Paychecks don't keep up; families feel the squeeze

from the Belleville News Democrat

More than 1.5 million in state live in poverty
BY JENNIFER A. BOWEN

Paychecks aren't stretching as far as they did six years ago, and families who were doing OK and making ends meet have found themselves plunged into poverty.

Families across Illinois are surviving on less money as the cost of living continues to rise and incomes stay stagnant, according to a report on poverty released Wednesday.

The federal government defines "poor," or poverty, as a family of four subsisting on $21,200 or less annually.

The 2008 Report on Illinois Poverty released by the Illinois Poverty Summit showed the cost of fuel has gone up 92.7 percent in six years, the cost of energy rose 60 percent during the same time and the cost of food is up 15.4 percent, but wages, on average, have fallen $1,547 annually when adjusted for inflation.

"This is the worst I've seen it. The worst," said Joe Hubbard, coordinator of Catholic Urban Programs in East St. Louis. Hubbard has worked with the organization for nearly 50 years.

"I see it here every day. People are desperate, and they are willing to do anything. There is a helplessness that everyone is feeling. The borderline middle class and the poor are really feeling it, and for them, we are in a recession. Many of them have hit rock bottom. I guess those who have more money don't feel it as much, but for someone who is on a limited income, or a single mother making minimum wage trying to support her kids, this is really, really rough on them," Hubbard said.

The Illinois Poverty Report is an annual publication of the Heartland Alliance's Mid-America Institute on Poverty and has been published since 2000 to study the current poverty data and trends affecting the state's economic health.

Illinoisians have less purchasing power with their paychecks. People working in the retail trade have $16 less in real wages to spend a week and those who working in the business services sector have $32 less weekly, when adjusted for inflation.

"We are facing an economic crisis that has caused millions of Americans to fall into debt, default on their loans and even lose their homes," said U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat. "Today's report shows that more than one in four Illinois renter households are spending more than half their income on housing.

"Millions more have been crippled by the rising cost of living, most evident in skyrocketing food and gas prices ... as the cost of healthcare, education and housing continue to rise, wages have not kept up and hard-working Illinois families are struggling to make ends meet. Too many Illinoisians are one paycheck, one accident, one emergency away from falling into poverty."

In St. Clair and Madison counties, residents would have to work 73 hours a week at a minimum wage job to afford the average rent of a two-bedroom home. The average, fair market rent of a two-bedroom home in both counties is $711, according to statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau.

To afford to rent a two-bedroom home in Madison and St. Clair counties while working 40 hours a week, a worker must earn at least $13.67 an hour. In Madison County, the average hourly wage of a renter is $10. In St. Clair County, the average hourly wage is $10.44.

In St. Clair County, 43.5 percent of children are eligible for free or reduced-price school lunches, which is 4.4 percent higher than in 2000. In Madison County, 36.6 percent of children are eligible for free or reduced-priced school lunches, 6.8 percent more than were eligible in 2000.

"People are losing their power. People are losing their homes," Hubbard said. "I have people who struggle to get to work because they can't afford the gas. I've had more people lose homes than I've ever seen because of the balloon mortgages. It's been devastating."

In 2005, 46,723 homes were in foreclosure in Illinois, according to the report. There are now 90,782 homes in foreclosure.

Faces in the food line

At St. Vincent de Paul and Cosgrove's Kitchen in East St. Louis, the faces in the food line and the families seeking help are changing.

"We now have more of the people who were on the fringe, the ones who were making it, but now, because of the way things are, they don't have the money," said Pat Hogrebe, development coordinator for St. Vincent de Paul.

"They go from 'making it' to living in poverty. The people who 10 years ago were lower middle class are now living in poverty. We're seeing an increase in people who just can't make it. These are the folks who are working fast food or in grocery stores making minimum wage and trying to raise a family. You can't get by on that."

In 2006, Cosgrove's Kitchen served 37,000 meals. Last year, that number jumped to 54,000 meals. The mobile food bus in 2006 served up about 3,000 meals. In 2007, 18,000 meals were served off the bus.

So far this year, the kitchen has served more meals through April than it did during the same period in 2007, Hogrebe said.

The organization used to give needy families $10 vouchers to buy gasoline.

"Now, it's kind of a joke," Hogrebe said. "What does $10 get you in gas? Not much. Now we are going to have to increase them. It's really a situation where people are having to choose where they are going to spend their money, and they just can't make all of their bills. It's truly scary. Something has to give, and it has to give soon."

St. Clair County is slowly improving its poverty ranking by moving from the Illinois Poverty Summit's warning list to the watch list this year.

A county on the warning list shows more evidence of problems with poverty than a county on the watch list.

Since 2004, St. Clair County has been on the warning list and was one of 11 counties in the state with a poverty rate of more than 15 percent of the population. St. Clair County improved its poverty rating for 2008. In 2007, the poverty rate for St. Clair County was 15 percent. In this year's report, the poverty rate is 13 percent.

Madison County was removed from the watch list in 2006 but was added back in 2007. The county remains on the watch list this year.

Forty-four counties are on the watch list this year, up from 32 counties on the list last year.