Still-ailing economy and lack of jobs cited as reasons for increase

Poverty is increasing its grip on Beaufort County, especially with certain segments of the population.

Beaufort County’s poverty rate increased from 17.2 percent in 2010 to 21 percent in 2013, according to data compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The margin of error was plus or minus 2 percent.

Washington’s poverty rate increased from 25.3 percent in 2010 to 30.5 percent in 2013. The margin of error was plus or minus 5.7 percent.

A poverty rate is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a specific nation. The poverty line, usually, is determined by finding the total cost of all essential resources a person consumes in one year.

Geoff Marett, assistant director of the Beaufort County Department of Social Services, believes the increase in the county’s poverty rate is a direct result of an economy still feeling the effects of the Great Recession in 2008, the loss of jobs at employers such as Weyerhaeuser and damage to the commercial fishing industry and other job sources caused by Hurricane Irene in 2011. Those factors meant less income for some county residents, often resulting in them turning to DSS for assistance, he said.

“We got some numbers from the state. … It goes from 2008 to 2013. We’ve actually seen a 12.9 percent increase in Medicaid, and in our food and nutrition services, we’ve actually seen a 62 percent increase in the number of eligible,” Marett said.

“When we see issues with the economy, those are normally the two major areas we see increases in,” he said.

Marett said DSS has several programs to help people living below the poverty level or who have limited incomes meet their basic needs.

“We have energy-assistance programs, our crisis-intervention program that helps with the heating and cooling crisis. Those are ones that are based on if there are funds available. We have another energy program — low-income energy assistance program, called LEAP. That’s really a heating program, and that begins Dec. 1 and ends March 31, depending on the availability of funds,” Marett said.

LEAP targets households with at least one person who is at least 60 years old.

DSS also helps people develop job skills and find employment, he said.

Other programs such as in-home aide care, some transportation services, home-delivered meals and day care services also are available as long as there is funding for them, Marett noted.

“We need to be aware there is such a thing as poverty in Washington. The key to fixing poverty is, first, accepting that there is poverty; the second is that it becomes on the mind of those people who are in positions, such as elected leaders, to make sure this stays out in front of people and that wealth building starts with each of us,” said William Pitt, a member of Washington’s City Council.

Pitt said the increase in the poverty rate is not something that’s always easily noticed.

“I would say it sort of came and blindsided the community because you don’t feel it on a daily basis. The real cure, in my opinion, for poverty in Beaufort County and Washington … is to get people working, and I know it seems to be a simple thing to get people working. It has to be on the minds and in the thoughts of everyone all the time,” Pitt said. “That should be on the mind of every elected officials every single day, and we need to be reminded of it every day.”

They key to a community’s survival is to have its population working, he said.

In 2013, the county’s population for which poverty status was determined was an estimated 47,100. For that same year, the city’s population for which poverty status was determined was an estimated 9,370.

In 2013, the poverty rate for blacks (or African-Americans) in Beaufort County was 39.1 percent (margin of error plus or minus 5.1 percent), with 4,728 blacks out of 12,086 blacks below the poverty level, according to census figures.

The 2013 poverty rate for whites in Beaufort County was 12 percent (margin of error plus or minus 2.1 percent), with 3,897 whites out of 32,567 whites below the poverty level, according to census numbers.

Among the county’s Hispanic or Latino population (of any race), the poverty rate was at 47.9 percent (margin or error plus or minus 13.9 percent) in 2013, with 1,575 people out of a population of 3,290 under the poverty level.

In 2013, the poverty rate for blacks (or African-American) in Washington was 45.5 percent (margin of error plus or minus 10 percent), with 1,985 blacks out of 4,358 blacks below the poverty level, according to census figures.

The 2013 poverty rate for whites in Washington was 14.9 percent (margin of error plus or minus 4.5 percent), with 701 whites out of 4,704 whites below the poverty level, according to census numbers.

Among the city’s Hispanic or Latino population (of any race), the poverty rate was at 51.6 percent (margin or error plus or minus 33.2 percent) in 2013, with 158 people out of a population of 3306 under the poverty level.

The federal poverty level for 2014 was $11,670 for a household with one person, $15,730 for a household of two people, $19,790 for a three-person household and $23,850 for a four-person household.

According to census data for 2013, there were 19,425 Beaufort County residents living at 200 percent of the poverty level and 3,886 residents living at 50 percent of the poverty level. In 2010, there were 2,743 residents living at 50 percent of the poverty level and 18,424 living at 200 percent of the poverty level.

In 2013, there were 3,906 people under the poverty level who did not work, with 2,221 people under the poverty level working on a full-time basis for 12 months and 1,446 people under the poverty level working less the full-time for 12 months, according to census figures.