Relief Recipients

A majority of Los Angeles County supervisors said they would support a proposal to allow the county's welfare recipients to share housing with another person, save $1,500 and earn $200 a month without having their grants reduced. General Relief recipients, whose monthly grants were slashed to $212, also would be permitted to earn another $400 a month with only minor grant reductions.

Los Angeles County supervisors on Tuesday approved a $9.6-million, five-year contract to set up a computer fingerprinting system to catch welfare cheats. Carol Matsui, special assistant in the county Department of Public Social Services, said the new system is expected to save $3.3 million a year by catching cheaters who file multiple applications for welfare under different names. The county already keeps fingerprints and photographs of general relief applicants who have no identification.

Meeting behind closed doors Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors approved an agreement with legal advocates for the poor that will allow the county to avoid repaying most of the $136 million the courts have ruled it illegally withheld from its general relief recipients. General relief, currently $212 per month, goes to the poorest people on welfare, those who are ineligible for any other form of assistance.

In an attempt to save about $40 million annually, cash-strapped Los Angeles County's Board of Supervisors is expected to vote next week to drop able-bodied General Relief recipients from the welfare rolls after they have collected benefits for four months, and to deny those with drug or alcohol problems any payments unless they are in a treatment program.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors has agreed to continue to send monthly checks to general relief recipients whose eligibility has been challenged, an attorney for the Legal Aid Society of Orange County said Wednesday. Penny Nagler, speaking for the society, said the Board of Supervisors had informed Legal Aid that the assistance would continue until a final decision to take the recipient off the roles is made. Nagler said Orange County had previously not followed a 1970 U.S.

In an attempt to save about $40 million annually, the cash-strapped Los Angeles County's Board of Supervisors is expected to vote next week to drop able-bodied general relief recipients from the welfare rolls after they have collected benefits for four months, and to deny those with drug or alcohol problems any payments unless they are in a treatment program.

As welfare rolls grow, Los Angeles County officials are considering limits on how long some of the area's most destitute residents can receive cash aid. Supervisor Don Knabe is pushing a proposal to replace monthly general-relief grants with housing assistance for recipients who don't try to find jobs or apply for disability benefits within a set time period. The goal, he said, would be to drop from the rolls people who are "just riding the system" so that funds are available to help those genuinely in need.

With its reductions in the stipends paid to the most destitute unemployed among us, Los Angeles County is saving large sums at an enormous human cost. A report this month from Los Angeles County's Chief Administrative Officer, Sally Reed, to the Board of Supervisors projects a $56.9-million savings in the General Relief program. In the past, the program supported more than 100,000 unemployed Angelenos who, if able, had to work for the county in exchange for a small monthly grant.

The Los Angeles Board of Supervisors did the right thing when it rejected cutting off general relief benefits that were going to expire during Thanksgiving week. The supervisors extended aid for three months and ordered the county welfare department to do better at providing job training and placement.