Poverty level surges

from The Northwest Hearld

By DAVID FITZGERALD

Struggling has been a way of life for Angie Crowcroft. She left an abusive relationship four years ago when she was pregnant with her fifth child.

After living in three shelters, she ended up at Home of the Sparrow in Crystal Lake.

Since then, Crowcroft has received her GED, special computer training, housing and a full-time job.

“I’m so much more stable in my life now than I ever have been,” she said.

But at $11.50 an hour, she still has a hard time making ends meet.

“Because we are a rich county, people don’t understand there are a lot of people out here like me,” Crowcroft said.

A report released today by the Illinois Poverty Summit shows that 3,751 more people in McHenry County were living in poverty in 2005 than 2004.

“Many people don’t know that their neighbors are struggling as much as they are,” said Amy Rynell, director of the Mid-America Institute on Poverty of Heartland Alliance, the organization that convened the summit.

Sub-prime lending, high-interest loans and other risky home buying options have created a wealth of debt in growing communities such as McHenry County, she said.

“From the outside, their houses look fine, but when it comes to the week-to-week, month-to-month paying of the bills, they are struggling,” Rynell said.

Suzanne Hoban, executive director of the Family Health Partnership Clinic, calls them the hidden poor �“ the more than 14,900 McHenry County residents living in poverty that do not register on the public radar.

“The difficulty in seeing poverty in the county is because it is very spread out. We don’t have one particular large city that houses our people in poverty,” Hoban said.

But it is visible in the clinic Hoban runs in Woodstock, where patient numbers have skyrocketed. In 2005, it saw 4,900, but last year saw 6,500.

“And we’re only serving the tip of the iceberg,” she said. “We don’t have the capacity to serve all of the people who need our services.”

Poverty rates grew much more in the collar counties than in both Chicago and Cook County, the report reveals.

McHenry and DuPage counties are both tied for the lowest poverty rates in the area at 4.9 percent. Both have seen a tremendous percent growth in poverty over time, said Rynell. Since 1999, the number of people in poverty has increased by more than 33 percent, which Rynell calls a significant increase.

The poverty report shows that the current fair market value for a two-bedroom apartment in McHenry County is $935 a month, but the average renter only makes enough to afford $514 per month.

Usually, when the population grows, poverty grows right along with it, said Marybeth Urbin, program director at Home of the Sparrow shelters in Crystal Lake, McHenry and Palatine.

“But affordable housing is not growing at the same rate,” Urbin said.

And right now, the shelters usually are full, she said.

Poverty Report Findings:

�“ Poverty increased 1.1 percent from 2004 to 2005, an increase of 3,751 poverty-stricken people in McHenry County.

�“ From August 2005 to August 2006, unemployment in the county shrank by 1.1 percent.

�“ About 3.5 percent more low-income students graduate from high school, meaning that now slightly more than three-fourths of low-income students get a diploma.

�“ Of all county students, 13 percent are eligible for free or reduced-price school lunches.

�“ Between 1999 and 2005, the median family income fell from $75,994 to $70,908.