Faces of Welfare | The Increased Cost of Household Items | States that have Raised the Welfare Grant | Comparisons of the Shelter Allowance and HUD Fair Market Values

Faces of Welfare:

Datwanna Stenney

Health problems have caused more than the usual headaches for Datwanna Stenney--given that even the shelter that Datwanna and her one year old son, Yaden, live in has been jeopardized. Every month, Datwanna and her son are entitled to $140 in a cash grant, $150 in child support ($50 of which she actually sees), $287 a month in Food Stamps and another $287 paid to the shelter that she and her son have lived in since February.

Since her pregnancy, Datwanna has had health problems that require hospitalization and prevented her from working. In this latest instance, her June hospitalization is being “held against her” and now her shelter rent is not being paid, even though Datwanna has provided all the required documentation to prove that she was unable to re-certify her welfare needs on time.
This is not the first time Datwanna has had trouble receiving all of her benefits. Between Feburary and May, Datwanna has had to go down to social services at least twice a month to find out why certain benefits were ended with little to no explanation, or try to sort out other complications. Complicating things further, she hasn’t had a steady social worker since she started receiving welfare in Feburary.

Being on social services has hindered Datwanna’s search for an apartment. The apartments she has seen do not accept payments from social services because they are rarely on time. Because she was on medical leave, Datwanna wasn’t able to move up on any lists for housing placement either. She could receive as much as $425 in rent for an apartment, but there is no two bedroom apartment that is that much in the area. Studios are $500 and most 2 bedrooms that she has seen is $600—a price that Datwanna cannot make up the difference.

The same day that she gets her benefits, they are gone. It goes directly into the food shopping, diapers, and other every day items. The WIC does not help very much: the formula that she is entitled to is not much use since Yaden is already eating solids.

When asked what she is putting off purchasing, and what she would buy if her benefits were raised, she immediately answers items that are essentials that are on most parents’ lists: diapers, shoes, milk and walking toys for her son.

Datwanna has other opinions about the welfare system, such as increasing training and pay for social workers, which might cut down on the negative treatment of the welfare recipients, and turning Troy’s many abandoned buildings into communities for women that would be a step above shelters.

Ultimately, Datwanna wants her independence back, to feel like an adult instead of confined by rules. She wants to return to work, and is planning on returning from medical leave to her job as an aide in a nursing home this August. She would like her and her son to live in Florida or Atlanta, both places she lived when she was younger. New York has not been a very hospitable place for Datwanna, leaving her feeling she is in a “hard place with a rock on top,” and as a result she does not want to raise her son here in the future.