TANF at 25 Years: Overcoming a Racist History and Improving Families’ Long-Term Wellbeing

Advocates and analysts discuss issues with and improvements to safety net program

Trenton, NJ – August 19 – This Sunday, August 22^nd, is the anniversary of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, which provides direct cash assistance and other support services to struggling families. Leading New Jersey advocacy and policy analysis organizations used the milestone to discuss the program’s problematic history, current issues, and proposed solutions. In TANF’s 25 year-tenure, its pitifully low benefits, increasingly narrow eligibility, and unforgiving work requirements have been woefully inadequate to meet the needs of low-income individuals and have perpetuated trends of systemic racism.

“TANF is NJ’s only program designed to protect low-income families with children during times of greatest need, but since its implementation the program has been shrinking, leaving primarily parents of color stuck in poverty without the needed support to rise out of it,” said Renee Koubiadis, Anti-Poverty Director at New Jersey Citizen Action. “Recognizing the racist ideas that influenced the design and implementation of TANF over the years is a critical first step to ensuring it can be a true safety net for all families, especially people of color who are disproportionately impacted by poverty.”

TANF has made it more difficult for very low-income families to access critical assistance and support by draining benefit levels, narrowing eligibility, and increasing the likelihood families would be kicked from the program with harsh punitive measures and sanctions. Due to stringent work requirements, TANF recipients are pushed off the program too soon when they take low-paying, part-time, or temporary jobs that are not self-sustaining, despite that these are often the only work available for those who are most in need of TANF benefits. Programs like TANF exhibit systemic racism by keeping Black mothers and other people of color in low-wage labor while denying them access to meaningful support to move out of poverty.

“More than a century of anti-black narratives — such as the suggestion that Black women are unfit mothers — and paternalistic policies that sought to control Black women’s behavior and compel their labor, continue to influence TANF to this day,” commented Ife Floyd, Director of TANF Research and Analysis for the Center of Budget & Policy Priorities. “What we see in TANF today as a reflection of these policies is a weak program for families of all races and ethnicities who fall on hard times.”

Despite its intent to reach families at 50% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), or deep poverty, NJ’s program currently only reaches families at 30% of the FPL or below. Since 1996, there has been a 91% decline in enrollment in NJ TANF. In their August 4th report, the Center on Budget Policy Priorities identified the national declines in enrollment in 1993-2016 were related to decreased eligibility and lower average state benefits (79%), not to decreased need (21%). From 1987 to 2019, NJ did not increase TANF benefits at all, then raised them by 32% in 2019 and 2020, bringing the monthly benefit for a family of 3 from $424 to $559.

“Thousands of families with low incomes have relied on programs like TANF to help them escape deep poverty, put food on the table, and a roof over their head, but that doesn’t mean the program is without its flaws,” said Brittany Holom-Trundy, Senior Policy Analyst at NJ Policy Perspective. “As currently designed, TANF only focuses on getting families off of the program, rather than on guaranteeing them the support they need for long-term success. As we honor the 25th anniversary of TANF, lawmakers should continue to improve the program by increasing cash assistance levels, removing arbitrary benefit limits, and providing more innovative job and education options.”

In 1996, TANF reached 100% of families in deep poverty nationally, now it reaches less than 20%. If it were to have the same reach as in 1996, the number of families covered would go from 1.1 million to 3.1 million. Between 1995-2005, deep poverty rose from 5.4% to 7.4% for children of single mothers (population most served by TANF), while the number of families receiving cash assistance fell by 2.7 million. Then between 2005-2016 the percent of all children in deep poverty fell from 3.5% to 2.7%, not because of TANF’s success, but due to other improved government assistance programs like EITC.

For TANF to be a true safety net and actually address the needs of low-income families, the Center on Budget Policy Priorities recommends several improvements: center within TANF the needs of Black mothers and children, which would benefit all poor families; establish a federal minimum benefit level; bar mandatory work requirements, behavioral requirements, time limits, and other eligibility exclusions; refocus TANF agencies on helping families with immediate crisis and improving long-term wellbeing; change TANF’s funding structure to focus resources on basic assistance, address funding inequities, and prevent benefit erosion over time. Starting with a recognition of the racist design of TANF and taking these steps can ensure an increase in economic security and improvement in wellbeing for all families struggling with poverty.

Watch the full discussion on TANF here: https://fb.watch/7up0rC-ZoR/

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New Jersey Citizen Action is a statewide advocacy and empowerment organization that advances social, racial and economic justice for all, while also meeting the pressing needs of low- and moderate-income New Jerseyans through education and direct services.