Family Self-Sufficiency Program in Los Angeles County and Reduction in Welfare Dependency

• Main Author: Hopkins, Erica
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: ScholarWorks 2019
• Subjects: Family Self-Sufficiency; Los Angeles County; Low Income; Poverty; Welfare Dependency; Social and Behavioral Sciences
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/7662; https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=8934&context=dissertations

This quantitative study explored the impact of the Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) program on welfare dependency over time, by evaluating participant income 5 years after completing the FSS program. The study was guided using the framework of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, which initiated welfare reform in an effort to decrease dependency on government assistance; and the Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act, the law that initiated Public housing reform by reducing the high concentration of poverty. The research question examined whether the FSS Program in Los Angeles County reduced dependency on welfare overtime. The sample size for this study included 256 participants who received housing assistance payments from the Los Angeles County Housing Authority between 2010 and 2019. The results of this study demonstrate that Los Angeles County FSS program graduates are indeed, self-sufficient over time, thus reducing dependency on welfare. Implications for positive social change imply that cities across the nation could experience a decrease in poverty while benefiting from increased tax revenue resulting from higher employment rates. Working adults tend to be less prone to crime if they are making decent wages that can provide for their family.