More fall into spiral of poverty

from the Albany Times Union

From poor to working poor: Between 2001 and 2005, 14,000 Capital Region residents fell below poverty line

By JIMMY VIELKIND, Staff writer

TROY -- Terry Behan is used to living in poverty.

The 38-year-old father of three young boys ran away from home at age 15, living hand to mouth and fix to fix on the streets of Troy for the next few years. He did time, but straightened out when he met Shannon Brayman, the mother of his children.

They doubled up with Brayman's twin sister in a Halfmoon trailer, as Behan and Danny Dunham, his soon-to-be-brother-in-law, worked full-time but still struggled. The family had made the transition from poor to working poor.

Between 2001 and 2005, 14,000 Capital Region residents fell below the poverty line -- a slow but consistent rise even as median household incomes in the area rose and statewide poverty rates leveled, according to a Times Union analysis of recently released census data. The apparent cause is the rising cost of necessities and stagnant wages.

In Rensselaer County, 11.5 percent of people live in poverty, including 16.1 percent of children under 18 -- increases of 2.1 and 4 percent from 2001. Albany and Schenectady counties each reported that 11.9 percent of their residents live in poverty, both more than 2 percent over 2001. The poverty threshold for a family of four rose $3,067 between 2001 and 2007 to $21,027.

Social service providers say they see those data in the greater numbers of people -- including more and more families -- showing up at food pantries, soup kitchens and even homeless shelters. There is no single precipitating factor, just a slow squeeze of family budgets as the price of basic necessities -- food, electricity, gasoline -- rose while wages struggled to keep up.

According to federal statistics, energy prices rose 19.6 percent from January 2007 to January 2008. Transportation costs rose 9 percent while food rose almost 5 percent. Overall, prices rose 4.3 percent for urban consumers.

"It sort of went under the radar," Diane Reed, program director of Catholic Charities of Rensselaer County, said as she walked through the storeroom of a food pantry in Troy's North Central neighborhood.

In a side room, Reed opened three refrigerators. The shelves were nearly empty, save for some hamburger, bacon and chicken patties. Other nonperishable goods that can be stretched over many meals, like peanut butter, were also in short supply.

More people come during the last and first week of each month as food stamp benefits run out, said Joyce Daniels, who has seen the pantry's clientele grow in the six years she has run it.

According to Mark Quandt, director of the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York, which provides food to pantries around the region, demand is up and donations are down.

"When costs go up, and something needs to be cut and that often is food," Quandt said. According to Food Pantries for the Capital District, people sought food assistance 65,758 times from 44 area pantries in 2006.

But more and more of the newcomers are the working poor. According to a report published by Catholic Charities in January, 71 percent of impoverished families in Albany County had at least one worker; it was 70 percent in Rensselaer County, 59 percent in Schenectady County and 52.6 percent in Saratoga County.

The minimum wage in New York was raised in 2004 over a veto by then-Gov. George Pataki. It reached $7.15 hourly in January 2007, gradually increasing from $5.15. The money doesn't go far enough, said Sister Maureen Joyce, head of Catholic Charities in the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese.

"What you have is a batch of people who are working two or three jobs on minimum wage, and they are probably doing worse than they were 10 years ago," she said. The pinch is felt by everyone: gasoline now costs well over $3 a gallon, but was under $2 in 2004, Joyce said. The same trend is evident on utility bills. Most can afford the higher increases, maybe by putting a little less into savings or cutting back on some luxuries, Joyce said. But many lower-income people don't have that buffer.

Thomas Coates, the director of Catholic Charities' housing services, did the sad math, and said that the "transitional" housing he runs has now become permanent as families who move in are unable to find apartments they can afford. People who fall behind on their rent are ending up in shelters.

"The increase we've seen is less so because people who have problems or issues -- though those people are there -- but now we're seeing plain old poor people who can't afford to pay their bills. And they're working," Coates said.

In the 19-bed St. Charles Lwanga homeless shelter in Albany's South End, 23-year-old Shane Patton was seeking refuge as he tried to save enough money for a security deposit on an acceptable apartment.

"It's tough to find a job where you can sustain yourself," he said, despite his training at Glenmont Job Corps as a computer technician. He now earns minimum wage working in a restaurant. "And the housing market is really tough. Some of these places are so disgusting you'd rather live in a shelter."

Many service providers are lobbying governments to do more.

Terry Behan just wants a job.

It's tough with a criminal record and just a GED, but he still managed to find employment in Clifton Park at Marshalls. Danny Dunham worked at Wal-Mart. Even with two full-time incomes, they still visited pantries and the Salvation Army. Then they were forced to leave when the trailer they called home was condemned. Behan had to quit because he had no way to get to work after they moved to Troy.

Now the family is scraping by again. Brayman can't work because she is disabled. Behan balances his time scouring the classifieds and collecting bottles. On a good day, he said, he earns $40 in returns.

"I just want a decent job to take care of my family. I want to not have to worry about where I can get diapers," he said, gesturing to Landon, 2, and Cody, 1, as his eldest, 3-year-old Kyle, played nearby.

Jimmy Vielkind can be reached at 454-5043 or by e-mail at jvielkind@timesunion.com.

Several thousand people have fallen into poverty in the Capital Region in recent years, according to Census data. Here are the numbers, by county, and the change from 2001 to 2005.

Albany County: 33,187, or 11.9 percent of the population

Rensselaer County: 17,165, or 11.5 percent of the population

Saratoga County: 13,361, or 6.4 percent of the population

Schenectady County: 17,044, or 11.9 percent of the population

Statewide: 2.58 million, or 13.9 percent of the population

Number of people added to poverty rolls, 2001 to 2005

Albany County: 6,380, up 23.8 percent

Rensselaer County: 3,553, up 26.1 percent

Saratoga County: 836, up 6.67 percent

Schenectady County: 3,110, up 22.3 percent