More than one in four people barely make ends
meet in Illinois — a state where the poverty rate for adults
and children is the highest in the Midwest, according to the 2006
Report on Illinois Poverty released today, Feb. 2, by the Heartland
Alliance in Chicago. With a median household income of $45,787, the
Land of Lincoln ranks third of eight Midwest states but worst in
poverty and 15 other key indicators, including job loss, housing
affordability, and educational spending. The new report assembles
the latest statistics from federal agencies and public think tanks
to paint a picture of the economic health of the state’s 12
million residents. Several central-Illinois counties, including
Christian, Morgan, Macon, and Montgomery, failed to get a passing
grade in well-being measures spanning poverty, teen pregnancy,
high-school graduation rate, and unemployment. However, the report
identifies a total of 39 counties on this year’s watch list,
down from 58 in the fall, when Illinois
Times last covered poverty trends
in the state [Joan Villa, “Slim pickings,” Oct. 27]. Nearly 12.5 percent of Illinois residents live
below the federal poverty level of $19,350 for a family of four,
and some 29 percent — or 3.66 million — struggle to pay
the bills on twice that income, which the report calls “near
poverty.” But the actual statistics fail to show just
how precarious life can be for the more than 1.5 million families,
seniors, and the disabled or unemployed who face rising costs for
heating, housing, and health care, explains Amy Rynell, director of
the Mid-America Institute on Poverty of the Heartland Alliance. In the same period that median income
increased by 14 percent, rents jumped 23.7 percent and home prices
skyrocketed 32.7 percent, she says. Heating costs climbed more than
28 percent between 2000 and 2004 and are estimated to reach new
heights this year. The strain is reflected in the number of
payday-loan stores, which now outnumber state-chartered banks, the
report says. Bankruptcy filings have doubled in the last 10 years, with
half the result of medical bills. Low- and middle-income households
with credit cards carry an average debt of $8,650, and 70 percent of
those report using credit as a safety net to cover basic bills ranging
from medicines and health care to car and home repairs. Every day, those earning minimum wage or stuck
on fixed incomes make difficult choices about how to allocate
limited resources. “What we’re seeing in rural areas
is, the population is aging but so is the housing, and one of the
struggles they’re facing is that the housing is deteriorating
around them and they can’t afford to keep it up,”
Rynell says. But most families need more than an official
poverty threshold to meet basic expenses or to be protected from
homelessness, and budgets for state programs that temporarily step
in to pay rent, mortgages, or utilities are pressured by cuts. “We’re continuing to see growing
need,” Rynell insists. “Funding for human-services
programs has gone down while the families need it
more.” Many families are entrenched in poverty
because of low-paying jobs or limited educational opportunities.
Although 12.4 percent of state residents are income-poor, the
report says that 20.7 percent have few or no assets, such as homes,
savings accounts, retirement accounts, businesses, or college
degree that can help build stability and protect against hardship.
The report cites the Economic Policy
Institute’s estimate that a family of four needs a minimum of
$36,408 for basic living expenses in rural Illinois and $43,704 in
Chicago.
This article appears in Feb 2-8, 2006.
