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Street roots
Sept 16, 2011
Poverty figures unlikely to change course anytime soon
BY JOANNE ZUHL
•
S T A F F W R IT E R
^ ^ e n s u s figures released Tuesday put on
paper what many of us have known
for a long time. Times are tough,
getting tougher.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s
figures, the nation’s official poverty rate in
2010 increased from 14.3 percent in 2009 to
15.1 percent — the third consecutive annual
increase in the poverty rate and the highest
since 1993. The Bureau estimates that more
than 2.5 million entered poverty in 2010,
totaling more than 46 million Americans. It
is the fourth consecutive increase in that
figure, and the highest number since
poverty estimates have been published.
Oregon’s poverty rate is at 14.1 percent,
essentially unchanged from 2009.
“The increase in poverty obviously means
that there is a greater need for a sdcial
safety net,” said Chuck Sheketoff, executive
director of the Oregon Center for Public
Policy. “We think today’s news about the
increase in the poverty rate means that both
Congress and the state need to start
creating a good, robust jobs program and
raising the necessarily revenues to fund the
public services to lift people out of poverty.”
Sheketoff said the figures were not
surprising, given the severity of the
recession and the anemic recovery.
“Oregon has never done a good job at
reducing the poverty rate,” Sheketoff said,
“And unfortunately we have no one in state
government who is responsible for that.”
In 2009, the Oregon State Legislature did
raise taxes to cover the budget shortfall for
basic services. Thè 2011 legislature did not,
a move Sheketoff calls ifi-advised. Among
the reductions this year were cuts to the
employment and skills training programs
aiia child carejservicesjEor low-mcQme,,..
parents seeking employment.
The numbers may be the highest since
1993, but the conditions are different,
Sheketoff said.
“Our safety net for poor families with
children was better in the early 1990s,” he
said. “We had a more robust program for
families with dependent children, a more
I
Veterans Stand Down &
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robust jobs programs and skills program.
“People are seeking assistance that just
We are serving a smaller percentage of the
does not exist: help paying for cell phone
poor than we used to and we’re giving them
service or online service so they can
less. The legislature wrongly scaled back the continue to look for work; gas money so
basic job opportunity and skills program.
they can drive to interviews or research
We’ve let inflation erode access and made
potential employers; transportation
cutbacks.”
assistance so they can tend to a dying family
On the front lines is the Oregon and
member in another state, or attend a
Southwest Washington hub of 211Info, the
funeral,” Wendt says.
resource referral network, where call takers
It’s no surprise that the Federal Poverty
are hearing the
Level, used to
reality of the
determine eligibility
numbers,
for many low-income
“Anecdotally, we
assistance programs,
"We are starting to have
are starting to have
has inched up as well.
difficult conversations with
difficult conversations
For an individual,
with formerly middle- formerly middle-class people that figure is just .
class people who
under $11,000 a year,
who can't understand why
can’t understand why there isn't a safety net for
or $908 a month. For
there isn’t a safety
a family of four, the
them."
net for them,” said
poverty level is
— LIESL WENDT
Liesl Wendt, 211Info
| e x e c u t iv e D IR E C T O R , 2 1 1 in f o fo r $22, 350, or $1,863 a
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executive director.
month.
Among the questions
The child poverty
callers are asking
rate hit a record high
more frequently are:
of 22 percent, a level
“My unemployment is going to run out. I
not seen since 1994. For children under age
already can’t pay my bills, but I won’t have
6, the poverty rate between 2009 and 2010
anywhere to live if I can’t pay my re n t.'
increased to 25.3 percent from 23.8 percent,
Where am I supposed to go?” Wendt said.
altogether tallying 6.3 million children on
Human Solutions works to help low-
the poverty rolls.
income families get into housing, Connect
“A financially stable family gives children
with employment and support services, and
the best chance at a healthy, safe and
get out of poverty. Executive Director Jean
successful life,” said Children First For
Demaster, says they too started seeing an
Oregon Policy Director Regan Gray. “These
increase in the number of people feeling
numbers show that now, more than ever, it’s
desperate about their financial situation and
critical that legislators continue to fund
their prospects.
programs like Employment Related Day
“We’re seeing many more people who are
Care and Temporary Assistance to Needy
Families (TANF), which allow parents to
not able to pay their rent who are coming to
us with eviction notices," Demaster said.
find Work while providing for their children’s
“They’re desperate because they just put
most fundamental needs.” .
Both of those programs suffered budget
now .theycan’t pay -
their rent for October, so, their kids could be cutbacks this year.
More detailed information on the state of
pulled out of school, they could lose their
Oregon’s children will be released Sept. 22
apartment. It’s just a sense of desperation.”
when the American Community Survey
Wendt says that call takers are
state-by-state data is made available.
responding with what available resources do
Demaster said that at the same time
exist, however, they are starting to see more
people are coming to Human Solutions
people reach out for help and be turned
because their income has declined, the
away as agency resources hit their ceilings.
Cookbook features good eats from the streets
1 Uvete
1 veterans and their families are
DEVAN SCHWARTZ
1
welcome at the Veterans Stand
Z > welcoi
JL JLDown & Job Fair - a free event
with access to dozens of employers and
agencies o n '
from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m.
are
urged to bring their resumes; 50-plus
employers are expected.
In times of war, Stand Downs were
the opportunity for combat units to
take time to rest and recover at secure
base camp areas. This year, there will;
be nearly 100 Stand Down events held
across the country. Last year, the
in
collaboration Department of Veterans
WorkSource Oregon and other
community organizations. Call Central
City Concern at 503-226-7387 or visit
www.portlandstanddown.org for more
event details.
CORRECT
Street Roots strives for accuracy, but we're
human. So we also strive to correct errors in
our paper whenever possible. Please report
any errors to our managing editor, Joanne
Zunl, at 503-228-5657, or write to
streetrootsnews@gmail.com.
amount of money the organization has to
provide help with is also shrinking, in part
from federal cuts to the emergency food and
shelter program.
“We’re going to get more families who
eventually will become homeless because
they don’t have the money to pay the rent;
more people coming to use needing energy
assistance because they can’t get their
utilities on.”
Demaster said she expects to see another
year or more of hardship for people in low
incomes, with no light at the end of the
tunnel unless policies change. Demaster
says she supports a job program to put
people back to work, not only for immediate
relief but also future family stability.
“As these conditions get worse, many
times it means families have to split apart,
and when that happens that means that the
kids get farmed out to relatives, and
sometimes that’s a positive situation, but a
lot of times that’s a negative situation,”
Demaster said. “It has a long term effect of
kids not going to school, not getting the
support and nurturing they need, and the
family not building strong comununities....
The cycle just repeats itself.”
Among the numbers released by the
Census Bureau this week:
■ The poverty rate and the number in
poverty increased for both married-couple
families (6.2 percent and 3.6 million in 2010
from 5.8 percent and 3.4 million in 2009)
and female-householder-wiih-no-husband-
present families (31.6 percent and 4.7
million in 2010 from 29.9 percent and 4.4
million in 2009). For families with a male
householder no wife present, the poverty
rate and the number in poverty were ndt
statistically different from 2009.
■ While the poverty rates for children
increased, it was not statistically different
for people 65 and older (9 percent).
■ The median household income
declined from $50,599 to $49,445. Among
western states, the median household
income dropped from $54,722 to $53,142,
which, given the methodology, is considered
statistically insignificant
C O N T R IB U T IN G W R IT E R
ecently released by Changing Lives
Press, “Mailbox Muffins” is a cookbook
unlike other cookbooks. Its recipes are
written by the homeless. Six featured chefs
provide their favorite recipes, many prepared
while living out-of-doors in Gulfport, Miss.
Some of these recipes highlight quintessential
local^fare — jambalaya, shrimp, hot sauce,
Vietnamese cuisine. Others emphasize food
bank and camping trip staples like tuna fish,
macaroni and cheese, spaghetti canned
vegetables and meats. Even with some of the
offerings as mundane as tuna noodle salad,
readers begin getting to know the chefs’
personalities.
Each chef’a recipes are framed by personal
narratives about how they became homeless
and what their experiences were of Hurricane
Katrina. (Gulfport is about eighty miles from
New Orleans.) For the most part they describe
the hurricane itself as a peripheral event since
they had limited access to media, though, it did
entail lots of MREs (meals ready to eat). More
poignant, however, are challenges they faced
with their families, their employment, and
their emotional well-being. For those who’ve
experienced homelessness themselves, there
may not be anything particularly revelatory
here; and yet, narratives about conditions
leading to homelessness are always important,
especially in the surprising context of a
cookbook.
The chefs bring an array of cooking
experiences, from John’s work at the Gulfport
Yacht Club to Bobby’s development of a
mailbox oven, to Julie’s meal preparation for
R
Mailbox Muffins,
and other recipes
from the Gulf
Coast Homeless.
Copies are
available online
and at Powell’s.
her son. Certain recipes accommodate
rudimentary cooking supplies while others are
meant for the trappings of an indoor kitchen.
This spectrum represents a transition for each
chef, from unhoused to housed, and now living
in the Oregon Place Apartments.
A project of local philanthropists and
Mississippi Cares International, Inc., the
56-unit building was purchased from Fannie
Mae, and recieves various government grants.
The mission of Oregon Place is “to proride
transitional workforce housing for homeless
people so they can live in a safe and secure
place while learning basic skills and/or a trade
that can be used to re-enter the work place
and regain their place in society.”
Though not a homeless shelter, residents
may earn no more than 50 percent of the
area’s median income and are expected to
take part in education or job re-training. Book
proceeds go to support Oregon Place, the roof
over the heads (and the kitchens) of chefs-in-
residence Bobby, Crystal, Charles, Julie, John
and Howard.
Mailbox Cornbread
Ingredients:
1 box of cornbread mix
water (according to directions on box)
empty 1-inch deep tuna fish cans
Directions: Heat mailbox oven (described
at length in the book). Combine cornbread
mix and water and mix well. Fill tuna fish cans
with mixture and bake for 45 minutes. Remove
mailbox from fire and allow to cool. Eat
cornbread straight from cans.