Recovery eludes Central Florida
Report: Many struggle to get by financially
Despite booming construction and tourism since the end of the Great Recession, the number of Central Florida households struggling to cover basic necessities continued to grow from 2010 to 2016, accounting for nearly half the population, according to a report released Wednesday by the United Ways of Florida.
In Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Lake counties, those financially fragile families numbered over 406,000 by 2016, or about 46 percent, the research finds. In Osceola, they were 57 percent of households.
“What hit me square in the face is that, since this last recession ended [officially in 2009], you look at virtually any economic indicator and we are doing better,” said Jeff Hayward, president and CEO of the local Heart of Florida United Way. “You can paint a pretty rosy picture, and yet it didn’t catch up to these folks. The numbers are just overwhelming.”
The report, compiled by United Ways throughout the state, is part of the national ALICE project — a measure of households that are
“asset-limited, income-constrained, employed.” Rather than using the federal poverty line, which critics say is unrealistically low, ALICE researchers calculate how much working households need to earn to cover groceries, basic housing, utilities, routine health care, child care and transportation.
Statewide, that annual household “survival budget” climbed 20 percent from 2010 to 2016, fueled by soaring housing and healthcare costs, researchers found. In 2016, the statewide ALICE threshold reached $55,164 a year for a family of four. And in much of Central Florida, it was slightly higher — about $58,100 a year for a family of four and $22,880 for a single person.
“When I moved here two years ago from the Boston area, I was told, ‘Oh, it’s going to be so much cheaper,’” Hayward said. “Well, actually, it’s not. Orlando is catching up.”
In fact, the United Way research — relying on data from the Census Bureau, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Internal Revenue Service — lists the average Florida rent for a family of four at only $848 a month, a figure that is already outdated, especially in Central Florida. The most recent average here, from RentCafe.com, is $1,320 — a 7-percent jump compared to a year ago.
Although the research period ended just as President Donald Trump took office on a message of prosperity, Hayward said he has seen little evidence of improvement for Central Florida in the two years since. On the contrary, thousands of residents are still recovering from hurricanes Irma and Maria.
Ana Soler, 48, who moved to Central Florida with her husband a month after Maria destroyed their home and her business in Puerto Rico, has struggled to afford housing. She found a hotel housekeeping position, made employee of the year, and her husband took a 60-hour-a-week construction job on the I-4 Ultimate project. They moved into a mobile home for $1,000 a month and started saving.
But with no margin for the unexpected, Soler said, things can fall apart fast.
First their rent was raised by $400 a month. Then, three months ago, her husband had a stroke, leaving him out of work. The family avoided homelessness with help from the Heart of Florida United Way, but they still owe $5,000 for out-ofpocket hospital bills.
“You think you finally have everything lined up — a place to live, two jobs, two cars — and then one day everything can change,” Soler said.
In fact, the report found, at least 47 percent of Floridians do not have money set aside to cover expenses for three months in case of illness or job loss. The reason: 67 percent of the state’s jobs pay less than $20 an hour, and nearly three-fourths of those pay less than $15 an hour.
The majority of Floridians under age 25 are unable to afford to live on their own, the researchers said. Naky Gelin, 22, a recent graduate of Seminole State College, is one of them.
“It just seems that there’s this attitude toward people who are struggling financially like they’re not working hard or they’re not trying to get ahead,” said Gelin, who is now studying psychology at the University of Central Florida and trying to find a job. “I know so many people good people in this situation. My parents are the hardest working people I’ve ever seen, but it’s really hard for them to be honest about their situation because people judge.”
The oldest of three kids, Gelin is living at home so she can finish her education, but her parents have their own challenges. Her father’s trucking job is sporadic, and her mother had to quit her position as a security guard because of neuropathy in her feet. They juggle which bills to pay each month to make their dollars stretch, but the utilities have been disconnected twice in the past year.
If there is any hope on the horizon, Hayward said, it may come from this year’s Legislature. Last week, Gov. Ron DeSantis released a budget that keeps intact the Sadowski fund, a state affordable housing trust that historically had been raided by lawmakers to cover other budget priorities.
“Nothing is going to change overnight, but this could be huge,” Hayward said. “In the last decade, they’ve taken $2.2 billion out of Sadowski. Can you imagine the housing that could have built?”
Lizbeth Ramos has some idea. The 31-year-old works two jobs for discount stores, rarely sleeps, and still can only afford to share a crowded two-bedroom apartment on Orange Blossom Trail with her sister’s family. Since leaving home at age 16, Ramos has been trying to save for her own place and to go to school to become an X-ray technician.
“It’s just so hard to make it by yourself,” she said. “Rent is going up every day. You always have that fear that something is going to happen and you’ll have to move again.”
But this week, builders for Habitat for Humanity of Greater Orlando and Osceola County are finishing her new home in Apopka, where she’ll have monthly mortgage payments of $600 to $700. Three years after she first applied and began putting in sweat equity, she is now counting down the final weeks until she moves in.
“It has been a slow journey, but I am so, so appreciative,” she said. “It motivates me to think, ‘If I can do this, what else am I capable of?’”