Families in Crisis
Nearly half of Escambia households struggle to afford groceries, housing and other basic needs, according to a new report from United Way of West Florida.
Why this matters: Escambia County has seen its homeless rate grow since the pandemic. Food hunger is mounting, and the county has the highest per capita drug overdoses.
- The Point-in-Time Count revealed more than a 60% increase in homelessness in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties. Read More Homeless, Less Help.
- The UWF Haas Center’s Pockets of Poverty research has found the highest concentration of children in living in poverty reside in six census tracts, primarily in the 32505 zip code.
- The School District and other nonprofits struggle to feed children and families – Read Planting Greens in a Food Desert.
Dig Deeper: The number of households unable to afford the basics grew by more than 3,100 in Escambia County during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. That resulted in more than 58,000 households, 46% of the county’s households, struggling to afford the basics by 2021, according to a new report from United Way of West Florida and its research partner United For ALICE.
At the same time, the number of households unable to afford the basics fell by more than 4,400 in Santa Rosa County. But there are still almost 24,000 hard-working households, 36% of the county, struggling with financial insecurity.
These calculations include households in poverty as well as families defined as ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed). ALICE families earn above the Federal Poverty Level but less than what’s needed to survive in the modern economy. ALICE is the nation’s childcare 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.
While job disruptions and inflation delivered significant financial pain, a combination of pandemic supports and rising wages did help to blunt what could have been a deeper financial crisis, the report finds. However, as some benefits are peeled back, and inflation persists, signs of greater financial stress are on the horizon.
“It could have been so much worse for these households, whose struggle to feed their families, afford health care and access quality education was often hidden in plain sight until the pandemic,” said United Way of West Florida CEO Laura Gilliam. “Equipped with the ALICE name and data, we can do even better to develop effective policies and track our progress toward reducing financial hardship in our community.”
ALICE families have been overlooked and undercounted by traditional poverty measures. The Federal Poverty Level is $12,880 for a single adult and $26,500 for a family of four. ALICE in the Crosscurrents: COVID and Financial Hardship in Florida finds that is well below a realistic Household Survival Budget, calculating the cost to afford the basics for a single adult is $27,744 and $64,440 for a family of four in Escambia County. Those numbers are even higher in Santa Rosa County, $29,904 for a single adult and $69,168 for a family of four.
To see snapshots of the ALICE Report for Escambia and Santa Rosa counties, visit- uwwf.org/alice. To access online, interactive dashboards that provide data on financial hardship at the state, county and local level, visit unitedforalice.org/county-reports/florida