The odds you’ll join the ranks of the long-term unemployed, By Matt O’Brien, May 16, 2014, Washington Post: “Long-term unemployment is a terrifying trap that, even in the best of times, is difficult to escape. And it’s a trap that you can get stuck in for no reason other than bad luck. Today, there are still almost 3.5 million people who have been out of work for six months or longer and are looking for work. There isn’t a more urgent crisis, and there are three things you should keep in mind about it. 1. As former CEA Chair Alan Krueger found, the long-term unemployed aren’t much different from the short-term unemployed. They’re a little older and more of them are African-Americans, but they’re just about as educated and work in the same industries as everyone else who’s trying to find a job. 2. The long-term unemployed have a hard time getting companies to even look at their job applications, let alone hire them. . .”
Day: May 20, 2014
Rental Assistance and Lack of Affordable Housing
Chronic poverty leads many to South Jersey motel rooms, By Kim Mulford, May 16, 2014, Courier-Post: “Charlene Ahing, her fiance and their baby boy have been living in a room at the Red Carpet Inn in Pemberton since October. The 36-year-old couple both have health problems, no jobs, no car and no permanent place to call home. They receive assistance from Burlington County to stay at the Browns Mills motel. Though there are few cars in the parking lot, the motel is filled with families like Ahing’s. Her room includes a small refrigerator and a microwave, making it expensive to eat. They would rather live in an apartment, but can’t find a better place that will accept Temporary Rental Assistance. ‘It’s been horrible,’ notes Ahing, holding a fuzzy blue blanket around her pink-cheeked baby. ‘Every month, you hope that welfare’s going to pay your rent. I don’t know what I would do if they stopped paying for this.’ There is no easy way out, advocates say. . .”
Foster Care
Foster care: US moves to phase out group care for foster kids, By David Crary, May 17, 2014, Christian Science Monitor: “In many ways, Children’s Village resembles an idyllic college campus, with its abundant open spaces, handsome buildings, brand-new activities center and Olympic-size pool. Yet the child-welfare professionals who run the 180-acre complex in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., a New York City suburb, are committed to a seemingly paradoxical goal: They want fewer foster children settling in to make the residential cottages their home. ‘The longer kids stay in institutions, the less capable they are of reintegrating into society,’ said Children’s Village CEO Jeremy Kohomban. ‘We need to use the residential system as a short-term emergency room. . .”