California is known for its widespread social services and welfare programs to help low-income families in the state with payments. With one of the biggest wealth gaps and the high cost of living, the state faces significant challenges when it comes to housing, homelessness, and poverty. With both the growing income gap and homelessness rate, the local government has been increasing efforts to try and address this. A new payment arrives this month through one of their welfare programs, where you can earn up to $1,175 if you are an eligible individual.
The state of California’s wealth inequality
California is home to nearly a quarter of the US’s homeless population. The primary driver behind this is the incredibly high cost of housing in the area. Between 2023 and 2024, the homeless population in the state increased by 3%. According to January 2023 data, just under 190,000 people in California experience homelessness. Just over 20% of the state’s population reports not being able to afford basic household expenses. Monthly payments for a mid-tier home in California reached nearly $6,000 in June 2024.
To address this, significant efforts have been made by the state government to help the most vulnerable populations in the state. Since 2016, the state has invested over $27 billion in creating housing assistance and shelters to reduce homelessness in the state. The state has also been piloting basic guaranteed-income programs as well as expanding its Medi-Cal program coverage.
Up to $1,175 program for these individuals this month
One program that helps low-income families in the Golden State is CalWorks. A welfare program that provides cash aid to all 58 counties in California, the program is designed to help low-income families pay for essential expenses such as food, housing, and clothing. The amount of aid a family receives from the program is dependent on the number of members in the household, the household income, whether the household is home to a disabled person, and the state of employment of the family breadwinner.
“The purpose of CalWORKs is to provide equitable access to the services, resources and opportunities families need to increase resilience, achieve economic mobility, and break the cycle of poverty,” describes the CalWorks website.
For example, according to the California Department of Social Services, if you live in Region 1 of California and live in a home with three people where the family is not exempt from the work requirements to benefit from the program, they will be sent a maximum payment of $1,175 this month to assist with basic living expenses. However, the same family size in the same region that is exempt from the work requirements would receive a maximum aid payment amounting to $1,314.
CalFresh assists low-income families with food expenses
While the CalWorks program offers a cash-based program for families to spend on a variety of expenses, another welfare program is specifically designed to cover food expenses. CalFresh is California’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance program (SNAP), a federal program that provides over 41 million people across the nation assistance with paying for groceries.
The CalFresh Program distributed these SNAP benefits through Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT), which is loaded onto a card that beneficiaries can use at participating retail stores. If you are a beneficiary of the CalWorks program, you are also eligible to receive CalFresh. If you receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI), you are also eligible to receive CalFresh.
CalFresh will be distributing SNAP benefits today for individuals who have a case number ending in 3. The payments are staggered each month according to your case number. Approximately 5 million individuals in California receive these benefits every month, however, bad news is in store for these beneficiaries with reports emerging that the Trump Administration plans to cut federal budgeting of the SNAP program by 20%, as part of widespread welfare cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
