Welfare reform, institutional practices and service delivery settings

Deverteuil, Geoffrey (2003) Welfare reform, institutional practices and service delivery settings. Urban Geography, 24 (6), 529-550. (doi:10.2747/0272-3638.24.6.529).

Abstract

The 1996 U.S. welfare reform legislation promises to fundamentally restructure the ways in which local institutional practices and clients interact within welfare neighborhoods. Focusing on the neglected scale of the service delivery setting, I conceptualize the implications of federal welfare reform for institutional practices and examine actual institutional outcomes within the University Park neighborhood in Los Angeles. Employing a multimethod approach, I use descriptive and inferential statistics as well as qualitative case studies to seek evidence of change within and across three components: welfare reform as external burden and opportunities; welfare reform promoting internal reconfiguration; and welfare reform impacting service delivery settings. The overall results are mixed, with change concentrating in the first and second components, in terms of greater client and institutional need as well as superficial administrative changes. Change to service delivery settings manifested itself more subtly in the reallocation of resources toward mothers with children and employable clients and away from serving the difficult-to-employ and single adults

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