Temporary and Disability Assistance, Office of

Note: Most recent estimates as of 12/16/08.

Mission

The Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA), working in close collaboration with the Office of Children and Family Services and other agencies, helps needy adults and families achieve economic self-sufficiency through work, job training and child support enforcement. OTDA provides economic assistance to aged and disabled persons who are unable to work, transitional support to public assistance recipients while they are working toward self-sufficiency, and supportive services to low-income households to help them avoid welfare dependency.

Budget Highlights

The Executive Budget recommends $5.2 billion All Funds ($1.2 billion General Fund; $4.0 billion Other Funds) for OTDA. This is an increase of $261 million ($142 million General Fund decrease; $403 million Other Funds increase) from the 2008-09 budget. This net change reflects increased funding for the Federal Home Energy Assistance Program, reduced funding for the State SSI supplementation program, and other budget actions.

The Office’s workforce will be 2,280 positions in 2009-10. Approximately 647 of these positions are paid by State tax dollars from the General Fund with partial Federal reimbursement and 1,331 are funded directly by Federal grants. The remaining 302 positions are supported by various special revenues.

Major budget actions include:

• Increase Public Assistance Grant: The Executive Budget will increase the basic allowance portion of the public assistance grant by 10 percent a year for the next three years. At full implementation, this will result in a $96 per month increase in the basic allowance.

• Reduce Supplemental Security Income (SSI) State Benefit: The Federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program provides cash assistance to the aged, blind, and disabled, and is administered by the Social Security Administration. New York State provides additional financial support to its SSI recipients. Although the 2009-10 Executive Budget reduces the 2009 calendar year State benefit for SSI, a recipient’s total monthly SSI benefit will still be $9 to $34 higher than their 2008 monthly benefit as a result of a 5.8 percent cost of living increase to the Federal benefit.

• Reduce Personal Needs Allowance of Certain Public Assistance Recipients: The 2009-10 Executive Budget will reduce the allowance given to the 7,000 public assistance recipients who reside in chemical dependence treatment facilities to an amount that is comparable to the allowance given to recipients who reside in similar settings that provide room and board.

• Eliminate Local Administration Fund: The 2009-10 Executive Budget replaces General Fund support of the Local Administration Fund (which supports the State share of food stamps and public assistance administration) with Federal funding by increasing the Flexible Fund for Family Services allocation by $310.6 million.

• Reduce Reimbursement for New York City Adult Homeless Shelters: The Executive Budget caps reimbursement to New York City for adult homeless shelter expenditures at $79.7 million, a reduction of $10.6 million from 2008-09 levels.

• Reduce or Eliminate Funding for Various Homeless, Refugee and Employment-Related Programs: Funding is reduced for the Homelessness Intervention Program (HIP) and the Single Room Occupancy (SRO) Supportive Services Program. These programs assist homeless individuals and families in achieving self-sufficiency by strengthening their independent living skills and helping them acquire and retain permanent housing. Funding is also reduced for the Citizenship Program and the New York State Refugee Resettlement Assistance Program (NYSRRAP), which assists refugees and asylees by providing such services as job search and housing location help, employment training, and assistance in the attainment of citizenship status. The Executive Budget will also eliminate funding for the Homeless Prevention Program (HPP), the Safety Net Assistance Local Innovations Program (SNAP), the Local Interagency VESID Employment Services Program, the Educational Resources Program, and the HIV Welfare-to-Work Program. These programs have sufficient unexpended balances to continue for a period of time absent new funding.

• Eliminate the Strengthening Families Through Stronger Fathers Program: Funding is eliminated for the Fatherhood program, which currently supports five pilots that provide employment training, parenting training, legal services, financial counseling and mental health services to non-custodial parents. The program will continue to run until the end of the pilot phase on September 30, 2009.

2009-10 Executive Budget — Agency Presentation
Temporary and Disability Assistance, Office of (PDF)