Poverty on the Rise in Westchester

The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.

It's a tired maxim, but figures released this week by the U.S. Census Bureau suggest that it's not just rhetoric.

Keeping with a national and statewide trend, Westchester County's poverty rate increased from 8.4 percent in 2008 to 9 percent in 2009. That's up from 7 percent in 2006, and it means that 20,000 Westchester residents fell into poverty in just three years.

The data come from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, which is a comprehensive breakdown of social, economic and demographic statistics by state, county and congressional district. The numbers paint an objective picture of the effects of the global recession on individuals, families and communities.

The Census' definition of poverty varies slightly from that of the federal government, and puts the poverty threshold at about $22,000 per year for a family of four. The county's median household income dropped from $80,365 in 2006 to $77,189 last year. Mean, or average, household income fared even worse, plummeting 8 percent from $132,612 in 2008 to $121,845 last year.

The numbers are likely tied to a lack of jobs, as the county's unemployment rate skyrocketed from 5.4 percent to 8.5 percent between 2006 and 2009.

"Since 2008, over 90,000 people have lost their jobs in the lower Hudson Valley, and with the number being that size you can certainly understand why the poverty rate has increased," said Rosa Boone, head of the Westchester County Coalition for the Hungry and Homeless, an advocacy and outreach group.

And while people are making less money, they're spending more than ever on housing. According to the Census statistics, the average rent for an apartment in Westchester rose from $1,186 in 2008 to $1,220 last year, and the percentage of people who pay more than $1,500 a month in rent jumped from 26.8 to 30.6 percent. Further, 45.9 percent of Westchester residents spend more than one-third of their incomes on rent.

Taking the county's high cost of living into account, Boone puts Westchester's poverty rate closer to 25 percent. She bases that number on the more than 200,000 people who currently visit soup kitchens and food pantries in the area, acknowledging that those head counts do include some duplication.

Boone also said that rising poverty has shifted the demographics of those who rely on charity to feed their families.

"It looks very different on those food pantry lines" than it did a few years ago, she said.

"I think people now are looking at hunger and homelessness a lot differently because it's happening to people you wouldn't expect."

The number of applications for social services administered by the county —welfare, Medicare and food stamps—has grown along with the lines at soup kitchens.

According to the County Department of Social Services, the number of Westchester residents who receive food stamps increased from about 28,000 in 2006 to more than 49,000 this year. The federal government fully funds the food stamp program, but the state and county are required to dole out large sums for Medicare and welfare.

The number of people on Medicare increased by nearly 20 percent from 2008 to the present. Almost 100,000 county residents receive public health insurance, while 11 percent of residents have no coverage at all. About 13,400 people currently receive welfare payments, known as Temporary Assistance.

Donna Greene, a spokeswoman for County Executive Rob Astorino, pointed out that while some of the increase in demand is certainly a result of the joblessness created by the recession, the requirements to receive food stamps and Medicare have been relaxed by the federal and state governments, meaning more people are eligible for the programs. But she also acknowledged that the increased caseloads, no matter the cause, have added to the county's expenses by requiring more workers to handle the cases.

"We're up against decreased revenues and higher costs, with the overriding goal of keeping the safety net in place for those who need it," she said.

Greene added that the county has upgraded its One-Stop Employment Center website, which matches people seeking work to employers offering jobs, and has tried to increase outreach to unemployed and under-employed county residents.

County Board of Legislators Chairman Ken Jenkins (D-Yonkers) said the county is focused on  continuing programs that can help to "break the cycle of poverty," including employment programs for ex-convicts, foreclosure mitigation and eviction prevention.

In hard times "government is not less essential, but more essential," Jenkins said. "As a regional government we can provide these services in a cost-effective manner, so we're looking out for taxpayers while providing a safety net" to those in need.

Jenkins added that while the poverty rate has increased, homelessness in the county has declined sharply in recent years. And that's not the only silver lining; according to the Census Bureau, the percentage of children under 18 without health insurance decreased from a high of 4.6 percent in 2007 to 3.3 percent in 2009, and the poverty rate among people over 65 dropped by 1.7 percent since 2006. However, the average income of Westchester's retirees decreased by about 8 percent over the same period.

As dismal as the situation in the county may seem, the area is faring far better than most of the rest of the country. The national poverty rate is at 14.3 percent as unemployment continues to hover around 10 percent. The situation is similar for the state as a whole, with 14.2 percent of New Yorkers living in poverty and a 9 percent statewide unemployment rate.

Poverty can be particularly acute in a place like Westchester. Where luxury cars and million-dollar homes are perceived as the norm, the issue of poverty tends to get buried under the affluence of the area. Further, some say the $22,000 poverty threshold is unrealistic in the county, where the cost of living is close to the highest in the country.

"The poverty rate [threshold] is out of order here, and it doesn't represent the quality of life for a person living in Westchester," Boone said.

"You have to make really high salaries to be able to live here comfortably, especially if you have a family with kids."

Boone said that she's "optimistic" about the economic downturn coming to an end, pointing to recent developments such as last week's announcement that Dannon Yogurt is seeking to fill 50 new positions at its White Plains office.

"I do see some hope, and I think that by the end of the year we'll start to see a bit of an uptick," she said.