Williamson County Commissioner Cook: Why do so many residents struggle to survive?

Lines are long on food distribution days across Williamson County at food pantries and serving centers. Most also try to help with rent and utility bills; some offer case management to help families develop budgets and make smarter purchasing choices.

The Williamson County Homeless Coalition spun off a Round Rock Serving Center workgroup to raise awareness in Williamson County for the plight of those economically challenged and perhaps experiencing homelessness.

We kicked off the awareness campaign with a proclamation Nov. 7 declaring that the Commissioners Court recognized Nov. 11-18 as National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week and encouraged our citizens to recognize that many people among us are housing (defined as requiring more than 30% of one’s earnings) and food insecure. They need our support, as well as the nonprofit entities serving them. So, as you complete your annual giving this year, please consider some of these nonprofits listed at the end of this article.

We invited representatives from the serving centers and food pantries to attend the Nov. 7 court for the proclamation and to be recognized for their dedication and service. Fortunately, many were able to come — all are under siege by the many in need.

We also worked for months to define what, how and where our homelessness awareness event would be and timed it to occur during this year’s National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, Nov. 11-18 (OK, week + 1). Our event was at the Jester Annex Community Room on Nov. 18.

Coalition members reached out across our county to food pantries and serving centers for data on the demands they were experiencing. Fulfilling needs at most centers for 10 months surpassed the levels for all 12 months of 2022. We sought nonprofits/service organizations to showcase their diverse, available support for these challenged persons and families. We showed a film on the face of homelessness, complete with popcorn, and even heard a heart-breaking testimonial from someone raised homeless in a very dysfunctional family, but with determination and perseverance, rose above the circumstances.

So, what is known about homelessness? Once homeless, it is hard to change the situation. The longer someone is homeless, the harder it is to get them housed. It is an expensive endeavor to create and maintain affordable housing for this population. They have burned bridges with family, friends and often service agencies.

They lose the ability to gain credit to afford housing and lack the ability to make a sufficient salary to meet housing costs even though 40% have jobs (more on this later). A job requires a home address, Social Security card and legal ID. Hygiene is a challenge, as well as sustaining mental and physical health. Yes, drug use is common as well as mental health issues – homelessness makes these worse.

The number of senior citizens becoming homeless is also growing from limited, tight, fixed incomes with little discretionary income to satisfy increasing rents, resulting in evictions for failure to pay.

There’s a rising number of families that can’t afford the bundled cost of housing, food, vehicles, medical services, insurance premiums and utility bills. Many of the kids are fed two meals a day when in school; time off means they might be hungry. Christmas break for Round Rock schools is two-weeks long.

Mass transit is also largely absent in Williamson County, as we just don’t have the density needed to help pay for the high cost of offering this service to those without transportation. We are a county of sprawling, single-family-home neighborhoods and unable to satisfy the demand, thus holding housing costs high.

How did we get here?

The Round Rock Area Serving Center surveyed rental costs in Round Rock: a 1-bedroom apartment — $1,100 was the lowest found; 2-bedroom apartment — $1,400; 3-bedroom — $1,600; and $1,800 to $2,000 for a 4-bedroom unit. There is a 2- to 3-year waitlist for market rate (at the lower dollar end) housing and a much longer waitlist for Section 8 housing. The U.S. Bureau of Consumer Price Index lists housing costs up 147% from 1989 to December 2022, household energy costs up 152% and gasoline up 232%.

With the federal minimum wage stubbornly stuck at $7.15 per hour, the net annual income is only $14,872 before taxes if you can get 40 hours per week and 52 weeks of work. You’re immediately pegged at below poverty level for one person. If your 2-bedroom apartment is $1,400 per month, it is beyond your income. Those $15 per hour jobs exist but raise your income to only $31,200 a year before taxes. Most low-wage workers cannot get a 40-hour-a-week job because employers might then be liable for offering health insurance as the employee would be declared a fulltime employee. Of course, there’s no paid vacation for those low-paying jobs.

Were you aware there is a state minimum wage for “tipped” workers of $2.13 per hour as long as the workers make at least $30 per month in tips? Wow, how generous the state is!

Medical debt in collections on credit reports was the majority of all debt reported, then changes in 2022 required that debt be in collections for a full year before it can be reported on a credit report. Now only 5% of adults have it on their reports. This debt is a poor predictor of a person’s credit risk, but it can reduce the ability to obtain insurance, get a job or obtain rental housing.

The general costs of living have moved way up while the incomes of those living at, or just above minimum wage have not moved. The definition of poverty levels is stuck in 1960, where poverty levels are one person making only $12,880 annually, two persons with combined annual incomes for a family of three at $21,960 and a family of four at $26,500. Editor Colin Pope of the Austin Business Journal announced in December that $88,000 is the base for a livable wage in the metropolitan area, which includes Williamson County.

When’s the last time you used a laundromat to clean your laundry? Average cost to wash and dry a load is $7.50! It’s dang expensive to be poor.

On Nov. 7, I attended a Philanthropy Hour presentation by Laundry Love of Georgetown at the Central Texas Community Foundation (previously known as the Greater Round Rock Community Foundation), where lesser-known nonprofits are given a fixed time to present their mission, successes and challenges to an invited audience. This organization has volunteers that do laundry for low-income people and families, housed or homeless, as well as for senior citizens at no charge to them. They do this service the first Tuesday and last Thursday of the month, from 4 to 8 p.m. at Washatopia in Georgetown. Not only that, but they provide water and snacks for the people waiting on their laundry. Each month they serve over 150 families and wash over 12,000 pounds. of laundry. If you are part of a group who’d love to serve a night, contact Leslie Hearne at laundrylovegeorgetown@gmail.com .

So how did we get here?

The government isn’t helping anyone come out of poverty; they just have programs to subsidize being poor. When will our electeds decide poverty is a real problem requiring public/private solutions and pursue them.

So how did we get here? The government isn’t helping anyone.

Terry Cook is county commissioner of Precinct 1, which includes most of Round Rock, most of Austin in Williamson County and part of southern Cedar Park.

A sampling of area nonprofits

Brighter Days Food Pantry Leander Brighter Days Food Pantry — Leander Church of Christ

The Caring Place Georgetown — caringplacetx.org

Central Texas Community Foundation — Central Texas Community Foundation (ctxcf.org)

Hill Country Community Ministries — hccm.org

Helping Hands Georgetown — helpinghandsgtx.org

Laundry Love — laundrylovegeorgetown@gmail.com

Neighbors Serving Neighbors Bartlett — NeighborsServingNeighbors.org

Operation Liberty Hill Liberty Hill — operationlh.org

LH Community Resource Center Williamson County – Community Resource Centers of Texas Inc. (crctx.org)

Opportunities For Williamson & Burnet Counties https://owbc-tx.org/

Round Rock Area Serving Center Round Rock Area Serving Center | Helping Hands 4 Community-Feeding the Hungry (rrasc.org)

Salvation Army Williamson County salvationarmyaustin.org.

Shepherds Heart Taylor shepherdshearttaylor.org

Society St Vincent de Paul Round Rock Charity, Food Bank - Society of St Vincent DePaul - Round Rock, Texas (svdprr.com)

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Williamson Commissioner Cook: Why do so many residents struggle?