Slowik: How federal budget cuts would impact the poor and elderly in Chicago’s south suburbs

March 17--A group of senior citizens gathered to share a meal Thursday at the Bremen Township Senior Center along Oak Park Avenue in Oak Forest.

Diners included Jerry Kowalski, 75, a retired bricklayer who shares an apartment with his brother Bern Kowalski, 73, at Hanover Place retirement community in Tinley Park.

"We're here just about every day," Jerry Kowalski told me.

"You can't beat the food, and the price is right," his brother said.

Thursday's menu included baked chicken breast, wild rice and broccoli. Donations of $4 per meal are requested -- not a bad deal for a good-tasting, nutritious meal.

"You can't go anywhere else and get as nice a meal as you can here," said Martha Sloop, 89, who also lives at Hanover Place.

I visited Bremen Township's senior lunch program as I tried to gauge how the 2018 budget proposal President Donald Trump unveiled Thursday would impact people in the south suburbs.

It's unlikely Bremen's senior lunch program would be affected, though similar services could be cut if Congress goes along with the president's ideas. The president wants to eliminate the Department of Housing and Urban Development's $3 billion Community Development Block Grant program that provides federal funding for Meals on Wheels, along with public works projects and other programs.

Bremen Township receives $40,000 a year in federal funding for its lunch program through a different channel, the Department of Health and Human Services. The president wants to slash $15 billion from the HHS budget next year.

The township would continue offering low-cost lunches for seniors even if federal funding is eliminated, Supervisor Maggie Crotty told me.

"We'll keep it even if we don't get funding, but it does help to get that money," she said.

Community meals cost less to provide than home-delivered services like Meals on Wheels. They also create other benefits, like a chance for seniors to socialize with peers.

"It's a community," Sloop told me. She shared lunch Thursday with fellow Hanover Place residents Carolyn Sass, 80, and Mary DiStasio, 95 -- the retirement community's reigning Wii bowling champion.

Pundits' initial analysis of the president's budget proposal Thursday focused on increased spending for defense and Homeland Security and significant cuts in funding for education, environmental protection, the arts and programs that help the poor and elderly.

Some analysts said the president's proposal, "America First: A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again," was merely an agenda message that outlines policy priorities. It will likely be significantly revised by the time a more detailed budget is proposed in May, and Congress will have the final say on approving expenditures.

When I heard about the proposed elimination of funding for Meals on Wheels, I viewed Thursday's budget proposal as a chance to explore how federal dollars are channeled through various agencies and spent on programs that serve people in the south suburbs.

In the time I had Thursday to work on the story, I was unable to come up with a comprehensive view of how cuts might impact the Southland. I can, however, share a few snapshots of how funding cuts would affect some areas.

Elimination of the Community Development Block Grant program is part of a proposed $6.2 billion cut in HUD funding.

"The federal government has spent over $150 billion on this block grant since its inception in 1974, but the program is not well-targeted to the poorest populations and has not demonstrated results," the president's plan said.

Seeking specifics, I found expenditure reports on the HUD website showing the CDBG program provided $8.8 million in funding for suburban Cook County in fiscal year 2015 and nearly $1.3 million in spending for Will County that year.

Expenditures in Will County that year included $506,901 in water and sewer system improvements and $7,500 to help abused and neglected children. In suburban Cook, federal funding included $276,235 for senior centers, $67,526 for food banks and $45,000 for substance abuse services.

These disbursements are minuscule allocations when considered as part of a $1.1 trillion federal budget. But they often represent significant levels of funding when they trickle down to local programs.

Many service providers are concerned about the proposed budget cuts, as well as the Republican plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Agencies that serve the elderly, poor and others worry the federal government might drastically reduce the amount of funding it provides through Medicare.

"(Agencies) are making choices about what they can fund because they have fewer dollars," said Rita Lopez Brosnan, executive director of Metropolitan Family Council's Southwest Family Center.

The center operates facilities in Blue Island and Palos Hills. The agency's 2016 annual report said it served 7,532 clients in the south and southwest suburbs last year.

The agency's work includes assisting families who adopt children from overseas and providing behavioral health counseling to adults and children. I asked Lopez Brosnan why people should care about government funding for mental health counseling, as some apparently believe such programs are expendable.

"There's research that connects a lot of chronic illnesses to mental health," she told me. People with anxiety and depression, for example, are more likely to develop serious health problems like heart disease and diabetes, which are more expensive to treat.

Agencies serving the south suburbs are particularly anxious about potential cuts in federal funding in light of the crisis over state funding for social services. The "safety net" that helps poor and elderly residents make ends meet already has many holes in it. With agencies reducing staffs and trimming services, some worry the safety net is in danger of collapsing.

Some in the Southland would feel the impact of the proposed 13 percent cut in education funding, including elimination of nearly $4 billion for Pell Grants. Others might be more directly affected by the proposed 31 percent cut in spending for the Environmental Protection Agency and the proposed elimination of funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

It's hard to say how many south suburban residents would be directly impacted by the proposed 29 percent cut in State Department funding and the huge cuts in spending for scientific research.

I think Trump's budget, if approved as proposed, would most directly impact poor and elderly people in the south suburbs.

I'm unconvinced the drastic cuts in programs that serve the most vulnerable are worth the proposed $54 billion increase in spending for the Pentagon, $4 billion in initial funds to build a wall on the Mexican border and an additional $1.5 billion to enforce immigration policies.

The budget signals a shift in government policy toward greater safety and security. But if paying for those measures reduces the means to assist millions of needy Americans with food, housing, health care and other essentials, is it worth it?

tslowik@tribpub.com

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