Immigrant households and hardships after welfare reform: a case study of the Miami‐Dade Haitian community

Abstract

Compared with other nations such as Canada and Australia, the US experiment with welfare reform has yielded steeper and more immediate caseload declines. These declines have been especially pronounced for immigrants who have been subject to a new set of service restrictions implemented under the 1996 Welfare Reform Act. This article examines service access for Haitian immigrants in Miami, Florida since the onset of these reforms. The data presented here are derived from a series of qualitative interviews with Haitian service professionals and a quantitative survey of Haitian immigrant households. The survey data indicate that many Haitians who are living in poverty and qualified to access services are not enrolled for government services. Confusion over eligibility guidelines explains some of the variation of these low enrolments for specific services (such as child health insurance and childcare) but not for services most commonly used by immigrant adults such as food stamps and Medicaid. The survey also demonstrates that qualified immigrants living in households with unqualified persons are less likely to access services than are other qualified immigrants and are more likely to experience hardships that impede their ability to find stable employment. The concluding discussion highlights the significance of using a household unit of measure in assessing immigrant enrolments and hardships.

Redefining `Race' in North America

“…All observations on the views of Haitian community leaders in this article are derived from interviews that were conducted as part of a study on welfare reform outcomes for Haitians in south Florida that was funded by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation's Scholar Practitioner Program. Although these data have informed other reports on welfare reform outcomes for Haitian immigrants (Kretsedemas, 2003(Kretsedemas, , 2004, the observations presented here touch on themes that were not addressed in these studies. (Kretsedemas, 2003(Kretsedemas, , 2004.…”

“…Although these data have informed other reports on welfare reform outcomes for Haitian immigrants (Kretsedemas, 2003(Kretsedemas, , 2004, the observations presented here touch on themes that were not addressed in these studies. (Kretsedemas, 2003(Kretsedemas, , 2004. …”

Effects of US citizenship on wages of Asian immigrant women

“…For example, when the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act was enacted in 1996, eligibility of legally admitted immigrants for means‐tested federal benefit programs was significantly limited, especially for immigrants entering the USA after 1996. Sometimes, confusion over the new eligibility guidelines have prevented even qualified immigrants from receiving benefits (Kretsedemas, ). Recent studies have found that immigrants entering the USA after 1996 are poorer than those who entered earlier; despite a high labor force participation rate, recently arrived immigrants tend to have lower incomes, because they often take low‐paid jobs (Capps et al., ).…”

Handbooks of the Sociology of Racial and Ethnic Relations

“…One study of Haitian social service utilization in South Florida finds many Haitians not taking advantage of government services to the poor even though they qualify. Moreover, persons who share "households with unqualified persons are less likely to access services than are other qualified immigrants and are more likely to experience hardships that impede their ability to find stable employment" (Kretsedemas, 2003).…”