DATE: Tuesday, May 20, 1997                 TAG: 9705200373

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   72 lines

NORFOLK TO END MONTHLY AID PROGRAMS FOR DISABLED ADULTS

Trimming down and firming up, the city has announced the end of two more subsistence programs affecting some of its poorest citizens.

Beginning July 1, the city will no longer dole out monthly payments of $172 to disabled adults.

Officials say the programs were loopholes that left the system open to abuse, but an advocate says the money represented the last safety net for single adults.

The changes, which will save taxpayers at least $100,000 a year, were to be phased in beginning last July, but the state withheld its approval because that approach was considered discriminatory, said John Kownack, assistant director for Norfolk's Department of Human Services.

``It's ironic that you can cut everybody off and that's okay, but you can't phase it out,'' Kownack said Monday. ``But it was a safety net that wasn't doing what it was supposed to.''

Alice Taylor, executive director of Norfolk's St. Columba Ecumenical Ministries, was dismayed over the news.

``It's a terrible thing to happen,'' she said. ``Now there is no assistance for single adult homeless people.'' She predicted the ranks of the homeless will swell and pointed out that the population to be affected was dropped from food stamp rolls in March.

Officials say eliminating the interim and medical assistance maintenance components of the city's general relief plan will end abuse in a program meant to give temporary help to people awaiting decisions on Social Security disability claims.

Medical problems of those to be affected include herniated disc, hypertension, diabetes, alcoholism and mental health problems, said Noel D. Finney, program administrator for the city's Department of Human Services.

Kownack said approval for Social Security disability benefits ``is getting tougher.''

And it is true that ``one person's loophole is another's bread and butter,'' he said.

Finney characterized the changes as ``a tough love approach'' and gave assurances that the 140 adults receiving interim assistance will be directed to other service systems. He mentioned substance abuse services as an example. ``We believe services are in place to help them.''

Those 140 people and 35 others also receive $50 a month to pay for prescription medicines. That program will also end July 1.

But emergency medical assistance will be increased by $25 a month, though it is limited to six months out of 12 consecutive months. Under the changes, emergency medical assistance is to be paid directly to vendors instead of to the individuals.

More than half of those affected have been receiving checks for more than a year, Finney said. Some have been dependent on the program for as long as five years, he said.

The worst case, said Kownack, is a person who has received assistance for 13 years.

Finney said that in eliminating the programs the city was following the lead of most other municipalities statewide. He said he did not know whether any people with HIV or full-blown AIDS were on the list of current recipients and could not say whether the list included any homeless individuals.

He declined to characterize the population more specifically except to say most are men between the ages of 45 and 50.

Taylor took issue with the official picture of the typical general relief recipient as a middle-aged man. She said that single men and women of all ages come to her organization for help.

``It's a real case of blaming the victim,'' Taylor said.

Government grants to the nonprofit organization have dropped from more than $20,000 in 1995 to less than $15,000 in the 1997 budget, she said.

Taylor said she would also expect to see an increase in panhandling, jail populations and people sleeping in cars and abandoned buildings. MEMO: For information on where to apply for help, call the Department

of Human Services at 664-6035.

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