CalWORKs ‘Assistance Unit’ Doesn’t

Assistance unit.

That is what the state’s welfare program – dubbed CalWORKs because it sounds better than CalGetsFreeMoneyForMakingBadChoices – refers to its beneficiaries as:  an “assistance unit.”

Not a family, not a household (those things could be very different, let us not be mean to those that care to define themselves as related,) but as an AU that may or may not be part of said larger group.

As defined by the state:  

An AU is the CalWORKs term for family members who live in the same home and receive CalWORKs benefits. An AU is different from a “household.” A household includes everyone in the home regardless of their relationship to members of the AU or their eligibility for CalWORKs.

It is clearly degrading to those who need assistance, but the term assistance unit should also ping the antennae of those who do not.  

Because if the government already thinks of that many people as assistance units, can the rest of us be far behind?

And that may be point of it all – declaring discrete humans – no matter their circumstances – as existing or potential assistance units – even that tiny semantic wedge of declaring everyone an assistance unit, whether, to quote Gov. Gavin Newsom, “they like it or not” sets the stage for something very different.

Of course, CalWORKs is one of those increasingly popular acronyms politicos cobble together to make things sound more popular; actually the program is called “California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids.”

We all remember CalHOPEr – California Helping Our People Err, Re-Better…I think it was really called Prop 47.  Actually –  Can’t believe Kamala missed that one…

Anyway, what does CalWORKs entail and how easy is it to fungibilate?  

A rather large amount and pretty easy it seems.

CalWORKs is what used to be called welfare and/or aid to families with dependent children and is now –  at a federal level – called TANF – temporary assistance for needy families. CalWORKs itself is literally a marketing slogan.

While a single person can receive what is called “general assistance” or “general relief” – depending upon the county – that is different;  only people with children can qualify for CalWORKs.  

A note on general relief:  anyone who can fog a mirror can get between $200 and $250 a month, depending upon the county. Also, depending upon the county, it can last more than two months.

General relief – which is cash put on the EBT (electronic benefits transfer) card you already (presumably) have for food stamps  – also allows or re-application. As an expert noted, you do not need an actual address or an ID to get it and when it runs out you can literally change you name from “John Doe” to “Bob Doe,” or, since it’s California, to “Jane Doe.”  Or, since the homeless qualify, you can give your address as a different encampment.

You might even get extra money that way, actually.

Back to CalWORKs.

Here are three interesting facts about the program from the website:

You cannot be denied citizenship if you received any benefits from CalWORKs. The state does not volunteer information about your immigration status to the federal government. 

You can have non-citizen status as a legal resident, refugee, asylee, victim of abuse, or humanitarian parolee and still be eligible.

Even if a parent does not have eligible status, a child can still be eligible for CalWORKs if they were born in the U.S. 

Depending upon the county – the programs are officially administered locally – a recipient with four “assistance units”  (i.e. a single mom with three kids – no CalWORKs for you if you are childless or not officially disabled) can get up to about $1,600 a month.

Technically, the amount depends upon what a person earns working as CalWORKs kinda says that job thing should be happening. The formula is a bit complex – a person can make up to about $2,000 doing a job but the number dependents, the amount deducted per assistance unit (person) who can work is $450 from the maximum eligibility pay, an assistance unit may be exempt from working, if they have a service animal an assistance unit can get an $50 a month, if about to be evicted two months back rent can be applied for, etc.

In other words, objects in mirror are closer than they appear.

Interestingly, the state’s CalFresh food stamp program could be called a “gateway drug” to CalWORKs – the moment you apply for food stamps (the EBT that is so widely advertised) you will almost certainly be asked to apply for both CalWORKs and Medi-CAL.

Note – for a family of four, the total value of food stamps, welfare, and Medi-CAL is worth about $3,600 a month.

The joint application process is in fact encouraged in California and around the country. A Minnesota government pleurisy – satirical characterization intended –  told Congress over the summer that her state had the entire process down to 13 minutes.

From – “um can I…?” to “here you go!” in 13 minutes.

Not a lot of time for background checks it would seem.

Scamming CalWORKs is, again, relatively simple – you just lie to bump up the number and exactly zero counties in California have enough investigators to check everything. In fact, the amount spent on investigated welfare fraud is an infinitesimal amount of the money spent – in California, there are millions of people on some ort of public benefit.  There are literally a few hundred investigators.

But CalWORKs opens up a different kind of fraud as well – outside theft.

As noted previously, “skimming” machines can grab every iota of information from EBT card magnetic strips. And what else is on that card besides food stamps? CalWORKs benefits.

While it is a bit cumbersome but not really to steal food stamp “dollars,” – they have to be laundered a bit – CalWORKs money on the card is just cash.

Straight up cash that can be taken out of any ATM.

Any ATM on the planet, by the way.

And that makes California’s easy-to-hack system so tempting.  From the previous story on food stamps:

It should also be noted that when the criminals have the information they can look through it to find the highest balances and thefts in the $10,000 range are not uncommon.  Of course, a person who theoretically needs help buying food would have $10K on their EBT card would seem not to really need it and that it could be a “red flag” that something is not quite kosher. 

Now add another $1,500 a month or so to that and one can see why the target is so tempting.

That may be why the “reimbursement” rate for CalWORKs is so high.

Background – if you claim you card was skimmed/scammed/stolen, you can have it re-filled, pretty much (now) no questions asked. Worth accounts are definitely being wiped out by criminals – and remember, in the last three years the total dispersed by the state is approaching $12 billion, hence the tempting target – but at the same time the “reimbursement claim” percentage has gone – according to the state – from 0.02% to 2.29%.

That is a 1,114% increase.

Not sure how that could be true? Did everyone lose their cards? Have the international gangs gotten that much better? Are people realizing you can ask and get extra money no matter what?

In July, 2021. CalWORKs paid out $393,281,961, of which $92,319 was “reimbursement pay.”

In August, 2024, the program paid out $363,985,622, of which $8,319,904 was “reimbursement pay.”

Oops. Might be kind of a mix of every fraud.

While CalWORKs has yet to lose quite as much money as the Employment Development Department, the trend does not bode well.

Especially since everyone on the planet has figured out how easy it is to steal from the government.

Another thing we can thank the pandemic response for.

This is the second in a series on benefit fraud.  Coming shortly will be an article chatting with experts who say the problem is actually worse than anyone thinks but can actually be beaten down dramatically if only state and fed electeds and regulators would allow that to happen.

Again – there are people in power that want everyone to be an “assistance unit.”  They do not want the fraud to end – they want to expand it for political reasons.