Three Families

As housing, food, fuel and child care costs rise and government programs disappear or become harder to get into, it gets more difficult for many families to meet their basic needs. In the Boston area the Smith, Green, and Winter families have different incomes and are all still having difficulties surviving on the amount of money they receive.

The Smith family has a single parent with three school-age children. The mother has a job that pays at the federal poverty line of $17,050. The family has a Section 8 government subsidized housing certificate. This means they only pay a third of their income for rent. They have just recently located an apartment with the help of the family shelter and have been living in it for the past six months. Fortunately utilities such as electricity and heat are included in the rent. They use food stamps and a visit to a food pantry when possible. These cover most of the food needs of the family. Medicaid covers health care except there are few Medicaid dentists available. Public transportation to work is close by and the kids can stay for a few more months in their former shelter's after school program. And it's more and more difficult for working families to get food stamps so more they put more charges onto their credit card.

The Green family is two parents and two school-age children. Their income is twice the poverty line at $34,100. Both parents work at jobs that do not provide health insurance. The Child Health Insurance Program covers the kids but the parents cannot afford even a low cost health plan. The family found a small one and a half bedroom apartment in Medford (near Boston) for $1,000 a month. The parents can get to work by subway and buses. They cannot afford after school care so the children go home to an empty house. They add to their food supplies by visiting a local food pantry when their busy schedules let them. Fuel assistance covers half their heating bill which is usually over $1,000. They have a credit card debt because they need to use their card to pay for some food and clothing costs.

The Winter family with two parents and two children has an income twice the Green family at $68,200. The Winters had a house but they could not pay the mortage because one parent was sick and could not work for a few years. Between the mortgage payments and credit card debt used to pay for basic necessities, they had to file for bankruptcy. (Almost half of all backruptcies are because of illness.) They are now renting a two-bedroom apartment in Boston for $2,500 a month. They thought that if they rented an apartment that had converted to natural gas they would save money on the fuel bills. However, the costs for gas are now even higher than for oil. One parent uses the family car (monthly payments $250) to get to work and pays about $150 per month for gas. The other parent uses public transportation. One employer covers 80% of the family's health care and the Winters have to pay $200 a month to make the coverage 100%. When grandma is well she takes the kids after school but it costs $14 a day to send them to her in a taxi. If one of them gets seriously ill or if they lose their car their financial security could be destroyed.

Adapted version of the Myth of a Good Economy, reprinted with permission from the Poor People's United Fund, Boston, MA. 617-262-5922

 

federal poverty line - the amount of money the government uses to show how much a person or family needs to earn to survive.
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debt - what someone owes to an individual or business, such as a car loan.
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mortgage - a loan for a house.
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bankruptcy - when a person or company does not have enough money to pay bills.
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