The Region; Loan Program Gives Welfare Recipients a Lift; Jobs: A Ventura County effort to help workers buy cars and become more self- sufficient is being imitated throughout the state. 

The Los Angeles Times; Los Angeles, Calif.; May 12, 2002;  by CATHERINE SAILLANT 

After years on welfare, Corrina Arenas finally had a job. What she didn't have was a reliable way to get to it. 

That was when the government stepped in to help the Oxnard mother of six. Working with a nonprofit agency, Ventura County social
workers steered Arenas to a 1989 Nissan Maxima. The county also used public dollars to back her $3,000 car loan. 

All of this seemed miraculous to Arenas--she had a spotty credit history and little income. But getting the bank's nod, and three days later, a
car, helped the 42-year-old counselor get off public aid. 

In the two years since, Arenas has moved on to a better vehicle and an even better job. "It's a whole different life now," she said. 

Ventura County's car ownership program, started four years ago, is being imitated in various forms throughout the state. Stringent federal requirements for moving people off welfare rolls are forcing CalWORKS administrators to fill the gap for those who don't have their own car and can't use public transportation. 

"We're doing everything we possibly can to make it a successful work environment for parents so they can become self-sufficient," said June Marcott, deputy director of Orange County's CalWORKS program. 

Orange County's Board of Supervisors recently approved a program similar to Ventura County's and will spend $500,000 a year to back the loans. Sacramento and San Joaquin counties have taken the idea one step further, handing over aging county fleet vehicles at no cost. 

"In Sacramento County, we're spread out so far that public transportation is not an option for some people," said Kerri Aiello, spokeswoman for the Department of Human Assistance. "We're looking at this as a way to help people keep their job and maybe get an even better job." 

Of course, things don't always work out. There was the Ventura County mother of two who seemed a perfect candidate for a car loan. She made a few payments on her 1992 Hyundai sedan before skipping town in the car, leaving the county on the hook for her $2,900 loan. Another woman claimed a car then high-tailed it to Palm Springs. 

Loan defaults hover around 20%, said Aurora William of Many Motors, the nonprofit agency that solicits donated cars and screens drivers for Ventura County. That compares with about 5% for the general population. 

"We've had to pay off $30,000 in bad debt so far," William said. Ventura County kicked in about $7,000 of that, but the rest comes from car sales and donations to the nonprofit group, William said. 

Helping welfare parents find a way to work has been a major obstacle for policymakers trying to trim welfare rolls. A 1998 survey of employers across the country found that 88% identified transportation as a problem for newly hired welfare recipients. 

Welfare departments have offered monthly bus passes, van pools, gas vouchers and repairs for broken-down cars. But a study released last fall by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington, D.C., found that for many welfare dependents, a private vehicle is the best solution. 

A parent with a car is more likely to be employed and to work more hours, the study found. A reliable car widens their job search and solves scheduling complications that arise in child care arrangements, said Heidi Goldberg, author of the study. 

"It just seems like car ownership is the most practical option," Goldberg said. "If it's a loan program, it also helps them learn how to save, pay back loans and manage their money." 

Goldberg said states and counties should replicate these programs, using federal welfare dollars, instead of focusing on mass transit. With the Bush administration proposing expanded work requirements for welfare recipients, there is even more urgency to fix the problem, she said. 

Some states have already gotten the message and at least 15 offer cash to lease or purchase a car--California is not one of them. And county-supported car programs are starting to pop up all over. 

The reason why is simple--it works, said Brian Menzies, president of Charity Cars Inc. His nonprofit group based in Sanford, Fla., has been giving away donated cars for six years. 

"There is so much smoke and mirrors about bus passes, light rail and mass transportation," Menzies said. "But the people who own Lexuses are not going to hop on the bus, are they? So why should a single mother who's trying to get a job? It's the difference between having an existence and having a full life." 

People donate cars and Menzies' group pays for any repairs. Participants must have a job, a clean driving record and proof of insurance. Cars that are salvaged are used to fix up the newer ones and pay for warranties, Menzies said. 

"People will say, 'Why don't you make them give some sweat equity to earn those cars?'" he said. "Well, I've been poor. I know how much these people have already suffered. You know what they can do for me? They can become successful." 

Some welfare agencies, however, are putting their own proposals on hold. Riverside County has suspended its plan until officials see what the fallout is from the state's projected $20-billion deficit. Los Angeles County--with the largest welfare population in the state-- is not even considering one. 

"There's a lot of low-income people who don't have vehicles whose lives would be much improved if they had one," said Phillip Ansell, a spokesman for the county's Department of Public Social Services. "But there's no way that we have sufficient funding to respond to that need." 

Those counties and others, however, said they will be watching the programs closely to see how well they succeed. 

Sacramento and San Joaquin counties' ownership programs are nearly identical to the Charity Cars program in Florida. The biggest difference is that the cars are not donated but purchased from the county's own fleet of vehicles. 

Pink slips stay in the county's possession for one year. If the recipient holds down a job and has no driving problems, the county signs over the title, said Sacramento County's Aiello. The program costs $250,000 a year, money the county draws from CalWORKS incentive funds. 

Sacramento County was swamped with calls after it gave away its first two cars in January, a 1994 Ford Escort and a 1991 Dodge van, Aiello said. 

The woman who got the van has five daughters and was so grateful she was speechless, Aiello said. 

San Joaquin County has given away 40 cars in the last three years, said Richard Vote, the Human Service Agency's deputy director. One mother became an ironworker, joined the union and returned the car to the county, Vote said. 

Vote said the county tried van pools, but found they didn't work well because of long distances between job sites. The car giveaways work best when a parent is motivated to work but has problems getting to a job, he said. 

When Ventura County officials designed their program in 1998, they had a different model in mind. Supervisors were opposed to just handing cars over. They also didn't want to commit a lot of taxpayer dollars to the program. 

So the county agreed to back the first few loans that were approved; after that, the program was handed off to Many Motors to administer. Advocates say forcing participants to pay for their car fosters self-respect. 

"People don't want charity," said Thousand Oaks-based Supervisor Frank Schillo, who helped launch the program. "They really appreciate the fact that they have the ability to buy a car. That really means something to them. It buys them independence that
they have earned." 

For Arenas, the opportunity to get a loan came at just the right time. Authorities were threatening to take away the youngest of her six children when she was battling a heroin addiction three years ago. The scare prompted her to clean up her life. 

She was offered a job as a counselor at a battered women's shelter in Ventura, about seven miles from her home. Riding the bus wouldn't work, Arenas said, because she had to drop her younger children off at school and then pick them up at child care at the end of the day. 

Her social worker urged her to fill out an application with Many Motors. A screening committee disregarded the fact that she had unpaid credit card bills and that she had never before taken out a loan. 

After an over-the-phone credit counseling session, the bank working with Many Motors gave Arenas a check for $3,000. She calls it "the beginning of my new life." 

Now sober for more than three years, Arenas in January was hired as a drug and alcohol counselor for a county program. She has moved on to a newer van, but is still making payments on the Maxima. "I owe $600 now," she said proudly. "I'm supposed to pay it off in 2003, but I'm going to be early." 

Orange County's program is slightly different because the county plans to buy the used cars from lots. The county also has agreed to pay for the first six months of insurance and to pay any losses due to loan defaults. 

CalWORKS administrators figure they can offer 100 cars a year, at an average $5,000 price, when the program is launched in July. 

Marcott said officials will work closely with parents to make sure they are making payments. But they are gambling that most will meet their obligation. 

"I don't know that we're planning to become the repo police," she said. "I guess we'll talk about that when it happens." 

[Illustration]
Caption: PHOTO: Corrina Arenas of Oxnard got her car with a loan obtained through a nonprofit group. Arenas now has a job and is off welfare.; PHOTOGRAPHER: ANNE
CUSACK / Los Angeles Times