By Kevin Wilhelm May 26, 2017
The Shoreline Basic Needs Task Force, founded in 2012, is a group made up of like-minded volunteers representing all backgrounds, such as local nonprofits, businesses, faith-based organizations, concerned citizens and community leaders.
This past year, the Shoreline Basic Needs Task Force chose the ALICE Report as its 2016 Awareness Campaign. As many of you know, ALICE, a United Way acronym for Asset Limited Income Constrained Employed, represents individuals and households who are working but have difficulty affording the necessities of housing, food, child care, health care and transportation.
In 2014, Connecticut United Ways and Rutgers University developed the first ALICE report after completing studies on this hidden population. ALICE households in Connecticut make up about 27 percent of all households in the state, in addition to the 11 percent of Connecticut households that are in poverty.
In Middlesex County, 22 percent of households are ALICE, and 8 percent are in poverty.
While these households do not fall under the official federal poverty level, they make too little to afford necessities, including decent housing. Many times, the ALICE population is referred to as the “working poor.” In most family budgets, housing is the largest and least flexible expense.
In Middlesex County, 22 percent of homeowners and 40 percent of renters are under extreme housing burdens, meaning they pay more than 35 percent of their income on housing. A single adult will pay an average of $749 a month for housing, and a family of four will pay an average of $1,170 a month. Affordable housing is defined as housing, either ownership or rental, for which a household will pay under 30 percent of its gross annual income.
Continue reading: Middletown Press