Looking For Help: Poverty On Rise In Michigan

[Purveyor]

Lansing State Journal

Barry Henderson never imagined the course his life would take when he accepted a job as a human resources director in Lansing six years ago.

"I was a professional person all my life, and I was making $80,000 a year, and then I got sick," he said. "I wasn't prepared for that."

--
He is among the growing number of Michigan residents living in poverty. A new report by the Michigan League for Human Services says that 13.3 percent of Michigan residents - or 1.3 million - were in poverty in 2006, up from 9.4 percent five years earlier.

"The Changing Face of Poverty in Michigan" report paints a bleak picture about conditions for many families in Michigan.

Among the findings:

• Families are earning less. The median household income of $47,182 is down 7.5 percent since 2001, when adjusted for inflation. It is also below the national average of $48,451.
• About 52 percent of Michigan renters are paying at least 30 percent of their household income on rent, including utilities. That's up 12 percent from 40 percent in 2001.
• Nearly 30,000 homes were in some stage of foreclosure in the third quarter of 2007, representing one of every 102 households. That's nearly double the national rate.
• There were 450,000 fewer Michigan residents covered by private health insurance plans in 2005-06 than in 2000-01.
• The number of working poor, not on welfare, receiving food assistance more than doubled between fiscal 2001 and fiscal 2006.

---EOE---

http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071210/NEWS01/712100342/1001/news

[flashl]

1. If we had REAL economic reports the number are probably be worse.

Reading stories about the economic crisis in Michigan is heartbreaking.