Legislative Commission to End Poverty holds hearing in Bemidji

from The Stillwater Courier

Brad Swenson, Forum Communications Company

Jed, who lives in his car in the woods, came to Bemidji this summer from California. He’s been homeless for 28 years.

“Living in a car in the woods is hiding like a fugitive even though I’ve done nothing wrong,” Jed, in his mid-50s, told a legislative panel Thursday night, charting a path over 28 years that has taken him from the Twin Cities to Oregon to California and now to Bemidji.

Saying he was diagnosed with a mental disease, he qualified for Supplemental Security Income, he now owes the federal government $13,000 because the Social Security Administration can’t verify his residency status.

He’s been to a host of local public agencies and some real estate firms seeking a cheap place to live, or at least cheap land, but continues to get the run-around. One Bemidji firm was ready to rent him a one-room cabin “in the boondocks,” but he didn’t pass a credit score.

“I’ve been unemployed for 28 years, and they’re looking for a credit track record,” Jed asked.

Another program providing low-income housing had a requirement that the applicant live within 15 miles of Bemidji for at least a year, and another public program offering low-interest loans said he was “too poor to qualify.”

Jed cited a lack of transitional housing in Bemidji — housing that would allow a homeless person to work themselves out of that condition and into permanent housing by first living free or really low cost in temporary housing.

“Poverty is by definition an integral part of our capitalistic economic system,” Jed said. “Human beings are a resource for low-income jobs, and are a permanently deprived underclass.”

Jed was joined by a half dozen other Bemidji residents who live in poverty and testified Thursday night to members of the Legislative Commission to End Poverty in Minnesota by 2020, which must have a report to the Legislature by Dec. 15, 2008.

They only used their first names, and faced the half-dozen panel members with their backs to the public and press at Northland Apartments hearing. They told similar stories, of living in poverty and facing challenges and barriers. Some were disabled, others with families and finding themselves in low-paying jobs.

Janice, who cried during most of her testimony, said she owns a one-room “cabin” but it’s on lakeshore. Assessed at less than $10,000 only a few years ago, lakeshore pressure moved the assessed value to $18,000, making her ineligible for MinnesotaCare, the state’s health insurance for the working poor.

“What hurts most after being poor is not being able to pay for medical care,” Janice said, adding that this summer she has now been diagnosed with cancer, that on top of a chronic spinal disease which prevents her from working full time.

She lost one part-time after 10 years when the firm changed hands and the new employer wanted to cut her hours and her pay, Janice said, refusing to take the offer. Now on unemployment of $146 a week, she loses 55 percent because of her second part-time job, which barely brings home $50 a week.

“Most likely I will have to file for bankruptcy,” she said. “I’ve worked most my life for peanuts, but I did build credit and took a vacation for the first time last year.” But now, she said, it’s back to having nothing.

One woman who didn’t give her name, a single mother with two grown children, said she’s worked hard to get off welfare but faces barriers to stay off welfare.

“Why does everything have to be a struggle every day?” she asked, noting that local social services workers haven’t returned calls, lost paperwork and have been rude in an effort to get her daughter eligible for Medical Assistance.

And she’s had trouble herself, wanting to work but having an old car that always breaks down. “Because I’m not on welfare doesn’t mean I’m not poor any more. It’s stressful wondering if my car can get me to work the next day.”

She added: “Everybody’s entitled to decency.”

Figures given to commission members show Beltrami County with a median household income of $30,200 while the state average is $51,202. Children living below federal poverty standards total 22 percent in Beltrami County, double the state’s 11 percent rate.

The Bemidji Community Food Shelf serves 4,445 families a year with emergency food needs, amounting to nearly 18,000 people. The Bemidji Community Soup Kitchen serves three meals a week at two locations to more than 6,000 people a year.

Bemidji’s homeless shelter is now turning away single people in favor of families, and there is a waiting list for low-income public subsidized housing. The Evergreen Shelter sees 400 youth a year, 200 of them homeless.

Bemidji is labeled as one of the poorest areas in Minnesota, one reason why the commission’s visit, which includes trips to both the Red Lake and Leech Lake reservations today.

But the more politicians talk about solving poverty, the more people stay on poverty, said Elizabeth, a middle-aged black woman who is blind and spoke from notes in Braille.

“I come with skepticism because public officials and prospective employers sit for hours in meetings knowing that every minute they are there is one more day of their security but it’s one more day to fulfill their promises made to the poor and disabled,” she said.

Elizabeth told of barriers faced by the disabled, especially the visually impaired, in housing and jobs. Capable of performing work, many end up referred to work that is nothing more than “day care,” she said.

“My challenge, and I am here speaking my mind about issues I am familiar with, is knowing you will do nothing,” Elizabeth said. “You do not have my confidence. Usually at the end of the road we end up in the same place.”

The only time the poor and disabled will hear again from the politicians is the next election season, Elizabeth said.

“A lot of people feel very disenfranchised about the issues were are talking about here,” said Michael Hawton, an appointee to the commission by Gov. Tim Pawlenty. “Maybe it’s my own naivety or desire or hope to see things improve, but I still believe that we can still deliver things, that we can accomplish things together.”

Noting that about 50 people attended the hearing, Hawton said the fact that people are concerned and willing to work together is a plus.

“We can’t guarantee that we can do all things through the government, but we can certainly hear what’s going on and try to address some of those issues,” Hawton said.

The Bemidji area is one of the most economically depressed areas in the state, prompted by a lack of well-paying jobs, said Sen. Mary Olson, DFL-Bemidji, a commission member.

“Unfortunately, in spite of all the rhetoric you’ve heard from politicians for years and years and years about this issue, the situation is actually getting worse, not better,” said Olson. “Typically, we’re seeing the percentage of the population living in poverty is increasing while people at the top of the economic ladder are also increasing, and the gap is widening.”

Olson said she wasn’t surprised at the cynicism of some, such as Elizabeth, “because we really haven’t been doing our job as legislators and government officials.”

People who are living in poverty are not people who don’t want to work, she said, and many are working or are disabled and want to contribute.. “There are a lot of barriers in our system today that are preventing people from contributing.

“It’s also clear that if we were supporting our social networks, that we would be economically further ahead because we would be allowing you to make those contributions and allowing you to get on your own feet,” Olson added.

Culled so far from commission visits throughout Minnesota are common barriers of transportation, housing and seeing credit, Olson said. “the bottom line is about economic development and jobs. We’ve got to do something in the community to stimulate economic development.”

Rep. Morrie Lanning, R-Moorhead, another commission member, said Minnesota as a whole isn’t really that bad off, with the fifth lowest poverty rate in the nation.

“Minnesota, overall, does pretty well in terms of addressing this issue,” he said. “But parts of this state are way above Minnesota’s average overall, and this happens to be one. … Even though overall Minnesota does a lot of good things in addressing this issue, we have a lot we have yet to do.”

Lanning said the stories told Thursday night help to put faces to the issue. “we have some human faces to put to these issues as we grapple with them.”

While in Bemidji, the commission toured poverty areas in Bemidji, such as the Mississippi River bridge where some homeless live, the Ours to Serve House of Hospitality, and had dinner at the United Methodist Church soup kitchen. After the hearing, they met informally with people at Peoples Church, which also serves the homeless.

This morning, members will hear reports from local agencies at the Bi-CAP offices before heading to Red Lake.