Dear Always,
I apologize if I’m reading your posts wrong. But there is not that much of a gap between kollel and working families, when it comes to government programs.
I think it is safe to assume that Lakewood has the largest amount of kollel families. And a large amount of young working families as well. Which families use which programs depends on personal choices besides kollel.
A decision about HUD is usually made around marriage. Those that take it, are limiting their choices of where to rent as well as not being able to buy if the opportunity arises. Since a large amount of Lakewood families look to buy before they leave kollel, this program is more stage based than saying something about kollel.
Jersey Care has a very high threshold, especially for large families. If you have private insurance, you probably are paying full tuition. There are those that squeezed by their employers and the schools, which is totally wrong. But that has nothing to do with kollel.
WIC is time consuming. Both the initial WIC appointments, and the WIC approved shopping. It is mostly used by younger families that have one parent available to make a trip out of it. And it also has a high threshold. Serious kollel men, drop WIC when it starts taking up too much time.
SNAP is probably the most associated with kollel life in Lakewood. Still, at some point most families will either not be eligible, or they really are short on money for food.
There are some other programs that have very low thresholds, and are only used by those who are actually poor. Which is not exclusive to kollel.
There is school lunches and meals on wheels for seniors. As well as making your house tax-free or special ed. Which all are not specifically relevant to kollel any more than the working family.
I have to stop here. I’m forgetting what the point of this was. I cede the floor.