Eli Hager
I’m a ProPublica reporter who writes about issues affecting poor and working-class people across the country.
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I’m interested in hearing from current and former insiders at federal agencies that administer anti-poverty programs, as well as working-class people of all stripes about how their lives are changing.
What I Cover
I’m reporting on threats to federal social safety net programs, including Social Security, SNAP and Medicaid. I also write about systems that lower-income families interact with at the state and local levels, including child welfare, child support and the juvenile justice and education systems, as well as private companies that profit off of the poor.
My Background
Over the past decade, I’ve reported on how public policy affects some of the most vulnerable people in this country, whether in cities or rural areas, schools or jails.
I was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2022 for my investigation of foster care agencies in Alaska and elsewhere that pocket the Social Security benefits of orphaned and disabled children; my story led to the practice being banned in more than a dozen states and major cities. I’m also a three-time finalist for the Education Writers Association’s national award.
I previously worked for seven years at The Marshall Project, a news organization that covers the U.S. criminal justice system. My 2017 investigation of deaths, crashes, escapes and abuse on vans operated by for-profit prisoner transport companies prompted a major Justice Department investigation. My work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, on “This American Life” and “NBC Nightly News,” and elsewhere.
Utah Makes Welfare So Hard to Get, Some Feel They Must Join the LDS Church to Get Aid
Utah’s safety net for the poor is so intertwined with the LDS Church that individual bishops often decide who receives assistance. Some deny help unless a person goes to services or gets baptized.
Para obtener asistencia social, estas madres solteras se ven obligadas a compartir casi todo lo que saben sobre los padres de sus hijos
Las mujeres que solicitan asistencia social tienen que identificar al padre de sus hijos, y cuándo quedaron embarazadas, entre otros detalles personales. El gobierno utiliza esos datos para reclamarle la manutención al padre y se embolsa el dinero.
These Single Moms Are Forced to Choose: Reveal Their Sexual Histories or Forfeit Welfare
Women who apply for welfare often have to identify who fathered their children and when they got pregnant, among other deeply personal details. State governments use that information to pursue child support from the dads — and then pocket the money.