HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 15

47th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2006

INTRODUCED BY

Kandy Cordova

FOR THE WELFARE REFORM OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE HUMAN SERVICES DEPARTMENT TO PROMULGATE A RULE ENABLING HOMELESS SHELTER ADDRESSES TO BE USED AS POINTS OF DISTRIBUTION FOR CASH ASSISTANCE BENEFITS.

     WHEREAS, cash assistance benefits available through the temporary assistance for needy families program cannot currently be distributed without a physical address; and

     WHEREAS, homeless persons have no address yet frequently need cash assistance; and

     WHEREAS, a coalition of providers of services for homeless clients has documented that some seventeen thousand New Mexicans experience homelessness during a given year, and approximately thirty percent of the homeless are families with children; and

     WHEREAS, a point-in-time count of the homeless in New Mexico on one night in January 2005 showed a total of five thousand two hundred fifty-six persons, one thousand eight hundred ninety-one of them families with children; and

     WHEREAS, receiving cash assistance through temporary assistance for needy families benefits might make it possible for children to move from the streets and into homes; and

      WHEREAS, there are a limited number of homeless shelters serving the homeless population of New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, using the addresses of homeless shelters as distribution points for cash assistance benefits might enable some of the homeless to receive benefits not otherwise available to them;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the human services department be requested to promulgate a rule enabling homeless shelter addresses to be used as distribution points for cash assistance benefits available through the temporary assistance for needy families program; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the human services department identify the street addresses of commonly used homeless shelters throughout the state in order to make distribution possible; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this memorial be transmitted to the secretary of human services.

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