More homeless working, survey finds
But forty-five percent of the county's homeless say
their jobs don't pay a liveable wage.
Sarasota FL Herald-Tribune
March 26, 2004
By PATTY ALLEN-JONES
patty.allen-jones@heraldtribune.com
SARASOTA COUNTY -- Peter Szeles earns $10 an hour building fences in the Southwest Florida sun, but even working a solid 40-hour week he can't make enough to rent a house or an apartment for his family.
Szeles, his wife, Tammi, and their toddler son moved into the Salvation Army's homeless shelter before Christmas last year. They'd lived with a relative in Bradenton for three weeks, then in a hotel, cooking on a hot plate, after the family arrangement didn't work out.
"We were living paycheck to paycheck," said Tammi Szeles, 24. "Our credit was not that bad, but it was bad enough to keep us from getting in an apartment."
Their plight illustrates what advocates for the homeless say is a shift in what causes people not to have a permanent place to stay in Sarasota County.
In the latest survey of homelessness, released this week, 45 percent of those in shelters or on the streets said they're working, but can't make enough money to meet basic needs of food, clothing and housing. That reason surpassed others that traditionally have been cited as the chief causes of homelessness in Sarasota County: unemployment, loss of welfare benefits and medical problems, among others.
"People are working and getting an income, but they can't afford to live here," said Sandy Baar, executive director of the Sarasota County Coalition for the Homeless. "That is kind of sad. We need to start thinking livable wage."
The annual survey, which is used by the state to help determine funding for homeless programs, estimated there are 1,264 homeless people in Sarasota County on any given day.
The number dropped slightly from last year's 1,826 in unscientific counts that rely on the ability to locate the homeless and persuade them to participate.
In addition to a larger component of the homeless working poor, the survey found more children, like the Szeleses' 21/2-year-old son, have no permanent place to stay. Almost a third of the 495 people tallied in an in-depth questionnaire were children under age 18.
And local people who are homeless are staying that way longer. Nearly 60 percent said they had been without a home for longer than a year, up from about a third last year.
In last year's survey, 58 percent of the homeless cited unemployment as the No. 1 reason they couldn't afford housing. That number dropped to 31 percent this year.
Not having enough income was the reason cited by about a quarter of the homeless surveyed last year.
According to statistics from the National Low-Income Housing Coalition, it takes an hourly wage of $13.36 to rent a two-bedroom residence in Sarasota and Manatee counties.
Szeles and his family weren't close to that mark -- at least, not until Thursday. That's when Tammi Szeles started an $8-an-hour job at Habitat for Humanity's Home Improvement Outlet, off 17th Street in Sarasota.
The family, which moved here from New Jersey six months ago, is banking on her extra income to help them save enough through an 18-month Salvation Army program to rent their own apartment or house. With Peter Szeles' salary alone, they've managed to save $2,500 while staying in the Salvation Army's transitional housing program, which offers free rent and utilities to the working poor.
But even with the second salary, they are likely to find themselves in the same position as many other Sarasota County residents -- hemmed in by housing costs that have spiked in recent years.
The median sales price for an existing home in Sarasota County recently topped $200,000. Yet, under federal criteria, the county's low- to moderate-income families can afford homes in the $85,000 to $137,000 range.
The Szeleses sum it up in a few words: "It was difficult," Tammi Szeles said. "We had money week to week for the hotel and food."
Tammi worked for three months at Target, but left to enroll in a refresher course for her assistant nursing certificate. The job would probably pay more than the one she started Thursday, but they don't have the money for her to take the state exam, which costs $300.
Still, they're hoping the Salvation Army program will help them escape from being a homeless statistic.