BDN cites Butler’s study in editorial on welfare funds
A 2013 study by Sandra Butler, a University of Maine social work professor, was cited in the Bangor Daily News editorial, “LePage administration tries to show it’s doing some good with welfare funds. It isn’t working.” Butler’s study found that more than a third of families surveyed who lost assistance after the state implemented a five-year lifetime limit on the financial help went on to lose electricity or another utility service. Twenty percent reported being evicted, having to relocate or moving to a homeless shelter, according to the editorial, and 70 percent reported relying on food banks for sustenance after losing help from the state’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.