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Too many local families still struggling to get by

By Staff | Sep 28, 2016

While the unemployment rate in Lee County has nearly returned to pre-recession levels, many families are still falling short of what they need to live comfortably.

That is what Lars Gilberts told the Horizon Council on Friday during its monthly meeting as he spoke on behalf of the United Way at the Cape Coral Yacht Club.

According to the United Way’s interim ALICE Report (ALICE is an acronym for those who are Asset Limited, Income Constrained and Employed), 42 percent of Lee County families fall into that ALICE zone, where they are working, but are within one setback away from financial disaster.

This is slightly better than the 45 percent in Lee County in the 2014 report but, on the flip side, 14 percent of families are now in poverty as opposed to the 13 percent in 2014.

Breaking it down further, 31 percent of families with two parents in the household are in the ALICE range. In homes with a single parent, that number skyrockets to 77 percent in a female-headed household (with 46 percent of them in poverty), and to 75 percent in a male headed household with a 31 percent poverty rate.

The federal poverty level has been calculated the same way for more than 50 years, but it doesn’t take into account the cost of living in certain areas

Gilberts said while the unemployment rate is at 4.7 percent, nearly where they were in 2007 (when the ALICE was at 29 percent), families are unable to catch up as many high wage jobs have disappeared and been replaced with low-wage jobs.

“We have 13 percent more families struggling and that’s even in the improvement, with housing costs moving up so quickly. While people in poverty are working, it’s not enough to sustain their family,” Gilbert said. “In Lee County we have great higher-wage jobs, so what we’re facing isn’t as dire, but we saw a lot of good jobs disappear during the recession.”

Gilberts said it’s up to those who are struggling, the local business community and workers’ colleagues to get together and explain to them how the United Way can help get families back on their feet through the programs they offer, from free income-tax preparation to finding auto insurance.

“No family has one issue because it has a domino effect on others. We wrap around the family and offer a variety of services so those families are stable and moving forward,” Gilberts said. “We also want to engage government and business because they can touch more people than we can.”

Cliff Smith, president of the United Way, said the numbers communicate with the community and business world because there’s a misconception about the kind of people the agencies help. Most of the agencies are helping the real hard workers.

“They’re one paycheck away from something really bad happening to them. These numbers confirm that there’s a significant number of hard-working people who, if they are out sick or have an unexpected expense, it really has the potential to throw their lives into chaos,” Smith said.

The official ALICE report is expected to be released sometime next February.

United Way 211 can help anyone in the community in need of social service agencies in Lee, Hendry ad Glades counties. Areas of assistance include employment, financial assistance food, housing and medical care.