By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
A household income of $64,000 is enough for a family of four to live comfortably., Well, maybe in Lawrenceville, Georgia, but not in Lawrenceville, New Jersey — or anywhere else in Mercer County., That was the message delivered to more than 40 people at a panel discussion on poverty and the issues facing the working poor at the D&R Greenway headquarters, off Rosedale Road in Princeton, on Jan. 19. The event was organized by HomeFront during its Jan. 14-21 “Week of Hope.”, An income of $64,000 in Mercer County is a bare-bones survival budget, according to the United Way’s ALICE report — Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed — said Marygrace Billek, director of Mercer County’s Department of Human Services., If a family wants to have a cell phone, a savings account, go out for dinner and buy Christmas and birthday gifts, it needs to bring home a paycheck or two that totals nearly $134,000, according to the ALICE report. Only a little more than half of families in Mercer County earn that much., And that’s why more families — the 40 percent of Mercer County families who are barely making ends meet — are turning to nonprofit groups such as Arm in Arm (formerly the Crisis Ministry), the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, HomeFront and the Rescue Mission of Trenton., “There are people who are hungry, and not just in Trenton. Don’t be surprised if they look like the people who live next door to you. This is a community that is unaffordable,” Ms. Billek said., Dennis Micai, the former chief executive officer of the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, agreed. Housing can take up a significant portion of a family’s income. The average monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment is about $1,300 in Mercer County, which for many households is more than half of their monthly income, he said., “There is a lack of affordable housing. The reason for the problem in our towns is the emphasis on ratables (commercial development), but they don’t want to have housing for the people who work there,” Mr. Micai said., Ms. Billek said that while a family may have a roof over its head, those who are just making ends meet can easily find themselves out on the street. All it takes is a car that breaks down, a sick child, and a boss who won’t give you time off to let you take care of that child. Those are some of the reasons that a family could lose its home, she said., Sometimes, Arm in Arm can help stave off homelessness by providing emergency funds, said Carolyn Biondi of Arm in Arm. About 600 households turn to Arm in Arm every year when they are faced with the immediate threat of becoming homeless, she said. Arm in Arm also provides food to clients., When a family becomes homeless, they often turn to HomeFront Inc. The nonprofit agency provides shelter every night to nearly 500 people who have no home. That number includes a large portion of children under 3 years old, said Connie Mercer, HomeFront’s founder and chief executive officer., But it’s not just the families that are facing financial issues, the panel members said. The nonprofit groups that seek to help people are themselves forced to find money from other sources in the wake of government funding cutbacks., Arm in Arm received money from the American Recovery Act, but now the government money has dwindled. Ms. Biondi said the group has reduced its office hours so it won’t be open and have to turn away potential clients., The Rescue Mission of Trenton also has faced government funding cutbacks, said Mary Gay Abbot-Young, its chief executive officer. The group provides shelter for the homeless., The government has to change how it addresses poverty, she said, adding that “We have to have a policy that says poverty is not okay.”, HomeFront has lost about $800,000 in government funding. The government is stepping back from helping people who are living in poverty, Ms. Mercer said., Ms. Mercer admitted to being discouraged from time to time. But then she reminded herself that on one day — Jan. 13 — HomeFront gave money for security deposits or back rent to nine families; helped 126 heads of households with food or clothing vouchers; provided intensive after-school tutoring to 34 children; and provided free eye exams to 21 people., And one baby was born.
