The economy is back and growing, but is poverty over?

An editorial from PHP’s Executive Director, Dean Palius:

As the Executive Director of the non-profit, Santa Ynez valley People helping People (PHP), I quite often speak before government decision makers and private groups.  When I state that requests for basic needs services at PHP such as food or homelessness prevention are increasing, I am greeted with skeptic looks and comments.  I can only speculate but I am sure folks are thinking “how can that be?” The economy has improved and in our County and unemployment is down to pre-recession levels.  However, as usual, the devil is in the details.  A series of quotes from Dr. Peter Rupert, Executive Director of the UCSB Economic Forecast, as printed in the May 1^st “News Press,” tells a more complete story.  “Rupert stated that, we have really come back in the last couple of years very strong.” ‘Rupert then projected that the occupations that will show biggest growth in the next several years will be farm workers and laborers followed by personal care aids and food preparation workers. Despite the gains, Mr. Rupert noted that many of the industries where employment will most likely increase offer average salaries below $40,000.’  “So, we’re going to create a lot of bad jobs,” he said.

Last week at PHP, we showed some statistics from the County of Santa Barbara regarding MediCal enrollments to our Board of Directors.  There was a great deal of surprise when they saw the chart displaying large numbers of individuals (120,000 of a total population of 436,000 or 28%) in the County who are enrolled in MediCal.  The workers who fill Mr. Rupert’s “bad jobs” are the ones whose annual income qualifies them for Medical at 138% of federal poverty level ($32,449-Fam of 4) or for CalFresh and PHP’s Food Program @ 150% ($35,325 Fam of 4).  What is worse is that we can look forward to increased demand to help families make ends meet in what Dr. Rupert described as “the least affordable county to live in.”    He added, “…median rents throughout the County ’have gone up like crazy: 34.9 percent since 2000.”

I hope that this brief explanation helps all of us to understand the environment non-profits like PHP are working in.  As long as our local economic wellbeing is based on agriculture and tourism, PHP and others we will need to continue to give a hand up to those working in those industries who struggle each month just to pay for basic needs. Things for PHP are not better and it is difficult to secure donations when people think they are and the needs are less!