Without a car, welfare recipients must rely on existing public transportation systems to move them from their inner-city homes to suburban jobs. However, recent studies show important gaps between existing transit system routes and the location of entry-level jobs. Primarily through FTA’s demonstration programs and seminars and HUD’s Bridges to Work program, these agencies have provided limited funding for programs that support transportation research and demonstration programs aimed at helping the poor move from welfare to work. While the number of welfare recipients moved into jobs has been low, the programs have identified programmatic and demographic factors that local transportation and welfare officials should consider to ensure that the most effective transportation strategies are employed to support welfare reform. FTA has also helped state and local transportation agencies develop plans for addressing the transportation needs of their welfare recipients. HUD’s Bridges to Work Project Is in Early Stages of Implementation

HUD’s Bridges to Work program is a 4-year research demonstration program that began in late 1996 with $17 million in public and private funding. Preliminary results show that the following factors appear to support a program’s success: (1) collaboration among transportation, employment, and other human services organizations; (2) an understanding of local job markets; and (3) flexible transportation systems. Accordingly, it is difficult to evaluate how funds provided for an Access to Jobs program would effectively support national welfare reform goals. However, the lack of specific information on the program’s purpose, objectives, performance criteria, and evaluation approach makes it difficult to assess how the program would improve mobility for low-income workers and contribute to overall welfare reform objectives. An Access to Jobs program would authorize significant funding ($900 million) to support the transportation element of welfare reform. Recommendations

If the Congress authorizes an Access to Jobs program, we recommend that the Secretary of Transportation (1) establish specific objectives, performance criteria, and measurable goals for the program when the Department prepares its Fiscal Year 2000 Performance Plan; (2) require that grant recipients coordinate transportation strategies with local job placement and other social service agencies; and (3) work with other federal agencies, such as the departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and Housing and Urban Development, to coordinate welfare-to-work activities and to ensure that program funds complement and do not duplicate other welfare-to-work funds available for transportation services. Finally, DOT disagreed with our assessment that an Access to Jobs program will require the Federal Transit Administration to undergo a cultural change—a change whereby the agency may have to accept nontraditional transportation solutions to address barriers to welfare-to-work programs. Nonetheless, the DOT and HUD studies cited in this report consistently emphasized the limitations of existing mass transit systems as the transportation solution to welfare-to-work barriers.
Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed: (1) whether current studies and research demonstrate the importance of transportation services in implementing welfare reform; (2) the preliminary results of the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) current welfare-to-work programs and the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Bridges to Work program; and (3) how an Access to Jobs program would support welfare reform.

What GAO Found

GAO noted that: (1) transportation and welfare studies show that without adequate transportation, welfare recipients face significant barriers in trying to move from welfare to work; (2) existing public transportation systems cannot always bridge the gap between where the poor live and where jobs are located; (3) the majority of entry-level jobs that the welfare recipients and the poor would be likely to fill are located in suburbs that have limited or no accessibility through existing public transportation systems; (4) FTA has funded welfare-to-work demonstration projects, planning grants, and regional seminars, while HUD's Bridges to Work research program is in the early stages of placing inner-city participants in suburban jobs; (5) although these programs began recently and have limited funding, they have identified programmatic and demographic factors that state and local officials should consider when they select the best transportation strategies for their welfare-to-work programs; (6) these factors include: (a) collaboration among transportation providers and employment and human services organizations; (b) analyses of local labor markets to help design transportation strategies that link employees to specific jobs; and (c) flexible transportation strategies that may not always rely on existing mass transit systems; (7) if authorized, an Access to Jobs program would bring additional resources and attention to the transportation element of welfare reform; (8) however, limited information about the program's objectives or expected outcomes makes it difficult to evaluate how the program would improve mobility for low-income workers or support national welfare-to-work goals; (9) the new program may require FTA and local transit agencies to undergo a cultural change whereby they are willing to accept nontraditional approaches for addressing welfare-to-work barriers; (10) the agency must ensure that the millions of dollars it contributes to welfare reform support rather than duplicate the transportation funds provided through other federal and state agencies; and (11) while FTA has begun to consider some of these important issues, addressing all of them before the program is established would help ensure that the transportation funds provided for an Access to Jobs program would be used efficiently and effectively in support of national welfare goals.