Working poor in Idaho on the rise
Updated United Way website provides help for those hit by COVID-19
COVID-19 has forced working poor families to make difficult financial decisions, such as how to pay for food, medicine, rent and other necessities. United Ways of the Pacific Northwest and United Way for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed hope to shed light on these families through their interactive online resource.
“We’ve known that our economy was increasingly reliant on these families we call ALICE, who are financially vulnerable to one emergency,” said Jim Cooper, president and CEO of UWPNW. “COVID-19 became that one universal emergency. ALICE families are facing the greatest health and financial risks today, as they are the workers who don’t have health insurance, have no paid sick days and whose children receive daily meals at school.”
United Way for ALICE and UWPNW reports, published online, are annually updated to accurately measure economic disparities locally and regionally. This year, United Way hopes its new design will better communicate the message.
“The interactive nature of the website is something that community members who want to better understand the work force or service providers who want to write grants can use to customize it to start working on a plan,” said Mark Tucker, executive director of United Way of North Idaho. “Hopefully, we get to a point where local officials look at this, recognize the situation and truly understand the depth of financial insecurity in our community.”
According to United Way, the number of Idahoans in the working poor bracket has increased 86% in the last 10 years because of wage insecurity and rising prices for basic goods. In 2018, Kootenai County reported 27% of county households met ALICE needs, compared to 28% across Idaho.
“Unique thing about the ALICE report is it uses the local costs of living where a lot of reports use a baseline national poverty level,” Tucker said. “They don’t really take into account the variance of housing, or child care, or transportation. The budgeting for a family in Coeur d’Alene is different from a family living in Kellogg, or to a family in Seattle, or Portland, or Boise.”
Nearly 180,000 state households have been pushed to the brink of financial ruin after novel coronavirus-related unemployment and restrictions, setting a 10-year record high, according to a recent ALICE report. In 2018, 12% of Idaho’s population fell below the poverty line; in Kootenai County, 11% of households lived in poverty.
“What we’ve seen locally has been the housing cost. I know a lot of people talk about that,” Tucker said. “When you look at the cost on families, typically in a resort community like Coeur d’Alene, housing prices are more expensive, so individuals who want to work in this community have to live farther away and it’s hard to rely on public transport.”
Tucker added that whether it is donations, program partnerships or volunteering, United Way wants the community to extend a helping hand.
“The biggest thing for the public to see and understand is to understand the volume of individuals that are struggling,” Tucker said. “It’s half our population in the five northern counties. We want people to realize that if they are struggling, they aren’t the only one.”
United Ways of the Pacific Northwest, the regional trade association for United Ways in Washington, Oregon and Idaho, works to aid struggling communities by advancing education, income and health programs. United Way for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed specifically aims at reducing the challenges faced by the working poor.
Info: www.UnitedForALICE.org/Idaho
