[Missouri] Poverty rate in county tops state

from The Columbia Missourian

Social services and student population are reasons cited.

By VANJA PETROVIC

[Note: this story has been modified since its original posting to correct information about the difference in poverty rates between Boone County and the state.]

The recently released results from the 2005 American Community Survey, conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, show that the percentage of people living below the poverty level in Boone County is 48 percent higher, at 19.7, than in the rest of the state, where it is 13.3 percent.

One reason could be that Boone County’s relatively low unemployment rate and good social services attract individuals living below the poverty level. Another reason might be the high population of students living in Boone County.

Anne Dannerbeck, a research assistant professor at the School of Social Work currently doing research in multiple counties in Missouri, believes that homeless shelters and housing programs are what bring people below the poverty line to Boone County.

“One factor (affecting the poverty level) is that we have a lot of social services here, and it’s a draw,” said Dannerbeck. “People find out and hear about it and that’s why they come here.”

However, while praising the availability of social services in Columbia, Dannerbeck said that there’s more to be done, as long as there is poverty.

Phil Steinhaus, CEO of the Columbia Housing Authority, said that a lot of people come to Columbia looking for opportunity and to work their way out of poverty. However, he said, some don’t work their way out of it.

“If you find yourself homeless, what do you do?” Steinhaus said. “Would you go to a town with a lot of unemployment and high crime or would you go to a town with low unemployment and low crime?”

He said that people are attracted to towns with low unemployment and low crime, like Columbia.

“We’re a great place to live and there’s a lot of opportunity here,” Steinhaus said.

Still, others attribute Boone County’s high poverty rate to the high population of students in Columbia.

“Because Boone County includes Columbia, which is a college town, the poverty rate may appear higher,” said Kathleen Miller, program director of the Rural Policy Research Institute. “This would be because of the large number of students and student families. As you know, many students have incomes below the poverty line, even though for them this is a temporary situation.”

John Blodgett, senior programmer and data analyst for the Office of Social and Economic Data Analysis in Columbia, said the student population does impact the poverty rate.

He accessed a 1 percent sample of the community survey for both Boone County and Missouri for analysis. He then removed the student population from the sample in order to see whether the student population heavily impacted the poverty rate in Boone County.

When this population is removed, the poverty rate drops to 12 percent. At first glance this appears to suggest that the poverty rate in Boone County is proportionately lower than in the rest of Missouri, “but the state includes students as well,” said Blodgett.