BIDDEFORD — At a time when Maine’s economy is still in trouble and the unemployment rate remains high, more than 3,000 families throughout the state were notified in January that the monthly assistance they rely on to keep them from becoming homeless may come to an end this spring.

Legislation is being drafted that would also make those families ineligible for general assistance from their communities. If legislators pass that bill, it’s unclear what will happen to those people and what toll this will have on         Maine communities.

“It’s very scary,” said Christine Hastedt, with Maine Equal Justice Partners.

The majority of those receiving monthly benefits through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, known as TANF, are single parent households with very young children.

“It’s really unconscionable that we would consider exposing the poorest kids to this kind of danger,” she said.

May will be the last month the first wave of those losing their TANF benefits will receive assistance. When the new rule implementing changes to TANF takes effect, hunger, homelessness and violence will increase for these families around the state, said Hastedt.

In 1996, federal welfare reform allowed states to limit the time households could apply for welfare, then known as Assistance to Families with Dependent Children. This program was replaced by TANF, a joint federal-state program that provides cash assistance for low-income families for 60 months or less during an adult’s lifetime. States could extend the time period beyond 60 months provided those receiving extended benefits were less than 20 percent of all recipients.

Maine was one of the few states that provided assistance beyond the 60-month threshold.

Last year, however, the legislature chose to cap the benefits at 60 months, as allowed ”“ but not required ”“ by federal guidelines. Now, with some exemptions and extensions, the 60-month lifetime threshold for TANF recipients is being enacted.

Of the approximately 14,000 TANF recipients in Maine as of December, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, 3,023 of those recipients received notification that their benefits would end in May, said Biddeford’s Health and Welfare Director Vicky Edgerly. Eighty of those families in Biddeford received notifications, she said.

Some, such as victims of domestic violence, may be exempted from the 60-month limit. Others, such as those with a family member with a disability, may be allowed an extension beyond the limit.

“The timing is deplorable,” said Edgerly.

While Maine’s unemployment average, at 7 percent, is better than the 8.5 percent national average, it’s still high. Those losing TANF benefits will have to compete for jobs with the 48,000 people throughout the state who are unemployed and looking for work, 7,200 in York County, according unemployment figures supplied by Adam Fisher with the Maine Department of Labor.

Not only is there significant competition for any job nowadays, said Hastedt, those forced off TANF because they’ve reached the 60-month limit have particular issues that make finding and holding onto a job especially difficult.

Most TANF recipients use it as a temporary stopgap, according to 2010 survey commissioned by Maine Equal Justice Partners and the Maine Women’s Lobby and conducted by the University of New England and the University of Maine at Orono. The median length of time families reported receiving TANF was 18 months.

Of those receiving assistance beyond the 60-month threshold, 90 percent of the respondents included a family member with a disability.

Maine Equal Justice Partners is very concerned about these people because the new rules proposed would allow only two six-month extensions for those recipients who have a disability that inhibit their ability to hold a job, said Hastedt.

According to a poll of all TANF recipients by DHHS, the number of those with a job-limiting disability was not as high as reported by the survey commissioned by Maine Equal Justice Partners, said Dawn Mulcahey, a TANF program manager with DHHS. In addition, she said, the DHHS caseworkers will assist these people in finding additional assistance before terminating benefits.

But, said Hastedt, “Maine was a leader in how it handled its welfare reform efforts” and this change, combined with new limitations on MaineCare, “is a tremendous step backward.”

The shift in policy appears to be a result of the state’s Republican leadership, she said.

In addition to the effect on the TANF recipients, a number of municipal officials are worried about how the 60-month time limit will affect their budgets.

If those losing TANF benefits can’t find or hold jobs, they may seek general assistance at the local level.

State statute requires communities to provide general assistance for their poor, as defined by income guidelines and other qualifications.

This would result in a cost-shift, said Mayor and State Rep. Alan Casavant, D-Biddeford, from what was a federal and state responsibility to municipalities. Paying for an increase in general assistance should not be the responsibility of local property taxpayers, he said.

According to calculations, Biddeford’s general assistance budget could increase by as much as $1 million, said Edgerly. The cost shift statewide from the state to local municipalities could be $16 million.

DHHS spokesman John Martin stated in an email that’s a worse case scenario if all who received notification no longer qualify for TANF benefits and if they all received the maximum amount of assistance. That’s an unlikely scenario, he stated.

Still, the cost-shift could be dramatic to communities, especially over the long- term when more and more recipients no longer qualify for TANF.

Municipalities can’t absorb the cost, and shouldn’t be required to, said Casavant.

He and State Sen. Tom Saviello, R-Wilton, have proposed a bill that would relieve municipalities of their responsibility to provide assistance to those losing their TANF benefits.

However, said Hastedt, if TANF time limits are extended for those with a work-limiting disability in the household for as long as the condition exists, there would be little impact to municipalities.

She said she hopes municipal officials would join in this fight rather than seek to relieve their communities of the responsibility for providing assistance for some of the state’s most vulnerable people.

A public hearing on the rules for this legislation will take place March 7. Written comments will be taken by the Department of Health and Human Services through March 19.

— Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 324 or dmendros@journaltribune.com.