Jessica Webster, staff attorney, with the Legal Services Advocacy Project (LSAP) has written a powerful new report on the effects of inflation on direct assistance to poor families. Published earlier this month by LSAP, the report shows the devastating consequences of a 30-year delay in increasing cash assistance for MFIP families, and what this erosion has meant for those struggling to meet basic needs.

For example, in 1986, the $532 grant covered rent and possibly a little bit of transportation money. Today, $532 does not pay for a habitable fair market rent anywhere in the state. The report also posits that the opportunity before Minnesota - of raising the grant by $100 per month - while unable to resolve 30 years of stagnation, would be a meaningful step to address this level of poverty. Read the full report.