What were the effects of Reagan's policies on welfare provision
- Created by: LilM10017
- Created on: 06-05-21 14:26
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- What were the effects of Reagan's policies on Welfare provision?
- Workfare
- Reagan's administration was the 1st to state that = claiming benefits was undesirable + responsible for creating a dependency culture.
- Reagan wanted a change from a "welfare" based system of benefits to one based on "workfare":
- He demanded 1 working parent before families could claim family benefits.
- He promised childcare places, but = single parents struggled to find childcare.
- Most jobs created = paid below minimum wage, sometimes less than the benefit.
- 1982 Job Training Partnership Act:
- Devoted responsibility for unemployment programmes to states + the private sector = thus reducing the size + scope of federal government expenditure, reducing the deficit.
- The need to top up trainees' wages to ensure the minimum wage = was removed
- 1983 Social Security Bill Reform:
- Makes benefits payments taxable
- Economy [make more money from the taxes]
- Personal life = more taxes
- Raises the retirement age for retirement credits from 65 to 67
- Positive = More people in the workforce [for longer]
- Difficult in some situations to work for 2 more years [e.g., health]
- Makes benefits payments taxable
- Social Housing
- In 1970, = there were almost 2.4 million low-income homes available for families.
- By 1985, = there were 3.7 million families who qualified for low-income housing, but none were available.
- Reagan slashed federal housing budgets from $32.2 billion on low-cost housing in 1978 to $9.2 billion in 1988.
- A huge rise in homeless-ness, something which went against the very essence of the American dream = very unpopular.
- Homeless-ness
- By the mid 1980s = Reagan could no longer ignore the housing crisis:
- In 1984, = federal funding for homeless projects was $300 million, by 1988 = it was $1.6 billion.
- The 1987 McKinney Act = set up the Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA].
- FEMA promised to match local/state funding on homeless-ness projects 50/50.
- However, = these projects had to be paid for by raising taxes or charities at local/state level + the government would only pay after the projects were underway.
- FEMA set up a transitional housing project using empty federal buildings with special emphasis on = elderly, disabled, veterans + families with children as well as Native Americans
- FEMA also gave = emergency medical care to the homeless + provided education + job training for homeless children + veterans.
- By the mid 1980s = Reagan could no longer ignore the housing crisis:
- Workfare
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