County urged to double relief checks

Conceding that Los Angeles County welfare policies have helped create the nation's worst homelessness problem, a welfare commission on Thursday recommended an increase in monthly General Relief checks from $221 to $400 to help get the homeless off the streets. Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

The amount of the monthly relief checks hasn't been adjusted since 1996 -- even though the cost of living has increased 42 percent since then.

The check is not enough to rent the cheapest apartments in the county -- costing at least $400 a month, said Leonard Schneiderman, dean emeritus of the UCLA School of Social Welfare and member of the Commission for Public Social Services.