LATHAM – New York is inching dangerously close to having 50 percent of its families lacking sufficient income and resources for housing, food, child care, transportation and health care, according to a report released today by United Way of New York State.
"The ALICE report uses data from a variety of sources, including the U.S. Census and the American Community Survey, to provide tools that quantify the number of households in New York’s workforce that are struggling financially.
The New York ALICE Report reveals:
- 2.1 million households in NYS have incomes above the poverty level but below the ALICE threshold budget for survival. With an additional 1.1 million households below the poverty line, 44% of New York households can no longer afford all of life’s basic necessities: food, shelter, child care, transportation and health care.
- To meet New York’s average ALICE threshold for survival, a single adult needs an annual income of $20,496 or $10.25/hour. Yet nearly 1 million New Yorkers who work in retail sales, restaurants and home health services are paid below the ALICE threshold.
- From 2007 to 2014, the cost of housing, food and health care in New York far exceeded the rise in salaries, thus increasing the number of ALICE households. The report’s town-by-town breakdown shows that ALICE exists statewide among all age groups, household types, and racial and ethnic groups.
ALICE families face a variety of challenges: low-wage jobs located far from their homes (with the attendant rise in transportation costs); and having few or no assets to cushion the cost of an unexpected health emergency or caregiving need, and limiting the opportunities for their children.The ALICE Report recommends both short-term and long-term strategies to help ALICE families and strengthen our communities. The ALICE Report will be used by United Ways around the state, in conversation with our many partners and supporters, to understand ALICE’s circumstances better, and find better ways to help ALICE.
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