Ismael Ahmed and DHS plan for greater FIP caseload

Michigan's high number of unemployed workers are expected to mean a
huge jump in family assistance welfare cases later this year as their jobless benefits expire, Department of Human Services officials told a House budget panel on Wednesday. DHS Director Ismael Ahmed also said food stamp assistance is already seeing a historic rise adding some 20,000-30,000 cases each month in a program that already serves 1.4 million households.

Mr. Ahmed told the Appropriations DHS Subcommittee that preparations
are underway, dealing with such things as additional staff training and facilities, to address the new influx of cases.

What human services officials are looking at are 230,000 unemployed
workers now, and will be leaving that system in big numbers beginning in July when some 20,000 go off from unemployment.

Not all of those who leave unemployment over the next seven months will wind up in the family assistance program, which now has about 75,000 cases, or other aid programs, but Mr. Ahmed told legislators a lot of them will.

"We're projecting that between late July and October, about 70,000-80,000 coming off from unemployment" will wind up in the FIP program, he said. "This is a large concern for which we're preparing right this minute." Mr. Ahmed said that kind of an increase will be "far outstripping any level of incoming customers we've seen previously."

The 1.55 million Medicaid households are also experiencing monthly
increases of 20,000-30,000, Mr. Ahmed said.

Mr. Ahmed said the overall numbers are preliminary, and the department is refining its projections on a county-by-county basis so workers can be better deployed to meet the workload.