Human Services

Georgia’s 2024 Human Services Budget

The FY 2024 budget includes $985 million for the Department of Human Services (DHS). It also includes a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for state workers and funds to hire several hundreds of Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) eligibility workers to support the state’s Medicaid Unwinding process. This process will redetermine the eligibility of 3 million Georgians after the end of continuous health coverage, which expired in March. The FY 2024 proposal increases investment in the agency by $65 million more than the lawmakers approved last year. The budget for DHS is about $156 million more than the FY 2020 budget, which legislators passed before the start of the pandemic.

FY 2024 Budget Would Include $985 Million for the Department of Human Services

Child welfare, foster care and adoption-related services account for about 63 percent of the agency’s budget. The next biggest share of spending is federal low-income assistance programs such as Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), accounting for 16 percent of the agency’s budget. Smaller programs such as elder care services, child support services and vocational training for adults with disabilities account for the remaining funds.

2024 Fiscal Year Highlights

DHS’ budget includes $65 million in additional state funds for FY 2024 including:

• $15.4 million for the $2,000 COLA increase for full-time state employees.

• $11.1 million to hire 450 additional Medicaid eligibility caseworkers and 75 supervisors to support the state’s Medicaid Unwinding process. The state will also use federal Medicaid funds to help cover the cost of hiring new staff.

• $15.2 million to supplement state funds for loss of federal Foster Care Title IV-E funds to group homes caring for foster care children.

• $5 million to provide alternative housing and services for foster care youth with complex needs. This addresses the hoteling crisis where youth with complex needs may have to spend one or multiple nights in a DFCS office or a hotel because their foster care parent or group home can no longer care for them.

• The governor directed the Vocational Rehabilitation agency to disregard more than $400,000 from its budget for initiatives like the Georgia Radio Reading Service for the blind, independent living services and employment services for transplant recipients.