LAMPa News
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April 27, 2012
PA Can’t Afford to Lose General Assistance
This past February, Gov. Corbett proposed eliminating the General Assistance (GA) program from the state budget in order to save $150 million a year. Currently, GA serves 68,000 Pennsylvanians who are either disabled, survivors of domestic violence, receiving treatment for drug or alcohol abuse, or are children living with an unrelated adult. For those experiencing such turmoil, GA is a temporary but critical bridge to stability, offering just $205 a month (often for only 9 months) to help them meet life’s most basic needs. In response to the Corbett Administration’s proposal, LAMPa has joined with over 100 other organizations to form the “PA Cares for All” Coalition to Save General Assistance. You can visit our coalition website (pacaresforall.org) and watch a ...
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April 23, 2012
Predatory Lending Attempts a Comeback – Don’t Let It
Usury is an old fashioned word that refers to the practice of lending money at exorbitant interest. While the word has fallen into disuse, attempts to revive the practice in Pennsylvania have not, with the introduction of House Bill 2191. ...
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April 2, 2012
Pennsylvania’s Own Hunger Games (or why the Human Services Development Fund matters)
If you haven’t read the hottest series since Harry Potter, here’s the gist of it. The Hunger Games is set in a futuristic United States where every year the capitol city requires its 12 enslaved and impoverished districts to select ...
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February 28, 2012
New Possibility to Save HEMAP Emerges
What a difference a week makes! When Governor Corbett released his state budget on February 7, housing advocates were disappointed no funds were directed to resurrect the Homeowners Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program (HEMAP). While eliminated in last year’s budget, this ...
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February 2, 2012
An Asset Test for Food Stamps?
How will this affect our neighbor who is food insecure? Recently, PA’s Department of Public Welfare (DPW) decided to reinstate an asset test for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps. Although DPW just announced a favorable ...
