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Economy Adds Strain To Social Services Program

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By MIKE SALINERO

msalinero@tampatrib.com

Published: December 25, 2008

TAMPA - Regina Pate is one of those numbers you read about in the economic misery index.

Pate lost her dry-cleaning job in July after 12 years of service. Her house is in foreclosure and she's having a hard time finding a new home for herself and her 18-year-old son.

"It's not funny, but you have to laugh to keep from crying," Pate, 47, said.

Pate and other victims of the recession are putting pressure on Hillsborough County's Department of Health and Social Services. The number of people seeking help from the agency has increased by 10 to 15 percent this year.

"The face of our clientele is changing," said Antonia Barber, HSS manager for central Tampa. "It used to be mostly single mothers and single men. Now we've got intact families coming in."

The agency offers a variety of services, including help with utilities, rent, job placement, and health care. Pate, who is living off unemployment benefits, is getting money to cover one month's rent. She said she has also used medical services provided at the Lee Davis Center in east Tampa.

David Rogoff, HSS director, said the agency has weathered two successive years of county budget cuts by more effective use of computers and by partnering with nonprofit groups. For instance, the Tampa Family Health Center has a walk-in clinic at the Davis Center.

"We're not going to get rid of frontline people," Rogoff said. "We need our frontline people to work creatively to see how we can help people."

Poor people tiptoe on the precipice where one setback can hurl a family into turmoil. For example, a sick man with no health care coverage takes longer getting better. So he loses his job, then his apartment. Being evicted can keep him from getting another apartment.

Rogoff says that's why case management is important. Case managers try to attack all the problems that keep people in a cycle of poverty. Just giving someone money to keep the lights on is not going to solve their joblessness or lack of health care.

"If you don't manage the person's situation, you'll see him once, then you'll see him again next month," Rogoff said.

So people who come in for help paying their light bills because they lost their jobs also get to see an "employment specialist" who has a database of jobs. The agency can even provide clothes and shoes for an interview, as well as advice on how to make a good presentation.

"If that person works, we put that first tank of gas in so they can get back and forth to work," Barber said.

In January, the agency will start financial literacy classes, teaching clients how to budget their money and open checking accounts. Banks that partner with HSS offer free checking.

If we're going to provide financial assistance to people, we are in many cases going to require them to go through these programs," Rogoff said.

Rogoff said the most crucial service the agency offers is health care. In 1991, the county passed a half-cent sales tax whose proceeds go into a trust fund. About $100 million goes into the fund every year, though Rogoff said collections are slowing down with the economic downturn. The fund's current balance is about $80 million.

The county has to pay $12 million to $13 million a year out of the trust fund for state-shared Medicaid costs based on indigent days in nursing homes and hospitals. Rogoff said the Legislature, which is having its own revenue problems, is considering increasing the county's share by $5 million.

The Legislature may also choose this year not to fund the medically needy program that pays for dental work, eye glasses and other health-related cost for poor people not covered by Medicaid. Ending the program would mean enrolling the recipients in a county program at an additional cost of $4 million a year.

The legislative actions plus the falling tax revenue could mean a $45 million cut in funds for the county health care program over the next three years, Rogoff said.

"If that happens, that $80 million trust fund balance doesn't look so good over three years," he said.

TO GET HELP

Hillsborough County Health and Social Services can be reached at (813) 272-5555.

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