In the fall of 2005 a report was issued that explained just how much a single parent needs to earn, without public or private assistance, to live in Connecticut. It was no surprise to anyone that to live in Hartford with one school age child and a preschooler, a parent needs to make $45,000 a year. In Stamford that number climbs to $61,000. These amounts are well above the $16,090 federal poverty level for a family of three.
The report entitled, “The Real Cost of Living in 2005: the Self-Sufficiency Standard for Connecticut” attempts to answer the question, “How much money is enough for families to meet their needs without public subsidies?” According to this study, it would take about $30,000 more (above the poverty level) for a family to pay the rent on a two bedroom apartment, have a car for transportation to a job, pay for daycare, buy groceries, in order not to depend on anyone for anything. This standard does assume that an individual has employer-sponsored health insurance.
There are 66,000 working families in CT that don’t make $45,000. In Connecticut, the wealthiest state in the country, 257,229 (7.6%) of our people live in poverty. It has been almost a decade since broad and sweeping changes were made in the nation’s welfare system and while the number of recipients has decreased it has failed to lift people up and out of poverty. Many former AFDC recipients often work several jobs (rarely is health insurance provided) and still require subsidies for day care, housing, food and medical care.
During the 2006 session of the General Assembly the Conference will focus legislative efforts on making changes to our state’s welfare system that would go a long way toward making people self sufficient. Among the proposals:
Also, we will continue to work in Coalition on making changes to the HUSKY/SAGA programs to ensure that children and low-income adults have access to medical care.
