The Effect of Welfare Reform on Urban Poverty in Los Angeles

The welfare reforms have improved the lives of the low-income earners objectively to make them self reliant. Over the last years, the United States has undergone through various changes in its welfare of its people. Some of these changes applied to social security, Medicare, and Medicaid. President Clinton in 1996 signed the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) the form came with some criticism,but at the same time, they reduced the level of dependency among the citizens. These reforms aided to improving the livelihood of the Citizen to better standards of living. It is becoming difficult for agencies to provide jobs for the poor in the city as also the jobs are not readily available.  Spatial distribution of population Here we look at the effect of welfare on urban poverty in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles comes second after New York City in terms of population in United States. Los Angeles is one of the metropolitans that has employed millions of people and had a population of more than seven million people in the city. The city is well known for financial, cultural and commercial pivot of Southern California. The government came up with a minimum wage reform; that is for every hour a person should get at least $10, but this have futile results as many people in the state are unemployed. Not with standing, the reform would result in the few who are employed losing their jobs as the employers are not willing to pay the high wages. From a study taken by Havard University, it shows that any increase in a dollar in the minimum wage leads to 3.

5% of employees losing their jobs in restaurants. Consequently, most of the people in California and Los Angeles are employed in the restaurant; if they are sacked this increases the rate of poverty in the county. The policy did not seem to work because it was difficult to implement as aimed. Thus it was removed. According to some study taking the cap on benefits was a punishment to poor children who were not to blame for the mistakes of their parents The government has also come with reforms regarding employment where it assisted the CalWORKs act signed in August 1997. The recipient to find jobs and remain on the job too help them to grow and become self-sufficiency or independent. The recipients in Welfare-to-Work would work for a range of 20 to 30 hours according to the obligation of the parent.

Distribution of commercial and residential real estate prices The prices of residential areas in Los Angeles have significantly increased over the last five years making it difficult for the poor to find decent housing; most of the poor either live in deplorable conditions or are homeless (Desmond 161). The increase in the housing prices is due to the growth of the city. Additionally, more than four in every ten households spend 30% of their income on housing,yet their salaries do not increase. The shortage of the housing units has raised the prices even further above the income rates of the people. One of the reasons leading to the deficit is the misguided policies. The lack of c local government to control and impose sonme regulation on land along coastal its contributing to allowing construction in the beach is one of the hindrances that cause the inadequate housing and high prices of housing.

A further cause of the high prices in housing is the escalated building cost in the area. California has the most costly building rates in the country regarding government fees, materials, and labor. Again, the local government requires that construction in the metropolitanconstruct in a certain way using specific materials which are very expensive (Desmond 164). The high construction fees make it difficult for developers to build structures in the state and worse off in the metropolitans such as Los Angeles. Thirty percent of families receiving the(TANF) Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program also receive the federal housing assistance. But the government is not able to provide housing for all the TANF members due to lack of enough resources. Most of the welfare leavers are likely to suffer from housing problems; one because of the private market force and two because of the demolition of public housing.

Comparatively, the government has come up with the Low Income Housing Tax Credit and HOME block grant that act as subsidies for the production of rental houses (Desmond 167). The two have contributed to providing housing for the median income earners,but some of the low-income earners still require vouchers to assist them in paying the rent. Population growth in Los Angeles is predicted to decrease at a slow rate which is healthier at a estimated tare of 1% which will oversee immigration reduce. It is forecasted that population in Los Angeles will raise to 3. 5 million at around 2050. According to survey also projects a population of 11 Million in the county. Year  Population Growth Growth Rate 2016 3,976,122 27,073 0. Production and service specialization of this urban area Los Angeles is one of the vibrant cities in the country most of the production industries are located here.