Earlier this month, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report showing that many workers receiving unemployment benefits (UI) are exhausting them, despite UI extensions enacted by Congress. The report found that, of 15 million workers who lost their jobs between 2007 and 2009, half received unemployment benefits. Of these UI recipients one-quarter exhausted their benefits. This amounts to approximately 2 million UI recipients losing their benefits over a two year period. Also noted in GAO report is that an additional 3.5 million workers exhausted benefits between 2010 and 2011.

Of these workers who are disconnected from UI benefits, the unemployment rate and poverty rate was shown to be extremely high. According to the GAO report, the unemployment rate for those exhausting UI benefits was 46 percent in 2010, drastically higher than the national average of 8.3 percent. Trends in high unemployment for those exhausting benefits results in a higher poverty rate for these workers. Disconnected workers have a poverty rate of 18 percent, compared to just 13 percent for working-age adults. Workers disconnected from UI also tend to earn less when they do reenter the labor force, with 40 percent having "relatively low-incomes."

While disconnected workers are clearly struggling with a lack of economic security as a result of the "Great Recession," many of those locked out of UI are not eligible for TANF benefits because they do not have children below the age of 18. The statistics included in the GAO report show that, while the safety net is responding to the crisis, it is also letting many slip into poverty and economic insecurity. The Network has written about the crisis of long-term unemployment in communities of color, and understands the need for added supports to decrease the deleterious impacts of labor market disconnection. The conclusion of the GAO report notes that:

"As for the programs UI exhaustees and their households have turned to for additional assistance, few have received TANF as of 2009 in part because most do not match the target population of TANF. As currently financed and structured at the federal and state levels TANF does not appear to provide many of those we studied income support to help them weather the bad economic times."

The Network has continually highlighted that TANF must be strengthened, so that it is more responsive to tough economic times - and so that those receiving it have opportunities for human capital development without time limits (or other draconian barriers to access). Read the Network's congressional testimony on ways that the next reauthorization of the TANF block grant can help to make cash assistance programs stronger for low-income families.

On February 23, 2012, Kids Count released its latest "Data Snapshot on High Poverty Communities," which assesses trends in child poverty across the country. The report finds that African-American, Native American and Latino children are six to nine times more likely than their white counterparts to live in an area of concentrated poverty. In addition, the report finds that children whose parents are foreign born are more likely to live in an area of concentrated poverty.

Kids Count underscores that families living in areas of concentrated poverty have difficulty providing for their children's basic needs. The report finds that families living in these areas are more likely to go hungry, have trouble paying their housing costs, and experience low levels of health insurance coverage. Due to the current economic downturn, the percentage of children living in dense poverty in on the rise, as there are 1.6 million more children residing in high poverty areas today than in 2000.

Children living in rural areas (10 percent) and urban areas (22 percent) are more likely than their suburban counterparts (4 percent) to live in an area of concentrated poverty. Kids Count identifies the cities with the highest levels of children living in concentrated poverty. From the report: "Among the country's 50 largest cities, Detroit (67 percent), Cleveland (57 percent), Miami (49 percent), Milwaukee (48 percent), Fresno (43 percent), and Atlanta (43 percent) have the highest rates of children living in areas of concentrated poverty."

The following chart, created by Kids Count and included in the Snapshot, shows that child poverty is on the rise - especially in communities of color.

What can we do to address this growing inequality and child poverty? The report offers recommendations for reducing the levels of children living in high poverty areas. These recommendations include: investing in human capital and community revitalization; increasing asset development and providing work supports; connecting local efforts with city and regional planning; and increasing access to affordable housing, especially in communities of color. Read the report, here.

Today, February 22, 2012, after a two-year pilot program, Connecticut is scheduled to launch a statewide Secure Communities program. The pilot program was initiated [PDF] in May of 2010. According to the Worker and Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic at Yale Law School, 71 percent of deportations through the pilot program involved people with no criminal background or those who had only committed minor infractions.

The Secure Communities program, which became a part of federal immigration policy in 2008, has been criticized [PDF] by immigration advocates for its lack of fairness, transparency and respect for human rights. Secure Communities is a federal program aimed at identifying and removing individuals that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) refers to as "criminal aliens." Neighboring New York's Governor, Andrew Cuomo (D), suspended the state's program last fall, noting that his administration would "review the mounting evidence that the program is not meeting its stated goal and has serious consequences for witnesses, victims of crime and law enforcement."

In September of 2011, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) task force found [PDF] that Secure Communities has created confusion between the roles of municipal and state law enforcement officials. In addition, advocates have argued that the program hinders community-based policing, and splits up thousands of families with unnecessary deportations. While DHS had been permitting states to opt out of the program, the agency has asserted that participation in the Secure Communities program is now mandatory. Connecticut's Governor, Dan Malloy (D), has stated that his administration will review "ICE detention requests on a case-by-case basis."

On Friday, February 17, 2012, the Governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, vetoed marriage equality legislation. Christie sent the bill back to the legislature, calling on lawmakers to amend the state's civil union law, to "handle complaints that the [...] civil union law did not provide gay and lesbian couples the same protections that marriage would." In addition, Christie called for the legislature to place a marriage equality referendum on November's ballot. The editorial board of the New York Times criticized Governor Christie for his veto of the marriage equality bill. The following in an excerpt from the New York Times editorial:nbsp;

"Sadly, there was no surprise to Gov. Chris Christie's veto on Friday of the same-sex marriage bill that cleared New Jersey's Assembly and Senate this week. Mr. Christie had said all along that he would block the measure as soon as it reached his desk. That does not change the message of intolerance or lessen the pain for gay residents and their families. Mr. Christie compounded the insult when he dismissed the Legislature's support for the rights of gay people as merely "an exercise in theater." The only one who deserves that accusation is Governor Christie, who is clearly pandering to his own conservative base."

In a public statement, Christie said that he vetoed the bill because, "an issue of this magnitude and importance, which requires a constitutional amendment, should be left to the people of New Jersey to decide." Recent polling [PDF] at Rutgers University's Eagleton Institute of Politics shows that 54 percent of New Jersey residents support marriage equality, including 52 percent of the state's Catholics. A 2009 poll evidenced that support for marriage equality has grown in the state, when polling showed that only 46 percent of residents supported a similar marriage equality bill. Furthermore, national polls show that a majority of Americans favor marriage equality.

Pundits have criticized Christie's decision, speculating that he is positioning himself for a potential 2016 presidential campaign, and vetoed the bill to shore up support among social conservatives. Recent analysis has noted that New Jersey will be a tight race in the 2012 presidential race. For this reason it is not entirely outlandish to hypothesize that a proposed referendum may be a strategy to increase voter turnout amongst conservatives in the state.

Regardless, what we can be sure of is that Christie's veto is an affront to the civil rights of the LGBTQ community. New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney (D) put it best: "He had a chance to do the right thing, and failed miserably." 

This month, February 2012, the Opportunity Agenda published the "Compact for Home Opportunity," [PDF] which outlines a series of recommendations designed to reverse the economic damage of the mortgage and homeownership crisis. The Opportunity Agenda report underscores the need for collective action on the part of private and public actors (at various levels of government) to work toward decreasing housing inequity in the face of record foreclosure rates. The report outlines different actions that banks and mortgage services, state and municipal governments, and the federal government can take to reduce risks to future borrowers and homeowners navigating an uncertain market.

The report divides potential housing finance policy prescriptions into five categories 

       -Preventing foreclosures
       -Ensuring fair and sustainable mortgages
       -Restoring neighborhoods
       -Rebuilding economic security
       -Fostering fair housing

The graphic below, created by the Opportunity Agenda, breaks these five categories into the specific actions that can be taken.
 


The Network blog has focused on the disproportionate impact that housing and mortgage crisis has wrought on communities of color, and the subsequent decrease in asset wealth. The recommendations described in the Opportunity Agenda report would start the process of repairing the negative impact that the foreclosure crisis has had on many homeowners, including those behind on their loans and those contending with significant decreases in the value of their home. 

On Tuesday, February 14, 2012, the Virginia House of Delegates approved a law including some of the strictest restrictions on to access contraception and abortion procedures in the country. The approved bills, H.B. 1 and H.B. 462, have been criticized by NARAL Pro-Choice of Virginia and the Guttmacher Institute. H.B. 1 includes a "so-called" personhood amendment, legally qualifying an unborn fetus as a "person." Such a measure would ban birth control and abortion procedures should the U.S. Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade. The second bill, H.B. 462, would require that women receive an ultrasound before an abortion procedure. H.B. 462 requires that doctors performing the ultrasound offer patients an opportunity to listen to fetal heart beat, and it requires doctors to get written confirmation that such an offer was extended. Consideration by the upper house of the Virginia legislature, which is controlled by GOP lawmakers, is the next step for H.B. 1 - the "so-called" personhood bill. H.B 462, which mandates ultrasounds before abortion procedures, passed the Virginia State Senate last month, and will likely head to the Governor's desk.
 
Virginia is not the first state to consider a so called "personhood" amendment. Proposition 26, a similar measure, was been defeated by referendum in Mississippi last fall. Recent legislative action by the Oklahoma State Senate approved a similarly worded bill. Additionally, several states are likely to have "personhood" amendments on the ballot this November, including Ohio, Florida, Nevada, Montana, California and Oregon.

This is not the first time that the Network has featured questionable legislative proposals in the Virginia state legislature. The most recent Network policy round up featured a Demos report on legislative efforts to disenfranchise thousands of Virginia voters. These proposed state laws would require a photo ID, or other specified ID, to cast a ballot.
 

Earlier this month, the Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR) released an issue brief highlighting that among workers with low literacy rates, women were disproportionately impacted by lower earnings. This is especially true of those earning less than $500 a week, a distinction that applies to 60.9 percent of women with "low document literacy." While literacy abilities did impact the earnings of men, 28.6 percent of males with "low document literacy" earned $650-$1,149, compared to just 16.7 percent of women. The chart below - reproduced from the IWPR brief - highlights the disproportionate impact that literacy skills have on women's earnings.
 

The report also notes that literacy issues have fairly uniform impacts across gender, underlining that institutional gender discrimination accounts for the variation between earnings. Considering these realities, it is crucial that programs designed to lift those with lower literacy skills into higher wage positions be tailored to women, in order to reduce literacy related income disparities.
 

On February 3, 2012, Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) released an analysis showing that levels of unemployment in African-American and Latino communities had dropped significantly this January. Baker states of the January data released by the Department of Labor:

"The Labor Department reported that the unemployment rate fell to 8.3 percent in January, bringing its drop over the last year to 0.8 percentage points. African Americans in particular saw an especially sharp decline in unemployment, with their overall rate falling by 2.2 percentage points to 13.6 percent, the lowest level since March of 2009. The unemployment rate for African American men over age 20 fell by 3.0 percentage points to 12.7 percent, the lowest level since November of 2008. The drop for women over age 20 was 1.3 percentage points to 12.6 percent. The unemployment rate for Hispanics dropped by 0.5 percentage points to 10.5 percent, the lowest since January of 2009."

Baker qualifies his analysis by stating that the DOL numbers are "erratic" and may be "partially reversed" in future monthly employment reports. Another important point that the CEPR analysis teases out of the data is that the overall unemployment rate for white workers fell by 0.1 percent, compared to much larger gains for African-American and Latino workers. None-the-less, job creation in communities of color will have to accelerate at a considerably faster rate to add enough jobs to reduce disproportionately higher levels of unemployment, and to match the entry of new works into the labor force. While the unemployment level for African-American women overage 20 fell by 1.3 percentage points to 12.6 percent, this level of unemployment is almost double of that experienced by white women over age 20, who have an unemployment rate of 6.8 percent.

A final point of consideration is that even with the employment gains in communities of color, systemic labor market segmentation is likely reducing the potential benefits of higher employment to all workers. As the Network has noted, the median household income for a female headed household in 2010 was $32,031, compared to a median income for all households of $49,445. This disparity is considerably more pronounced for African-American and Latina female headed households, as evidenced by the chart (below) from a Network policy brief. The evidenced pay inequities highlight the need for policies to reduce unemployment, and policies to provide income supports for those communities only partially benefiting from a perceived economic recovery.

Yesterday, in a 2-1 decision, a federal appeals court found that California's same-sex marriage ban, Proposition 8, was unconstitutional. The ruling was a victory for gay rights advocates, and upheld a prior decision by a U.S. District Court in 2010, which overturned the marriage ban. California voters approved Proposition 8 in 2008 by referendum but the law was quickly challenging in U.S. District Court in Perry v. Schwarzenegger.

Below is an excerpt from the decision, which can be found in its entirety here.
 
"Although the Constitution permits communities to enact most laws they believe to be desirable, it requires that there be at least a legitimate reason for the passage of a law that treats different classes of people differently. There was no such reason that Proposition 8 could have been enacted. Because under California statutory law, same-sex couples had all the rights of opposite-sex couples, regardless of their marital status, all parties agree that Proposition 8 had one effect only. It stripped same-sex couples of the ability they previously possessed to obtain from the State, or any other authorized party, an important right--the right to obtain and use the designation of 'marriage' to describe their relationships. Nothing more, nothing less. Proposition 8 therefore could not have been enacted to advance California's interests in child-rearing or responsible procreation, for it had no effect on the rights of same-sex couples to raise children or on the procreative practices of other couples. Nor did Proposition 8 have any effect on religious freedom or on parents' rights to control their children's education; it could not have been enacted to safeguard these liberties."
 

On February 6, 2012, Policy Link issued a report entitled, "Fostering Equitable Foreclosure Recovery," which outlines strategies to alleviate the social costs of the foreclosure crisis. The report highlights, as the Network blog has in the past, that communities of color have been disproportionately impacted by the foreclosure crisis. As home ownership has historically been a major vehicle towards asset development in the United States, the long-term financial security of countless Black and Latino homeowners has been weakened.

While the report outlines the direct impact that the foreclosure crisis has had on those home owners in default or delinquency, it also highlights that neighborhoods themselves are adversely impacted by the negative externalities of the housing mortgage crisis. The report notes that even those who have not lost their homes are impacted by nearby foreclosures. These adverse side effects include: depreciation of home values due to nearby blight and abandonment; reductions in municipal property tax bases and subsequent funding shortfalls; and an over-supply of housing during a period of decreased demand. 

As noted in the report, the federal government provided funds - through the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) - to help alleviate the impact of the foreclosure crisis. The report analyzes how NSP related-efforts played out in three different cities: Minneapolis-St. Paul, Portland and Seattle. Based on this information and analysis, Policy Link offers recommendations on how cities can continue working towards a housing market recovery, while making the systemic changes needed to build a "just" housing finance system.

Some of the recommendations offered by the report include:

- Increasing the accessibility of safe credit to low-income and middle-income communities

- Expanding existing models for sustainable home ownership

- Empowering municipal capacity to take control of distressed properties, via community land trusts or other institutional mechanisms

- Increasing code enforcements to deter speculation by irresponsible lenders that are willing to sacrifice the health of neighborhoods for quick profits

To read the report click here, and to see Network analysis of housing policy and asset development for women of color, click here.

Last week, the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) issued a policy brief highlighting the potential dangerous effects of a Congressional proposal to tie unemployment benefits (UI) to educational requirements. The bill in question, HR3630, would require that individuals receiving UI complete a high school degree, or GED, should they not already have the diploma. CLASP's analysis underscores that such a requirement would create barriers to UI for individuals with lower levels of educational attainment. Also highlighted in the report is that the educational requirements would drive up enrollment in publicly subsidized programs, which are already at capacity.

Additionally, a report last month by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) emphasized the dangers implicit to the Congressional provision. The provision, according to the CBPP, "would hit large numbers of older laid-off workers," since "nearly half of UI recipients with less than a high school education [...] are over age 45..." These measures are also more likely to impact low and modest-wage workers - populations that are less likely to have developed the assets needed to ensure against economic hardship during periods of unemployment.

The Network blog has focused on other provisions that would limit access to UI, specifically proposed drug-testing requirements. Such barriers to public assistance are particularly hazardous, as they are both costly to administer, and are likely to increase economic insecurity.

The Corporation for Enterprise Development, or CFED, has published the 2011 "Assets and Opportunities Scorecard," which takes a measure of economic security and poverty across the country. The report finds high levels of poverty and low levels of asset development across the country, noting that 27 percent of households are income poor and living in "asset poverty." This marks a 21 percent increase from the 2009-2010 "Assets and Opportunities Scorecard," and highlights that around one in four families is currently struggling with financial insecurity.

The report finds that Mississippi, Nevada and Alabama are the most impacted by the economic downturn and crisis of growing poverty. In particular, the report notes:

· 45  percent of Nevada households are asset poor

· 21 percent of Mississippi households are income poor

· 65 percent of Alabama households are liquid asset poor

You might ask in regards to the third bullet, what does liquid asset poor mean? The CFED defines liquid asset poverty as a measure which "excludes assets such as a home, business or car that can't easily be converted to cash [...] consequently [providing] a more realistic picture of the resources families have to meet emergency needs."

The report finds that 43 percent of Americans qualify as liquid asset poor, underscoring the precarious economic situation facing many households. Levels of liquid asset poverty are especially troubling given other indicators included in the CFED report. The report states that 55 percent of Americans do not have, or do no participate in, a retirement plan. Given the aforementioned low levels of asset development in the U.S., it is likely that many Americans are not adequately prepared for retirement, and thus are potentially facing future economic insecurity. The Network has highlighted the pronounced gap between the retirement savings for women of color and those of their white counterparts.

Recommendations offered in Network policy analysis [PDF] concerning retirement security for women of color, reflect the recommendations offered in the CFED report. These recommendations include: government funding for human capital development, educational opportunities, in addition to statutory action to reduce asset disparities.

On the February 1, 2012 episode of ABC's Nightline, Rinku Sen - Network affiliate scholar and Executive Director of the Applied Research Center - discussed the pitfalls of American immigration policy. The Nightline segment highlighted the complications implicit to American immigration policy, and how families are continually split apart by unfair and unjust laws. Sen cited information from ARC's report, "Shattered Families," which found that approximately 5,000 children live in foster care due to the detention or deportation of their parents. 

Watch the clip here.

This week, the Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project (NEDAP) released a report on the continued crisis of home foreclosure in New York State. The report notes that in New York State alone, 345,000 mortgages are in default or delinquency. Such high foreclosure rates highlight that the housing crisis continues to impact communities and decrease the economic security of countless individuals in the New York. One key point raised in the report is that recent data shows a reduction in foreclosures, but NEDAP's analysis attributes this to change to major banks' inability "to produce documentation required to initiate foreclosure cases, as New York courts heighten their scrutiny of banks' foreclosure filings."

The NEDAP report also underscores something that the Network has been highlighting for some time: communities of color are disproportionately impacted by the foreclosure crisis. The report notes that in New York, communities of color account for 64 percent of foreclosures, while representing 25.5 percent of the city's population. The National Community Reinvestment Coalition has published research showing the impact of the foreclosure crisis on communities of color across the United States - showing that New York's trends mirror those at the national level.

Just last week, the Network blog featured coverage of discriminatory mortgage lending practices by the Economic Policy Institute. The EPI noted that Black and Latino borrowers, with "good" credit, were more likely to be steered into a high risk loan than their white counterparts. NEDAP's report highlights the fallout from these practices, and the subsequent concentration of New York City's foreclosures in neighborhoods of color.

NEDAP's report also highlights the need to address the foreclosure crisis in New York State with government action. Among the recommendations included in the report is to permit loan modifications, such as "principle reduction," to bring private housing debt obligations into line with the present value of homes. Such a simple solution would help many struggling homeowners stay in their homes, prevent damage to the asset worth of countless families, and reduce the amount of underutilized housing at a time of economic crisis.