For those who are unemployed, cannot work, or earn a low wage, income supports help fill the gap between their income and self-sufficiency, allowing them to support their families.

Download the Work Supports Modeling appendix

For many families living at or slightly above the Self-Sufficiency Standard, the sudden loss of some or all of their income means they are immediately floundering with bills they cannot pay and basic needs they can no longer meet. For other families, a Self-Sufficiency Wage is difficult or impossible to attain due either to having a disability that limits or prohibits work or having a job that simply pays low wages. Income supports, such as food stamps, child care assistance, or a housing subsidy, play a vital role in bridging the gap between a layoff and the next job opportunity or between low wages and what it takes to actually make ends meet.

A myriad of challenges plague the income supports system in the nation and in Illinois:

• Supports are designed to help struggling families, but often fail to make it into the hands of many who are eligible due to a lack of information about existing programs and barriers within the application system.
• Many of the systems in place to connect eligible people with income supports rely on outdated policies and procedures causing lots of red tape for people in need of assistance.
• Benefit amounts do not reflect actual need and are often too low to make a meaningful difference for families struggling to make ends meet.
• As families are successful in securing employment and increasing wages they fall into a policy gap where their incomes are too high to qualify for supports, but not high enough to get by.

Strategies for strengthening Illinois’ income supports system include:

• Create a service delivery system that offers multiple points of entry and access to reach all families in need, including effective use of technology and expanded relationships with local community-based organizations for education and enrollment assistance.
• Streamline and simplify existing policies by expanding local office business hours, providing language assistance, increasing or eliminating asset limits, and eliminating duplicative documentation and verification requirements.
• Increase benefit levels to reflect actual costs for goods and services, and address the gap between existing wages and the cost of basic needs.
• Adjust eligibility levels to allow families to increase wages without losing vital supports until income achieves level of wage adequacy.

The Social IMPACT Research Center's Illinois Self-Sufficiency Project is made possible through the generous support of the Grand Victoria Foundation and the Chicago Foundation for Women.