

The cash benefits from SNAP are one of the best ways to reduce poverty by providing food assistance, which lifts a person's or families' income above the Federal poverty level. Expand the SNAP program to eligible families and workers and you reduce poverty.

2. Cut SNAP benefits.

On November 1 U.S. legislators cut food stamp benefits by 5.5%, which means around $20 per month is cut from the food budget of recipient families in Missouri. This cut puts pressure on working families, some of whom go to already-strained food pantries to make ends meet.

Louis Albert, the executive director of the Jewish Family and Children’s Service in Creve Coeur, a St. Louis suburb, said people getting fewer food stamps will “end up with less food. Could they make up the difference by going to a food pantry? I would say probably not likely, because food pantries can only give out the food they have. And the level of need has grown so much … that there’s not enough food to keep pace.”

Don't cut SNAP, expand it - make the lives of working poor and families easier by sharing the bounty of America's farming and food wealth.

3. Don’t expand Medicaid.

In 2013 Missouri, dominated by a GOP veto-proof legislatures, prevented the expansion of Medicaid, the public health care option available to very low income individuals and families. Fanatics in the Missouri legislature have blocked the expansion event though the Federal government pays 100% of the costs through 2017 and 90% after that. 

Why doesn't Missouri get on board? Many states with Republican governors or legislatures have agreed to expand Medicaid, including Arizona, Arkansas, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, and Ohio. The reason for the lack of expansion: Missouri legislators don't feel compassion for uninsured residents. According to expansion advocates at Missouri Medicaid Coalition:

Being able to see a doctor is a right, not a privilege. Working families should have the right to receive basic medical care when they need it, but tens of thousands of working Missourians can’t qualify for basic health care, and 877,000 currently have no health insurance at all.

Medicaid expansion "will save lives and make sure our hard-working neighbors are able to see a doctor. It's the right thing to do, and the smart thing to do," according to the coalition.

4. Prevent people who have served their prison time for drug crimes from applying for food stamps.

According to a 2012 Columbia Tribune report: "Some Missouri lawmakers believe it's not fair that convicted murderers and child molesters are eligible for food stamps, but people who have been convicted of felony drug crimes are not." 

Keep in mind that people who have served their time for drug crimes in Missouri -- one of nine states -- are banned from receiving food stamps, making it more difficult to adapt to life without a job. 

According to Rep. Bob Nance, an Excelsior Springs Republican, "it costs $1,100 a year in federal funds to provide food stamps to a drug felon, he said, compared with $21,000 in state funds to put one back in jail."

This ban has been in place since at least 2009 when I visited legislators in Jefferson City for Hunger Advocacy Day. Missouri state senator Matt Bartle at the time opposed removing the ban, suggesting released drug felons were "quite able to find a job."

Remove the ban and improve the likelihood these people will stay out of prison.

5. Drug test poor people seeking welfare benefits.

This policy is hypocritical and represents an onerous attack on poor people. In 2011 Governor Jay Nixon signed into law a requirement to test people who receive TANF benefits. People who fail the test are ineligibile to receive TANF for three years, unless they enroll in a treatment program and stay clean for three months. 

Legislators get unfounded credit for reducing fraud. Critics point out how it's not cost-effective. Why is the measurement of a social service program based on costs, but not on how it improves the quality of life? 

The bill "targets low-income individuals, particularly women with children, said Pat Dougherty of the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of St. Louis. "We have women who come to our program and who are successful, who are getting their lives back together, who are trying to get straight, and yet, you've got a penalty there," he mentioned in [a 2011 KMOX News Radio report].

If you want balance to this law, then drug test executives of federal military contractor firms.

Better yet, remove the law in Missouri like a federal judge did on December 31, 2013 to invalidate drug testing TANF recipients in Florida.

6. Reduce or eliminate affordable housing options. 

In December Governor Jay Nixon made a deal with legislators to trade tax credits to entice Boeing to build an airplane assembly plant in Missouri. The deal fell through causing a delay in the release of tax credits, which could impact the completion of important housing projects for homeless people and low-income individuals. 

Groundbreaking ceremony for St. Michael's Veteran Center
photo: KC Economic Development Council

One of the projects is St. Michael's Veteran Center, a housing complex for homeless military veterans near Harvesters food bank and the VA Hospital on Cleaver II Blvd in Kansas City.

Political maneuvering and differences in Jefferson City are delaying the release of tax credits to complete the projects.

Call your Missouri state representative to get them to release the tax credits for low-income housing. While you're at it ask them to increase tax credits to build more low-income housing in Missouri.