More Idahoans asking for help

COEUR d’ALENE — As community outreach and education specialist with the Salvation Army Kroc Center in Coeur d’Alene, Julie Crosby receives five to 20 calls a week from people asking for help.

They are not after much. Just enough to pay for life's basics.

“What I am seeing is a huge number of individuals who are behind on rent and utilities and then trying to figure out food," Crosby wrote in an email to The Press. "Usually by the time that they call for help, they have exhausted other friends and resources."

A growing number of Kootenai County households are struggling to get by, according to a report from United Ways of the Pacific Northwest and its research partner United For ALICE.

The report released today said the number of Idaho households unable to afford the basics grew by more than 43,000 during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in a total of 294,579 households, or 43%, struggling to afford the basics by 2021.

That calculation includes the 76,184 households in poverty as well as another 218,395 families defined as ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed), earning above the federal poverty level but less than what’s needed to survive in the modern economy.

ALICE is the nation’s child care workers, home health aides and cashiers heralded during the pandemic — those working low-wage jobs, with little or no savings and one emergency from poverty, a press release said.

The report said that in 2019, 21,724 households in Kootenai County were below the ALICE threshold; by 2021 that number had climbed to 27,300.

According to the report, the median household income in Kootenai County was $67,593 and 10% of Kootenai County households lived in poverty.

Mark Tucker, United Way of North Idaho executive director, said Coeur d’Alene’s recent growth created housing challenges for the working class that has not subsided.

It’s not just that some rents climbed by more than 25% in recent years, but that tenants have little choice but to pay those high rents because they have nowhere else to go.

It has put them in a bad situation that is only snowballing, Tucker said.

“They’re not able to move,” Tucker said. “There’s nothing available in their range.”

“ALICE in the Crosscurrents: COVID and Financial Hardship in Idaho” shows that the total number of financially insecure households rose by 17% between 2019 and 2021 — more than tripling the 5% increase in Idaho’s population.

The number of ALICE households increased by 41,521 during that time. In contrast, there were 1,580 more families in poverty.

Idaho ranked 34th in financial hardship among all 50 states, with one of the nation’s highest percentages of households struggling to make ends meet in 2021.

According to the report, for a family of four with an infant and a preschooler, the annual ALICE Household Survival Budget, which is the basic cost needed to live and work in Idaho, was $80,112 in 2021.

“We are talking about families that never recovered from the Great Recession. Now, add a pandemic on top of that,” said Jim Cooper, president and CEO of United Ways of the Pacific Northwest. "Today, with COVID-19 supports all but gone we know things may be much worse on the ground in many communities than seen in this 2021 spotlight.”

Stephanie Hoopes, United For ALICE national director, said a positive change during the pandemic was that tax credits, stimulus payments and rental assistance were available for ALICE households and provided strong relief.

“However, as some of these supports come to an end, growing food insufficiency and other indicators reveal continued stress," she said. "Ignoring these warning signs places ALICE, our economy and the well-being of our communities at great risk.”

Additional report insights include:

• Single female-headed households had among the highest rates of hardship. Over three-quarters — 80% — of Idaho’s single female-headed households could not afford basics in 2021. In Kootenai County, it was 90%.
• In 2021, 65% of the 20 most common jobs in Idaho paid less than $20 per hour. As a result, many of these top jobs still had a substantial percentage of workers who were either ALICE or in poverty in 2021.

Crosby said single parents need help.

“It is extraordinarily difficult to be a single parent in this community right now, with housing prices, lack of child care support and wages that are not matching the requirements for housing,” she said.

Crosby said the Salvation Army has been using Charity Tracker as a tool for connecting with other agencies to build wrap-around care for individuals.

"I truly believe this is one of the best tools we have for giving individuals support that is going to equate to getting them back on their feet," she said.

The KROC Center has recently shifted much of its support to providing access to mental health.

When Crosby meets with individuals or families, she helps them build a plan of action, set goals, encourages them and provides connections with community partners.

"Sometimes this includes a hand up to fill a gas tank or resource food," she wrote.

Cindy Wood, executive director of Family Promise of North Idaho, said she is seeing more people “in a more difficult situation than what families have been coming to us with."

Most are trying to find affordable housing, and can’t.

“If something happens and you lose your housing, you really don't know if you're ever going to get it,” Wood said. “If you have an eviction, it's terrifying. You’re likely to always get passed up.”

In 2021, Family Promise of North Idaho received 324 calls for help. Last year, it was 411. Wood expects that to rise again this year.

It’s not just a matter of higher costs due to inflation.

“I wish it were just that easy,” Wood said.

Services for vulnerable populations are “disjointed,” she said. While someone might get help with transportation, rent, or food, they may still struggle with two key areas — health care and child care.

She said the solution is more than money.

“I think our relationships with each other are really what's going to help our community get through this the best,” she said.