Last week, Gov. Laura Kelly, under the threat of a lawsuit by Attorney General Derek Schmidt, dropped the plan to provide extended food assistance to thousands of Kansas adults who fail to meet a work requirement.
As it stands, the law allows food assistance for three months every three years for an ABAWD (able-bodied adult without disability). To qualify for the federal food assistance program known as SNAP, these people must work 80 hours a month or participate in SNAP to Skills training a program Kansas does not participate in.
So whats the problem? It may seem only fair that an able-bodied person without a disability between the ages of 18 and 49 should have to work to receive food. Lets just pretend that its diamonds theyre asking for and not food, because every individual has the right to have food; diamonds, not so much.
We see this at Humanity House. These are young people aging out of foster care. These are homeless veterans. Some are people struggling with mental illness. But there is a small group of people who have no income. Not a cent crosses their palm. Are they able-bodied? Yes, they are. Are they capable of working? Yes. Are they lazy? No. Do they want to work? Yes. So the problem lies somewhere in between the job interview and the actual job. To be honest, these people are generally not hireable, often for reasons that are hard to pin down. Some are slow. Not slow enough to qualify for disability. Not slow enough that they are eligible to have someone go with them on the job and help them be trained. They have a sense of humor, feelings, ideas, but they can be off-putting in their lack of social skills. When they apply for jobs, they are given first and even second interviews and then never called back.
They live in vehicles. They live on the couch of a friend until that friend asks them to move on. They live in tents; they sleep on benches; they live in empty garages or abandoned buildings. When we talk to them, the one thing they always have is hope. They hope that they will get a call back for a job. They hope they can make their shoes, coat, hat, or gloves last. They hope they can find shelter and a place to take a shower. They hope they can find a place to wash their clothing, even if they cant find a place to shower. They hope they can have food.
Derek Schmidt thought that responsible, hardworking Kansans would find it a slap in the face to provide food for these lazy, non-working people. The most vulnerable of our population.
At Humanity House, our first belief is that to understand poverty you first need to know a poor person. Mr. Schmidt needs to broaden the scope of the people he knows.
Kindness matters!
