One Thing HUD Can Do To Save Trailer Parks

From CityLab

If the agency required localities to provide data on mobile home parks and their closing, scholars could begin to understand “the social and spacial pressures that under-gird them."

AP/Jae C. Hong

Trailer park residents across the country are facing eviction because owners are intent on developing the land beneath their not-so-mobile homes to more lucrative ends. This is a big deal: Trailer parks make up the largest portion of non-subsidized affordable housing in the country, says Esther Sullivan, a sociologist at the University of Colorado Denver who spent two years living in and getting evicted from trailer parks for her research.

But few policymakers take the issue seriously in part because of the lack of data available. We cannot understand the scope of what advocates describe as a crisis, and act to confront it, if we don't have that data. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development could do at least one relatively easy thing to help: compel localities to provide data on mobile home parks and their closing as part of the consolidated plans required of jurisdictions receiving funding from programs like the Community Development Block Grant.

"HUD should require that jurisdictions, as part of their comprehensive planning process for CDBG, HOME and other federal funds, track the closure and redevelopment of, as well as the resident evictions from, manufactured and mobile home communities," emails Doug Ryan, the director of affordable housing initiatives at the Corporation for Enterprise Development, a D.C.-based nonprofit. "Why? These actions directly impact a community's ability to preserve affordable housing, which, in the age of declining federal support, is the most tangible affordable housing strategy many communities have."

There are an estimated 8,462,461 mobile homes nationwide... But data on evictions is mostly nonexistent.

 

Trailer parks are what affordable housing looks like for many in today's private-sector dominated housing market: the number of mobile home soared during the 1980s at a time when direct federal funding for public housing was slashed. Because so much affordable housing is in private hands, it seems, the federal government can get away with holding itself not responsible for its wellbeing.
There are an estimated 8,462,461 mobile homes nationwide, according to recently released U.S. Census data. But data on evictions is mostly nonexistent. California is one state that maintains data on mobile home park closures, and it's not clear if any others do. In that state, nearly 4,800 mobile home lots were closed between 1995 and 2014, according to the California Department of Housing and Community Development.

"In order to understand the scope and shape of the problem, more information is crucial," emails Sullivan. "Municipalities have no vested interest in recording or reporting these closures without external pressure. Scholars would benefit greatly from documentation on the total number and location of these closures so that we can begin to understand the social and spacial pressures that under-gird them."

A HUD spokesperson said that no one could comment on the proposal. It may take a lot of public pressure to make them do so.

New Research on Grandfamilies: The Resounding Resiliency of Grandfamilies: Financial Stories from Older Relatives Caring for Children in Lower-Income Communities

Resource Information

Author(s): Pamela Chan & Jaia Peterson Lent
Date Published: September 2015
File Type: PDF

View this Resource

Published by CFED & Generations United

To deepen our understanding of the financial situations facing grandfamilies, particularly those in low- to moderate-income households, Citi Community Development convened Generations United and CFED to interview grandparent caregivers. The purpose of these interviews was to gain an understanding of grandfamilies’ individual household finances, including how they earn and spend money, what financial products they use to transact and store money, what challenges they face and what strengths they draw upon. Their stories open a discussion about how organizations that offer social or financial services to grandfamily caregivers can help build financial stability and increase mobility for these multi-generational families.

Fargo-Moorhead Workforce Study Review: Part 4

This is a continuation of the North Dakota Economic Security and Prosperity Alliance’s  (NDESPA) consideration of Fargo-Moorhead’s Workforce Study.  The Fargo-Moorhead Workforce Study repeatedly impresses me every time I pull it out to take a look at it.  The depth and breadth of the study is amazing. 

The focus of NDESPA’s examination of the workforce study is on the BUILD section.  BUILD is dedicated to an effort to “Develop a framework for financial independence and upward mobility for workers in low-wage and basic-skill jobs.” (Study link, p 25)

The study recognizes that 45% of the job openings forecasted to be created between 2014 and 2019 would be low-skill occupations, “in hospitality, food service, and retail which are important contributors to the region’s quality of place.” (Study link, p 25)  Other openings forecasted are in “occupations that are vital supports for families, including child care workers….” (Study link, p 25)

The study goes on to state that, “Valuable skills can be gained in each of these occupations, but a strong framework for financial independence and upward-mobility must be developed to support these workers.” (Study link, p 25)  It goes on to state that without such a framework the region’s economic growth would not be inclusive and residents of low-income would not be in positions to take advantage of economic opportunities. 

Today’s examination impacts one of the vital supports for everyone in the Fargo-Moorhead region, not just families with low income, childcare. 

Childcare is a need throughout the state. Childcare Aware ND’s “Potential Demand for Child Care (2014)” report only 37% of the childcare needs in North Dakota in 2014 were met by licensed childcare providers.   The same report shows that Cass County has 56% of its childcare needs met by licensed childcare providers, but if you include the laborshed as a whole, which consists of Stutsman, Steele, Traill, Grand Forks, Cass and Barnes Counties, only 38% of the childcare needs are being met. 

The study takes a two-pronged approach to increasing the capacity of childcare in the Fargo-Moorhead regions.  The two prongs of the workforce study’s approach are to help interested employers establish near-site child care centers, and exploring creative solutions for meeting childcare needs among workers of low income, such as cooperative models, intergenerational care, or innovative subsidies.

The multi-employer approach to increasing childcare capacity is one that is gaining traction in North Dakota.  This can be seen by the recent announcement from Basin Electric, Sanford, and the Bismarck YMCA to start a cooperative childcare facility with each employer taking a specified number of slots and providing an additional source for childcare slots in Bismarck. 

This model helps revolutionize the childcare business structure, because it provides business support for the largest roadblock for the development of childcare in any area, which is infrastructure costs. 

The second prong of the Workforce study’s plan to increase the childcare capacity in the Fargo-Moorhead region is to explore creative solutions such as cooperative models, intergenerational care, or subsidies. 

It is obvious that creative solutions are going to be necessary to deal with the high level of unmet demand for childcare services across the state.  But, in the development of these solutions North Dakota, and Fargo-Moorhead specifically, cannot shortchange quality of care for quantity. 

If any subsidies are provided from the federal, state, city, or county levels those entities must make sure that the creative solution providers, be they providers who care for children in the provider’s residence or larger centers, provide quality care as defined by Bright+Early, ND’s quality assurance program for child care..  

In the end, the issues with childcare in North Dakota are twofold.  First, North Dakota cannot afford to create a two-tiered system, which continues to leave children of families whose parents have low-wage jobs providing them a lower level of care and education. 

Second, we need to figure out a way to deal with the biggest barrier to the creation of a quality childcare system, the cost of infrastructure.  While the cooperative model is a great start, with current and necessary licensing requirements it is only applicable in larger cities with an employer base able to support it.

An independent licensed childcare provider is required to purchase or rent a building for their location.  Then, they have to make necessary modifications to make it a safe and quality place for the children in their care. 

Current financing mechanisms only allow for loans, which force the provider to make a choice between paying on the loan or paying their staff a living wage.  It really isn’t a choice. 

The Fargo-Moorhead workforce study opens the door to the conversation regarding how to increase the capacity of licensed childcare in their region.  But, this is a conversation that needs to happen on a much larger scale around the state. 

Larger Census Survey Indicates Poverty Down, Income Up in 2014: American Community Survey May Be More Telling Than Yesterday’s “Official” Survey

September 17, 2015 

by Arloc Sherman and Isaac Shapiro

From the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

The Census Bureau’s latest American Community Survey (ACS), which it released today, found that poverty fell and median income rose in 2014 — in contrast with yesterday’s Census release, based on the Current Population Survey (CPS), which showed that poverty and income were statistically unchanged in 2014 compared to 2013.  The ACS is the nation’s main source of state and local demographic data; it provides reliable information about national income and poverty trends; The ACS may provide a more accurate picture of recent poverty and income trends.and, in this case as explained below, it may provide a more accurate picture of recent poverty and income trends.

The ACS findings show that poverty fell from 15.8 percent in 2013 to 15.5 percent in 2014, while real median household income rose by 1.1 percent, or about $600, from $53,059 to $53,657.  Both changes are statistically significant.

While, in most years, analysts favor the CPS as a source of national income and poverty data due to its more extensive income questions, this year several reasons suggest that the ACS results may be more revealing:

• The ACS’ large size adds to the statistical reliability of the results.  The ACS surveys about 3 million households while the CPS results are based on about 100,000 households for 2014 and only about 30,000 households in 2013.
• The ACS data for 2013 and 2014 are fully comparable.  The CPS survey released yesterday included a number of methodological changes in 2013 and 2014 that may have made comparisons across years more difficult.  Census attempted to adjust the comparisons to address these issues, but it’s possible that these adjustments were not sufficient.
• The ACS survey results are more consistent with the labor market’s substantial improvements in 2014.  The average annual number of nonfarm jobs rose by 2.7 million in 2014, the largest increase since 2000, according to the Labor Department.  And the employment rate of adults in their prime working years of 25 to 54 rose more (in percentage-point terms) than in any year since 1988, from 75.9 percent to 76.7 percent.  Such progress usually tracks drops in poverty and gains in income.

The two surveys’ differing findings do suggest that observers should be cautious in placing sole emphasis on one set of results.  Of particular note, the two surveys cover somewhat different time periods.  The CPS survey was conducted in March 2015 and asked questions about income in 2014.  The ACS survey reflects data collected in each month of 2014 on income levels in the 12 months prior to the survey month.  This means that what the ACS calls 2014 data is actually a combination of 2013 and 2014 information, and what it calls 2013 data is actually a combination of 2012 and 2013 information.

If longer time periods are examined, both surveys have some discouraging findings.  Under both surveys, poverty remains higher and median income remains lower than pre-recession levels.
Nonetheless, the positive national patterns that the 2014 ACS data depict deserve careful consideration.  Living standards may be improving in a manner not indicated by the typically more widely used Census survey released yesterday (9/16/15).

Using the new Census data on poverty for your State

State and some local poverty, income, and health insurance data from the American Community Survey are now on the Census.gov website.

ACS includes national figures, and their direction is different from what yesterday's data showed.  ACS shows poverty declining (a statistically significant reduction):  Total poverty dropped from 15.5% in 2013 to 15.3% in 2014; child poverty dropped from 22.2% to 21.7%  Looking back to 2010, total poverty increased, up from 15.3% (a significant increase).  The child poverty change since 2010 was not considered statistically significant.

As you saw, yesterday's Current Population Survey data showed total poverty stuck at 14.8% in 2013 and 2014.  Child poverty did not show a statistically significant decline either.  Looking back to 2010, total poverty declined from 15.1% to 14.8%.  We don't know if that is a significant change - will find out.


We will provide you with more expert guidance about the way to analyze the national data.  Keeping it all in perspective, poverty remains far too high, and it is clear that relying on economic growth to lift people out of poverty is not working.  

Here is the link to the ACS comparison profile table that shows national income, health insurance and poverty figures (percentages) for 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, and 2010:  http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_14_1YR_CP03&prodType=table

You can find the same table for your state:  
Start here:  http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/searchresults.xhtml?refresh=t

Then click on "Geographies" - use the scroll down menu to select state, and then to pick your state - remember to click on "Add to your selections" below that menu box.  Click "close" and look for (and click on) CP03:  Comparative Economic Characteristics:  2014 ACS 1 year estimates.

Remember:  the ACS data is all that is available at the state or local level.  

Want to compare your state to others?  Look at the ACS Ranking Tables, all of them here: (If the following link does not get you to ranking tables, just go to Topics, on the left, click on product type, and select ranking tables.  You should remove your state's name from your selected items first.)

http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/searchresults.xhtml?refresh=t

Total poverty ranking table (R1701) here:  http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_14_1YR_R1701.US01PRF&prodType=table 

Child poverty ranking table (R1704):  http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_14_1YR_R1704.US01PRF&prodType=table

Lots of additional poverty information.  Start here:  http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/searchresults.xhtml?refresh=t#none

And then select your state from Geographies, as above.  Then go to topics, then product type:  select detailed tables; search for poverty.  Remember to select ACS 2014 1-year estimates.

Greenstein: New Census Data Show Historic Health Coverage Gains, Though Disappointing Results on Poverty and Income

CBPP Statement: September 16, 2015

by Robert Greenstein

Today’s Census data provide striking evidence that health reform is dramatically reducing the ranks of the uninsured, with 2014 witnessing the largest single-year drop on record — along with other evidence, however, that the economic recovery has yet to do much to reduce poverty or raise the typical household’s income.

The number of uninsured Americans fell by 8.8 million in 2014, while the share of Americans without insurance fell by 2.9 percentage points.  These are the largest single-year declines on record in data back to 1987, according to Census data supplemented by other surveys going further back in time.

Both private health coverage and coverage through public programs such as Medicaid grew robustly in 2014.  A simultaneous rise in both public and private coverage is rare over recent decades and reflects health reform’s approach to covering the uninsured by bolstering both private and public insurance.  The new data show that 90 percent of the population — and 94 percent of children — had health coverage last year.  Surveys show further substantial coverage gains in 2015 (see box).

Today’s data underscore the importance of state participation in health reform’s Medicaid expansion.  As a group, the 25 states (including the District of Columbia) that expanded Medicaid by January 2014 had much larger declines in their uninsured populations than the other 26.  If the uninsured rate had fallen in non-expansion states at the same rate as in expansion states, an additional 2.6 million uninsured Americans would have gained coverage last year.

Disappointing Results on Poverty and Income

Although today’s health insurance results are very positive, the data on poverty and income are disappointing.  Poverty remained statistically unchanged at 14.8 percent, or 46.7 million people.  (Under the Supplemental Poverty Measure or SPM, which counts non-cash and tax-based benefits and thus provides a fuller picture of poverty, the poverty rate fell by half a percentage point in 2014, but the change wasn’t statistically significant.)  Median income remained statistically unchanged for the third straight year.

Moreover, the poverty rate remained substantially higher in 2014 — and median income markedly lower — than in 2007, before the Great Recession.  Median income was 6.5 percent — or $3,700 — below the 2007 level, adjusted for inflation.

CDC and Other Surveys Show Further Health Coverage Gains in 2015

Today’s Census data do not include health coverage estimates for 2015, but preliminary 2015 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and the Urban Institute’s Health Reform Monitoring Survey show further substantial reductions this year in the uninsured. In the NHIS data, the uninsured rate fell from 11.5 percent in 2014 to 9.2 percent in the first quarter of 2015, with the number of uninsured falling from 36 million to 29 million — on top of the 8.8 million-person decline between 2013 and 2014. Since health reform’s major coverage expansions began taking effect in January 2014, the number of uninsured has fallen by 15.8 million — or more than 35 percent — under the NHIS. Similarly, the Urban Institute survey data show the uninsured rate among adults aged 18-64 falling from 12.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014 to 10.1 percent in the first quarter of 2015, with a total decline since 2013 in the number of uninsured non-elderly adults of 15 million.

These results come despite a large increase in 2014 in the number of Americans who were working.  Some 2.8 million more Americans worked full-time year-round in 2014 than in 2013, the new Census data show.

The lack of improvement in poverty and income in recent years reflects, in part, limits in the labor market’s recovery as well as the marked rise in income inequality over the past decade and a half (though inequality didn’t rise between 2013 and 2014).  Median wages remained largely flat in 2014, while large numbers of people who sought full-time work could only find part-time work and many others didn’t seek work actively because they thought they had little chance of finding it.

The Federal Reserve should take the new Census data into account in deciding this week whether to raise interest rates, which would slow the economic recovery and job creation.

On inequality, the Census data show large increases between 1999 and 2014, with incomes falling in real terms by 16.5 percent at the bottom of the income scale (at the 10^th percentile) and by 7.2 percent in the middle (at the 50^th percentile), while rising at the top.

Importance of the Safety Net

Without the safety net, the picture would have been much worse.  Today’s data show that SNAP (formerly food stamps) lifted 4.7 million people out of poverty in 2014 under the SPM.  (Other research suggests SNAP kept substantially more people out of poverty once the Census data are adjusted for the underreporting of SNAP benefits.)  The new data also show that the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit lifted roughly 10 million people out of poverty in 2014, including more than 5 million children, while Supplemental Security Income for very low-income elderly and disabled people lifted 3.8 million out of poverty.  And using a version of the SPM, Columbia University researchers last year found that the poverty rate has been cut by two-fifths since the late 1960s, with virtually all of the improvement due to the increased scope and anti-poverty impact of safety-net programs.

These figures come amid mounting evidence that income support and health insurance programs not only reduce poverty and expand medical coverage in the short run but can also have important long-run benefits.  Children exposed to poverty experience greater learning and health problems, adverse effects on brain structure, and high risk of adult poverty, compared with non-poor children.  A growing and impressive array of rigorous studies indicate that low-income children who receive safety net assistance tend to experience significantly fewer deficits in educational attainment, health status, and employment and earnings as they grow up.

These findings, along with today’s disappointing poverty data, suggest that policymakers should seek common ground on measures that can make public policies still more effective in reducing poverty.  Examples include strengthening the inadequate EITC for low-income childless workers, as both President Obama and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan have proposed; enabling more low-income households with housing subsidies to live in lower-poverty neighborhoods; instituting criminal justice reforms to reduce incarceration without jeopardizing public safety; expanding access to pre-school and child care; and enacting a long-overdue increase in the federal minimum wage.  Today’s data also underscore the importance of health reform’s historic coverage expansions — and of spreading its Medicaid expansion to all states.

UNH Research: Disregarding Medical Expenses, Half as Many Elderly Mainers Would be Poor

DURHAM, N.H. – Traditional poverty measurement masks the role rising medical costs play in pushing seniors into poverty, according to new research comparing Maine seniors to those across the nation from the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire. The newer Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM), which accounts for these costs, reveals that more than one in 10 Maine seniors were living below the poverty line between 2009 and 2013 (2.3 percent higher than official estimates).

The new research found that medical expenses account for about half of elderly poverty in Maine and a third of elderly poverty nationwide. Without medical expenses poverty among Maine seniors would be cut in half. In addition, while poverty among seniors has declined greatly since the advent of Social Security, about half of Maine seniors (51 percent) would be poor without the benefits.

“Maine seniors, like their counterparts across the U.S., face greater economic vulnerability than indicated by the nation’s official poverty statistics,” the researchers said. “In addition to demonstrating the critical importance of Social Security for seniors, this research highlights the need for greater advocacy and policy to support seniors and a greater investment in programs to support aging adults.”

The research was conducted by Andrew Schaefer, a vulnerable families research associate at the Carsey School and doctoral candidate in sociology, and Beth Mattingly, director of research on vulnerable families at the Carsey School and a research assistant professor of sociology. The data for their research come from the 1970-2014 Annual Social and Economic Supplements (ASEC) of the Current Population Survey. Data for SPM analyses are from a pooled sample of 2010-14 (ASEC) data.

Read the full report: https://carsey.unh.edu/publication/vulnerability-of-seniors

The Carsey School of Public Policy conducts research, leadership development, and engaged scholarship relevant to public policy. They address pressing challenges, striving for innovative, responsive, and equitable solutions at all levels of government and in the for-profit and nonprofit sectors.

The University of New Hampshire, founded in 1866, is a world-class public research university with the feel of a New England liberal arts college. A land, sea, and space-grant university, UNH is the state's flagship public institution, enrolling 13,000 undergraduate and 2,500 graduate students.

Read more: http://www.unh.edu/news/releases/2015/09/em15carsey.cfm?utm_source=2015_09_15_Schaefer_Mattingly&utm_campaign=2015_09_15_MattinglySchaefer&utm_medium=email#ixzz3n2qnRmtv