Shifting Into Gear

Public transportation may get many people to work, but it will not work for everyone. Many people work shifts outside of nine-to-five business hours, take children to school or day care on their way to work, or live beyond the reach of a transit system or in a rural area without any public transit at all.

The mission of many car ownership programs is very simple: to provide cars to low-income families to facilitate their ability to get to work or training. Car ownership programs are providing short-term assistance to address an immediate, usually employment-related need, thus the cars that are provided are considered “starter” cars.

The average per unit cost to acquire, process and transfer a car to a client ranges from $3,340–$7,060. Many car ownership programs rely heavily on TANF funding or private grants to continue operations. Given the budget size, the lack of diversified funds puts car ownership programs in financially vulnerable positions especially in light of the government budget deficits and cutbacks.