By VALERIE BAUMAN
Associated Press

ALBANY - A class-action lawsuit against New York state on behalf of hundreds of thousands of welfare recipients seeks to increase the welfare grant, which hasn't changed since 1990.

Attorneys representing three antipoverty groups for no fee said the state's inaction violated the constitution and has created a class of citizens forced to live in poverty.

The state Assembly passed an increase in the welfare grant, but it didn't survive the Republican-led Senate.

According to the suit, the current grant provides assistance equal to less than half of the national poverty level. New York has 501,049 residents receiving temporary public assistance, according to September 2008 records from the New York state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance. That's a nearly 70 percent decrease from 12 years ago, said Michael Hayes, a spokesman for the agency.

A family of three receives $291 a month, plus a housing allowance that varies by county. In New York City, that allowance brings the assistance to $691, while in Albany it's $600 a month, according to the state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, inflation has increased about 65 percent since 1990.

Officials in Gov. David Paterson's office said they are reviewing the suit. Paterson, the State of New York, Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver are named as defendants in the suit.

The state has added more than $170 million in additional food stamp benefits for New Yorkers, and enrolled an additional 100,000 households in the food-stamps program in the past year to help low-income families, according to the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance.

The maximum value that a single-person household may receive in food stamps in New York City is $176 per month.

"Some days I eat just one small meal, a few chicken wings, and other days I have to skip eating altogether," said Warren Taylor, a 50-year-old plaintiff in the case, in a written statement.

The Yonkers native worked for 25 years as a printer until his hand was injured, and now he struggles to find work. Taylor lives in one-room public housing and can't afford a telephone or public transportation - which makes it more difficult to hold down a job.

Poverty advocates from The Urban Justice Center, The Economic Justice Project, Main Street Legal Services, and attorneys from Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison were involved in filing the suit on behalf of the poor.

"The Legislature is sitting on its hands at a time when more and more people are going to need help," said Doug Lasdon, executive director of the Urban Justice Center and co-counsel for the plaintiffs.