TANF Reaching Few Poor Families

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Updated November 30, 2020

Cash Assistance Should Reach Millions More Families to Lessen Hardship

Families' Access Limited by Policies Rooted in Racism

By Laura Meyer and Ife Floyd1

Families experiencing poverty should have access to cash assistance to help them afford their basic needs and maintain stability, an especially urgent need during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the creation of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program more than two decades ago, families have used it to pay for rent, utilities, diapers, food, transportation, and other necessities. Yet, too few families struggling to make ends meet have access to the program, and TANF's history of racism means that it disproportionately fails to reach families in states where Black children are likelier to live. If TANF had the same reach as its predecessor, Aid to Families with Dependent Child (AFDC), did in 1996, 2 million more families nationwide would have received cash assistance in 2019. Instead its reach has declined dramatically. In 2019, for every 100 families in poverty, only 23 received cash assistance from TANF -- down from 68 families in 1996. (See Figure 1.) This "TANF-to-poverty ratio" (TPR) is nearly the lowest in the program's history.

This paper analyzes TANF caseload and poverty data from 2019, the most recent year available. In 2019, the country's poverty rate fell to its lowest point since the Great Recession. The situation has changed significantly since. Families with children are among those who have been hard hit by COVID-19 and the resulting economic crisis. Widespread hardship has created instability for millions of families, some of whom have turned to TANF, among other public programs, for relief.2 But as this paper illustrates, TANF does not reach many families in need. Access is worst for Black families, which have been especially hard hit by the pandemic's health impacts and its resulting economic crisis.3 Further, though TANF caseloads have grown in many states in 2020 (see box on

1 Evelyn Bellew contributed to proofing the data in this report. 2 Laura Meyer, "Senate Republican Plan's Emergency Fund a Good Step, But Inadequate," Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), July 30, 2020, 3 APM Research Lab, "The Color Of Coronavirus: Covid-19 Deaths By Race And Ethnicity In The U.S.," October 15, 2020, ; CBPP, "Tracking the COVID-19 Recession's Effects on Food, Housing, and Employment Hardships," updated November 18, 2020, .

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COVID-19's impact), the program's benefit levels are extremely low in many states, falling far short of what families need to meet their basic needs.4

FIGURE 1

Access to TANF largely depends on where a family lives. There are no federal minimum eligibility standards and states have the power to erect barriers or create pathways to TANF cash assistance. This has led to wide variation among state TPRs, which range from 70 in California to just 4 in Louisiana (see Appendix Figure 1). In 14 states, the ratio is 10 or less, meaning that for every 100 families living in poverty, 10 or fewer receive TANF cash assistance.

These geographic disparities reflect -- and can widen -- racial inequities in the TANF program: Black children are likelier and Latino children are somewhat more likely than white children to live in states with the lowest TPRs. The history of racism in cash assistance programs in the United States lives on in policies that impact access to TANF today, from strict work requirements and time limits to invasive behavioral requirements, exacerbating the barriers Black families still face to economic stability.

4 Ali Safawi and Ife Floyd, "TANF Benefits Still Too Low to Help Families, Especially Black Families, Avoid Increased Hardship," CBPP, updated October 8, 2020, . 2

More income during early childhood can improve children's futures, research finds.5 But TANF's limited reach means that when families hit upon hard times because they have lost a job, are fleeing domestic violence, or facing a health or mental health crisis, they may have no access to cash assistance. Blocking families from assistance to address these basic needs often puts them on a downward spiral, making it even harder to get back on their feet, and may have long-term negative consequences for children.

COVID-19 Crisis Led to TANF Caseload Increases

In response to growing hardship that resulted from the pandemic's impact on the economy in 2020, the number of families receiving TANF benefits has risen in most states -- and sharply in several. As unemployment skyrocketed and hardship grew for millions of families this spring, families in need turned to TANF for cash assistance, resulting in soaring applications for benefits.a These increases in applications preceded rising caseloads: in two-thirds of the states for which we have data for spring 2020, caseloads rose, reversing a trend of shrinking caseloads described in this paper.b

Most states made temporary TANF policy changes due to public health precautions, limited opportunities for residents to find work, and the safety of their staff. These policy changes range from extending eligibility recertifications and halting in-person interview requirements to suspending work requirements and providing expanded time limit exemptions. These changes reduce the burden of applying for or maintaining benefits and likely have contributed to caseload growth in some states.

For example, Michigan took administrative action to waive the requirement that families attend in-person orientations and to suspend job search and readiness requirements that require leaving the house.c Michigan's caseload increased 82 percent between February and May, more than any other state for which we have caseload data for 2020.

Arizona, which imposes the shortest time limit on benefit receipt in the country, has exempted families from the time limit for as long as the state public health emergency due to COVID-19 is in effect, among other policy changes; between February and July, the state's TANF caseload rose by 35 percent. Indiana suspended requirements that applicants complete job search activities before receiving benefits and redeterminations and Maryland suspended work requirements and extended eligibility recertifications and verifications.d Caseloads rose substantially in each of these states during the spring.

Most states made some policy changes in response to the public health and economic crisis, our analysis shows. A few states, such as Florida and Missouri, have started rolling back their amended policies; it is unclear how long these changes will last in other states.

a LaDonna Pavetti, "With Applications Soaring, TANF Needs More Funds, New Rules," CBPP, April 14, 2020, . b Laura Meyer, "Senate Republican Plan's Emergency Fund a Good Step, But Inadequate," CBPP, July 30, 2020, c Michigan Department of Health & Human Services, "Due to COVID-19, MDHHS closes lobbies except for appointments; suspends rules requiring office visits," March 17, 2020, d Arizona House Bill 2904, ; State of Indiana, Executive Order 20-05, "Helping Hoosiers During the Public Health Emergency Declared for the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Outbreak," March 19, 2020, ; Maryland Department of Human Services, "Department of Human Services Ensures Access to Food and Cash Benefits Does Not Stop for Vulnerable Marylanders During COVID-19 Pandemic," March 27, 2020,

5 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, "A Roadmap to Reducing Child Poverty," 2019, .

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State and federal policymakers can change these trends. States should remove barriers to assistance and ease policies that cut off families who are still struggling. At the federal level, policymakers should hold states accountable for serving families experiencing poverty and provide the resources to help them do so.

Cash Assistance for Poor Families Has Plummeted

If TANF had maintained the same reach to families in poverty as its predecessor, AFDC, had in 1996, 3.1 million families would have received TANF in 2019, about 2 million more than reported for that year. (See Figure 2.) Instead its reach has declined dramatically. In 2019, for every 100 families in poverty, just 23 families received TANF cash assistance -- a roughly two-thirds drop from TANF's creation in 1996, when 68 families received cash assistance for every 100 in poverty. Between 2018 and 2019, both poverty and caseloads declined. As a result, TANF reached slightly more families in poverty, and the TPR increased slightly after falling to its lowest-ever level in 2018.

FIGURE 2

Generally, the TPR has declined over time because TANF caseloads have fallen much more than the number of families experiencing poverty. That's been the case over the last 13 years, for example: between 2006 and 2019, the number of families in poverty fell by 24 percent (from about 6 million to about 4.6 million) while the number of families receiving TANF fell by 44 percent (from 1.9 million to about 1 million). Between its post-recession peak in 2010, when close to 2 million families received TANF (see Appendix B, Table 2) and 2019, the TANF caseload fell by 46 percent.

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What Is the TANF-to-Poverty Ratio?

We use the TANF-to-poverty ratio to examine changes over time in access to TANF by families experiencing poverty to help meet their basic needs. We calculate the ratio by dividing the number of TANF cash assistance cases by the number of families with children in poverty from the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey (CPS). We use two-year averages for our state-level calculations to improve the reliability of the data. (See Appendix A for further details about our methodology.) When this ratio falls, it means TANF is less responsive to need than in previous years. The TPR can fall because: (1) the number of families receiving cash assistance from TANF falls, without a corresponding drop in the number of families living in poverty; or (2) the number of families living in poverty rises, without a corresponding increase in the number of families receiving TANF benefits. The TPR rose slightly between 2018 and 2019 because the number of families in poverty fell more than the TANF caseload did. The TPR has both strengths and limitations. Its strengths include: (1) it provides a measure of access to TANF benefits that is consistent over time and across states; and (2) it uses readily available data, making it transparent and relatively current. Two key limitations are: (1) it is less reliable in small states because of sample size limitations in the CPS; and (2) the underreporting of income from public benefit programs in the CPS has worsened over time, making the official poverty estimates less accurate than they once were.

TANF-to-Poverty Ratio Falling in Most States, Often Sharply

The national TANF-to-poverty ratio misses the extreme -- and growing -- variation among states. In 2019 the TPR ranged from 70 in California to 4 in Louisiana. (See Figure 3.) (To improve the reliability of the state-level poverty data, we created two-year averages of the poverty numbers; we also converted the caseload data into two-year averages to calculate the TPRs. The years cited here are for the latter of the two years.)6

The TPR fell in a majority of states between 2006 (the last time TANF was reauthorized) and 2019 for several reasons: policy changes to restrict access and reduce costs during the Great Recession, adoption of more restrictive policies as part of a broader attack on economic security programs, and state responses to federal policy changes when TANF was reauthorized, among other factors.7 (See Appendix B, Table 1.) The TPR dropped by 10 or more points in 23 states over this period; in 15 of those states, it dropped by 20 points or more. In states with TPR declines, TANF caseloads fell while poverty rose or remained high, or caseloads rose by a relatively small amount while the number of families in poverty rose substantially.

6 Because our state-level TPRs are based on two-year averages, the latest figures -- which average data for 2018 and 2019 -- may not reflect the full effects of some state actions between 2018 and 2019. Those effects will likely become clear after another year of data is available. 7 Though TPRs have fallen both nationally and in every state since 1996, some states' TPRs have risen in recent years. In 2019, the TPR increased in 22 states. In just two of these states, TANF caseloads increased in 2019. In the other states, the TPR increased because the number of families in poverty has fallen faster than caseloads.

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FIGURE 3

An especially troubling trend is the number of states with TPRs of 10 or less. In 2006, only three states (Idaho, Louisiana, and Wyoming) had such low ratios, and in 1996, none did. The list grew during the Great Recession and has grown since then. In 2019, 14 states -- Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and Wyoming -- had TPRs of 10 or less. Three of these states have had especially large drops in their TPRs since 2006: Indiana (30 points), Kansas (22 points), and Arizona (21 points). All have made significant policy or administrative changes that have made it harder for families to receive benefits. (See Figure 4.) In 2019, more than one-third (35 percent) of families with children in poverty lived in states with TPRs of 10 or less.

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FIGURE 4

Historical Racism Restricted Access to AFDC and TANF, Harming Black Families and Children; Unequal Access Persists Today

A history of racist policies that aimed to limit Black mothers' access to family cash assistance programs continues to contribute to racial disparities in access to TANF today. Forty-one percent of the nation's Black children live in states with TPRs of 10 or less, compared to 33 percent of Latino children and only 28 percent of white children.8 Nationally, therefore, Black children are less likely than white children and somewhat less likely than Latino children to have access to TANF assistance when their families fall into crisis. Moreover, if Black families do manage to receive TANF cash benefits, they are likelier to live in states with the lowest benefit levels, which do little to help families meet their basic needs.9 Disparate access has persisted over decades: averaged together, the 14 states with the lowest TPRs today consistently had ratios lower than the national average every year between 1979, the earliest year of our state analysis, and 2019. Individually, a few of these states had ratios above the national average for some years, but generally, they had lower ratios than the national average even before TANF was implemented (see Appendix B, Table 4).

8 CBPP analysis of the U.S. Census 2019 American Community Survey child poverty estimates by race and the TANFto-poverty ratios. 9 Safawi and Floyd.

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From its roots, the public cash assistance system has excluded Black families in need. In the early 20th century, supporting people in need was typically the responsibility of private organizations, which had full discretion to exclude individuals based on race, nationality, or religion. Some of the earliest public cash assistance programs, Mothers' Pension programs, provided small benefits to widows and their children. Yet many Mothers' Pension programs refused to serve Black women or other women of color. In fact, the only systematic review of Mothers' Pension programs in 1931 found that only 4 percent of recipients were Black or "non-white."10

In 1935, the United States established the first federal cash aid program for children, Aid to Dependent Children (ADC), which provided federal support to states for family cash assistance programs. As Congress debated the Social Security Act of 1935, the Southern congressional delegation (a crucial bloc in both chambers) successfully insisted on provisions that gave control of the program to state and local officials, thus protecting the white supremacist socioeconomic order of the Jim Crow South from the perceived threat of an expanded federal government.11

One way Southern officials tried to keep Black mothers available for work was to simply reject or ignore their applications for aid.12 Even if a Black family's application was accepted, officials could coerce them to work by deliberately paying out lower benefits or with so-called "farm policies" where benefits were lowered or cut off during the planting or harvesting seasons to force parents and children as young as 7 into the fields for extremely low wages. In Louisiana and Arkansas, for example, benefits would be lowered or halted completely regardless of whether the family had secured such employment during planting or harvesting seasons.13

States also restricted access to benefits for Black families through "suitable home" policies. Between the late 1940s and the early 1960s, 23 states passed "suitable home" laws.14 Though they appeared throughout the country, the most punitive of these policies were in the South, where most Black people lived, and they often targeted Black families. The head of Georgia's Department of Public Welfare, for example, said in 1951 that the state's proposal to limit cash aid to unmarried mothers who had a child while on the program would save money "mainly by limiting aid to children of unwed Negro mothers."15 (Georgia backed off this proposal due to federal opposition

10 United States Children's Bureau, "Mother's Aid, 1931," in Premilla Nadasen, Jennifer Mittelstadt, and Marisa Chappell, Welfare in the United States: A History With Documents, 1935-1996. 2009, New York: Routledge.

11 Ira Katznelson, "Jim Crow Congress," Fear Itself: The New Deal and the Origins of Our Time, Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2013, pp. 156-194; Jill Quadagno, The Color of Welfare: How Racism Undermined the War on Poverty, Oxford University Press, 1994, p. 21.

12 Frances Fox Piven, "Why Welfare Is Racist," Race and Politics of Welfare Reform, University of Michigan Press, 2003, p. 323-336; Linda Gordon, Pitied but Not Entitled: Single Mothers and the History of Welfare, 1994, Free Press, p. 276; Winifred Bell, Aid to Dependent Children, Columbia University Press, 1965, p. 43.

13 Elisa Minoff, "The Racist Roots of Work Requirements," Center for the Study of Social Policy, February 2020, ; Francis Fox Piven and Richard A. Cloward, Regulating the Poor: The Functions of Public Welfare, Vintage Books, 1971, p. 143.

14 "Suitable home" laws, a provision in ADC law, allowed caseworkers to deny aid based on moral determinations of a home's fitness for child rearing. Many states defined and applied these standards in ways that mostly impacted Black families.

15 Bell, op. cit. p. 67.

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