San Francisco considers replacing welfare cash with vouchers Proposition E would give most welfare assistance in vouchers versus checks Issue going before voters March 6, 2000 Web posted at: 2:07 p.m. EST (1907 GMT)

SAN FRANCISCO (CNN) -- The goal of a hotly debated ballot measure that San Francisco voters will consider on Tuesday is to prevent welfare recipients from spending their checks on drugs and alcohol. But opponents of Proposition E say it would leave thousands of people virtually penniless.

If the initiative passes, the bulk of the city's maximum $354 a month general assistance payment would no longer be in cash.

VIDEO CNN's Don Knapp explains the proposition. QuickTime Play Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K RESOURCES San Francisco Proposition E

AUDIO Hear opinions for and against Proposition E

ALSO California's ballot measures at a glance Instead, 85 percent of the sum would be replaced with vouchers or direct payments to landlords and providers of other services, such as drug treatment and job training.

Only the remaining 15 percent would be in cash form to be spent as the recipient sees fit.

Backers of Proposition E include San Francisco business people and others who say homeless recipients refuse to spend their general assistance allowance on food and shelter and squander it on drugs and alcohol.

The city estimates about 30 percent of its 8,500 general assistance recipients are homeless. Critics of Proposition E say that if the measure is approved, there won't be enough shelter space or low-cost hotel rooms to go around, meaning homeless people holding vouchers will be out of luck.

"Most people who are homeless are not drug addicts," says San Francisco Sheriff Mike Hennessey, a voucher opponent. "We shouldn't be punishing them as a way of getting at the drug addicts in some fashion," he told CNN.

Former welfare recipient Marilyn Jackson says that when she was a drug addict, she used to spend her entire welfare check on drugs

83K/8 sec. AIFF or WAV sound But Earl Rynerson, the main sponsor of Proposition E, denies passage would create a housing shortage.

"I have personally contacted some of these hotels, and they say they have rooms available for under $350 and they say the rate would be even cheaper if the city booked rooms as a block," he told the San Francisco Chronicle.

While voucher advocates say it's the best way to assure that people who need the basics will get them, opponents argue that Proposition E sets up welfare recipients for failure by making them less responsible for their decisions and more dependent on government.

-- Mark Stilson (mark842@hotmail.com), March 06, 2000