State unprepared for increased need for social services

The Detroit News reports on perhaps the most unsurprising study since the Rand Corporation famously determined that water is, in fact, wet. This study concludes that the state of Michigan is unprepared to handle a flood of residents newly in need of Medicaid, food stamps and other social services.

Michigan is ill-prepared to deal with growing ranks of impoverished residents at a time when the state’s 15.3 percent unemployment rate leads the nation and 14 percent live in poverty, according to a statewide report unveiled this morning in Lansing.

The report revealed human services workers are overwhelmed by caseloads and restricted by regulations that force them to focus on paperwork rather than people. Many who live in poverty are unable to access programs that provide housing, health assistance, food and other supports.

The report was compiled by the Commission for Community Action and Economic Opportunity, which was created by the Legislature in 2003 to reduce the causes and effects of poverty and promote policies to help people become self-sufficient.

And this study was done over a two year period and likely doesn’t even take into account the latest budget, which forced the Department of Human Services to lay off an additional 320 people at a time when that department is serving a record 1.8 million residents in various ways.

And remember, the only revenue increase Mike Bishop and the Senate Republicans are willing to consider to help stave off such cuts is one that raises taxes on the state’s poorest citizens and lowers taxes on businesses.