Report: One in 4 Bay Area families unable to afford basic costs

[UpInArms]

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/counties/alameda_county/9791475.htm?1c

SAN FRANCISCO - One in four San Francisco Bay Area families is unable to afford the cost of housing, child care and other basic services without public assistance, a new study found.

The study, released Tuesday by the United Way of the Bay Area, determined that a quarter of all families in the nine-county area lived below the organization's "self-sufficiency" standard. That standard, established in 1996, is considered by many analysts to be more accurate than federal policy guidelines that neglect to measure the cost-of-living differences among states.

Because of the high price of housing and child care in the Bay Area, the study determined that an adult with a preschool aged child living in Alameda, Napa or Contra Costa counties would need to earn $20 per hour, or at least $39,153 per year, to afford basic costs without government assistance. The same family would need to earn $23 per hour to live in San Francisco and $27 per hour to live in Santa Clara County.

By contrast, the federal poverty level for a family of three is $15,260.

...more...

and http://www.kron4.com/Global/story.asp?S=2364695&nav=5D7lRRZr

1 in 4 Area Families Not Self-Sufficient

The report, "The Bottom Line: Setting the Real Standard for Bay Area Working Families," looked at the number of families not earning enough to cover basic necessities in the nine-county Bay Area using the Self Sufficiency Standard, which looks at variables such as the ages of family members when calculating poverty levels.

<snip>

Child care and housing represented the largest percentage of Bay Area budgets in the report, with a single adult spending 60 percent of his or her budget on housing. The report found that adding one child to a family required a wage earner to double his or her wage to meet child care needs.

The report also looked at the hourly wage needed to be self-sufficient in each county. Santa Clara County had the highest hourly wages with a single adult needing $15.44 per hour and a single adult with three children needing $46.18.

...more...

[LifeDuringWartime]

1. ...for a family of three is $15,260.

how does a family of three live on $15,000 a year?

[The Zanti Regent]

8. My Jesus TV Watching Aunt says that the Churches help them!

Does anyone know even ONE instance where this occurred?

Idiot aunt STILL sends to TBN after I mailed her clips from the LA Times detailing Paul Crouch's "black male" payments!

[Media_Lies_Daily]

2. I wonder what the national average is these days.

[SemperEadem]

3. I believe that

it's criminal how much it costs to live up there--the price of housing is so overinflated..when the housing market bubble finally bursts, you're going to see real estate costs plummet back down to what it really should be costing people to live not only there, but down here in LA, too.

[hiphopnation]

4. if and when

everything I've read points to nothing of the sort happening.

I'm one of the families that's finding it increasingly difficult to keep up. It hurts...

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

5. The federal government needs to adjust their guidelines

for determining poverty. $16,000 can be barely enough money for a single person, who does not live with their family, to get by on. It is pretty much impossible for a family of two or more. Maybe poverty level should be determined according to the local standard of living, instead of some national average.

[grasswire]

7. dunno....

...but I guess it depends on area. Where I live in a 50,000-person city in the West, it's sufficient for two people to live modestly. My 1100 sq. ft. fourplex with swim pool, HUGE treed garden and patio, fireplace is $540. Energy average $100 per month; broadband ISP/cable $100; phone $50. We use the city bus and occasional taxi. So yes, we could make it on $15,000 unless someone got really sick.

[shanti]

9. may i ask what part of the west you live?

n/t

[grasswire]

6. Americans....

...I guess, will just have to give up our standards for housing when living in high-price areas. In civilized and sophisticated cities in most of the rest of the world, middle-class families live in multi-generational dwellings in much smaller space. I guess it's gonna come here.

[Just Me]

10. The "invisible" America,...

,...the unseen,...are growing in numbers. I know,...I am one of them.

While media paints one picture,...our country lives in a world completely contradictory to that broadcasted. It's amazing,...and revolting.

[natrat]

11. 2 bedroom house here in

SF in an ok, not great, neighborhood, is + - 700k plus 1.8% prop tax year plus etc.,etc. That's alot of money. There are far fewer working class people in this city with children than there were 20 years ago.

[Just Me]

13. "Camp" house in the folds of the Appallachas (sp?),...

,...where the highest population of the elderly and disabled reside.

In rural America,...the "Dollar Store" has a drive for funding students with paper, pencils and backpacks. Rural America,...is bigger than the urbanites who left us behind.

[OutInTheBack40]

12. Time to ask why the BA is so out of line with their costs

If the greedy people don't stop scalping the people of the BA then it will self-adjust and leave them in the dust. Why would it be so expensive to live in such a crowded area? I don't get it.

[greatauntoftriplets]

14. Location, location, location.....

Lots of people want to live there, limited amount of land. It usually is more expensive to live in a big city than in the sticks.

[Just Me]

15. Can I assume you are being silly, on purpose,...

,...or stupid in terms of the bigger picture.

Where does justice, equality, and the American Dream come into play?

You do realize that, "justice", "equality" and the "American Dream" are akin to goals set by profit-loving corporatists,...e.g. they are only as real as we invest and create them.

BAH. Why do I waste so much breath?

[OutInTheBack40]

17. You are way off course

I fail to see the benefit of paying that much to live in a crowded space. Maybe I'm different because I enjoy living in the sticks and having neighbor houses many acres away. We pay more than 3% in property tax but the peace and tranquility is worth it. This IS the American dream and I consider city life a nightmare.

[greatauntoftriplets]

18. The vast majority of jobs are in the cities.

Not to mention you are removed from the arts, the culture, the museums, the nightlife, the theater, world-class restaurants. Major league baseball teams.

If one was raised in a city, one's family and friends are in the city.

If you can live where the gods lost their shoes, goody for you!

Most of the rest of us cannot.

[OutInTheBack40]

20. I am far from removed

The best arts are the ones we create with our hands and mind here on the farm. The culture of good neighbors and hard work staying warm and working the animals can not be replicated in the city. Mother nature has created the best museums and they are free and ever changing. Nightlife and theater are all homemade and we are the artists and entertainment. The best restaurants in the world are found here and the menu changes with every families venue plus the meals are free and we all pitch in to do the dishes.

The city has nothing on the kindness and honesty of trusted neighbors where we can make eye contact and not fear for our lives. We don't live among the godly shoes...we thrive and help each other at every turn.

[greatauntoftriplets]

21. I live in "The Second City".

I am great friends with my neighbors who do wonderful things for me. We have wonderful street life. Their kids have fun playing outside. They dig in the dirt and do kid stufff.

I have never feared for my life. You obviously have little knowledge of city life. And I have significant knowledge of country life.

My neighbors make my life much better. And I enrich their lives.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

22. You're so far removed you don't even recognize it.

[OutInTheBack40]

23. Not at all. I am thankful for the cities

Without them there would not be as much open land for we that require the countryside to survive. It's bad enough now with all the city slickers buying up the land and putting up posted signs, closing the once open land for hunting, shutting down snowmobile trails, complaints about gunfire in the AM, whining about manure spreading on the fields.

You get the idea.

[greatauntoftriplets]

24. I get the idea....

You dislike city people.

[Just Me]

25. *grin*

,...watch out for "discrimination"

LOL

:bounce:

BEING HUMAN,...is a good and "make a difference" thing,...that does not discriminate!!!

[OutInTheBack40]

26. Not really

I'll bet I like city people more than you like country folk.

[greatauntoftriplets]

27. Prove it,.

n/t

[OutInTheBack40]

29. I can't

Nor can you prove your statement: "You dislike city people."

[greatauntoftriplets]

31. Read your post # 23.

n/t

[OutInTheBack40]

32. I like city people just fine while they are in the city

When they move to the country they are no longer city people but often they try to change the countryside to become what their city life was.

[saigon68]

35. I don't think that's what's being said

I don't see that bias

[Just Me]

19. So,...in your world,..."access" to diversity,...is a bad thing?

Hmmmmm,...maybe we are expressing ourselves,...beyond eachother instead of toward one another.

[shanti]

36. because it's next to the ocean

that is ALWAYS desirable.

[Clovis Sangrail]

16. cause it's a great place to live

Why would it be so expensive to live in such a crowded area? I don't get it.

[iowa_democrat]

28. from the sticks

I made a financial tradeoff years back. I buy a big house in the middle of flyover country, and save enough to commute by air on a weekly basis to the bay area if I really wanted to. As it turns out, we travel to other places too and love Iowa, even in the winter. :-)


an Iowa Democrat

[natrat]

30. there are good people and bad people

wherever you go city or country. The bay area is nice because of the culture and the climate. People here are known for being accepting and tolerant. I moved here from the east coast for quality of life issues. Only 3 hours away is some of the best downhill skiing in the world. Its expensive and that's unfortunate but that doesnt change the fact that its one of the best cities in country in one of the best states.word

[Bridget Burke]

33. I noticed the child care is one of the big expenses.

How the heck are child care workers supposed to live in the Bay Area? Either they're paid lots higher than in Texas or they've got some really long commutes.

And what about people in the "service" industries? How do restaurant workers, etc., afford to live there?

[Clovis Sangrail]

34. with great difficulty

And what about people in the "service" industries? How do restaurant workers, etc., afford to live there?

Most people making under $50k blend renting and commuting to make ends meet.

Renting a room (not an apartment) in SF is $700 minimun (roughly), but if you go out to Daly City (12 miles from SF) you can get a a room for maybe $500. Go to Alum Rock (4 miles e of San Jose) and you can get a room for maybe $300.
In SF lot's of people don't just rent rooms, they share rented rooms.

I know people who make well over $50k and still rent rooms in shared housing.

I worked with somebody who commuted 3 hours each way for a $70k-ish job.