In an article published in the San Gabrial Valley Tribune, Los Angeles County officials state that if the Governor's proposal to eliminate CalWORKs is approved that 80,000 families in the county will become homeless. That figure represents nearly 40 percent of the families on assistance in Los Angeles today. Extrapolated statewide this would mean about 200,000 families in California would become homeless. This data is consistent with data by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities showing that half of the children on CalWORKs would see a significant drop in income if CalWORKs is eliminated.

The article also disputes assertions by Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman that California's spending on welfare is out of line with other large states. According to the article national census data shows that New Yorkers pay $17 a month to support their welfare program while Californians spend $15 a month to support the CalWORKs program.

Here is the link to the article:

http://www.sgvtribune.com/ci_15284060?IADID=Search-www.sgvtribune.com-www.sgvtribune.com

Both Whitman and her primary challenger Steve Poisner targeted CalWORKs during the recently concluded campaign. Whitman's radio ads have repeatedly stressed that California's welfare program is too large when comapred with other states like New York. But the difference in payments by each state's taxpayers suggest something entirely different. California is able to help five times as many poor families as New York at a lower cost per taxpayer than New York.  Five Times!

The truth is that the CalWORKs program is one of the most effective and efficient programs operated by the state of California. 16 years ago California spent $3.7 billion a year on the old AFDC program but today, even in the midst of a deep recession, the state spends just $2.1 billion on CalWORKs. Even less now due to budget reductions to welfare to work activities. CalWORKs is not causing the budget crisis and in fact should be a model of government at its' best.