Maine news, sports, weather | Kennebec Journal, Augusta, Maine

MAINE COMPASS: Housing aid a big hole in social safety net

Housing is increasingly unaffordable for many Americans.

Since 2007, roughly half of Americans have either been laid off or had wages reduced. The minimum wage in Maine is $7.50 per hour, and the living wage is $19 per hour. A minimum wage worker would have to work 86 hours a week to afford a fair market, two-bedroom apartment here.

The recent crisis in the financial industry has led to tighter mortgage markets — making it more difficult to finance the purchase of a home — and foreclosures continue unabated.

These realities have become very personal to me in the past three years. I was a working homeowner for many years. I hold a master’s degree and have no criminal history. I do not drink, smoke or use drugs.

I had been employed since I was 11 years old, until February 2008, when I was badly injured at home and unable to work for about a year. My accident coincided with the mortgage crisis and the subsequent economic collapse.

My city government job was essentially eliminated during the year I was absent, though I still work there on per diem basis.

I was dismayed to discover how many holes there are in the so-called social safety net.

I was ineligible for worker’s compensation because I was injured at home. I was ineligible for unemployment benefits because my job was classified as temporary, despite the fact that I had been there for more than three years.

I was largely ineligible for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families because one of my children receives SSI for a disability and two are my unrelated wards.

I was ineligible for mortgage payment assistance because I had borrowed from a credit union.

I am grateful for the help I did receive, but it was not enough to save my home, which was foreclosed in January.

Since being cleared by my doctor to return to work, I have held either two or three part-time jobs at a time, but I have not been able to secure full-time employment.

I have undertaken a two-tiered job search: I apply for both sustainable, full-time professional jobs commensurate with my education and experience (in management, supervision or administration, especially in higher education), as well as lower-paying jobs that are limited to my youngest child’s school hours.

My search is limited by living in a very rural community with few job opportunities, and the closures of local mills have dumped hundreds of my neighbors into unemployment.

Shortly after I was hurt, I had the foresight to apply for a housing choice voucher, thinking it would be a lifeline if all else failed. More than 21⁄2 years later, I am still on the waiting list.

When I lost my home I was lucky to find a rental in the same school district that I could move into, but it is in a very remote location and the rent consumes 60 percent of my already-too-modest monthly income.

My life as it is is not sustainable.

We are one crisis away from homelessness. Every day is a race against time to find a job before that crisis occurs.

A housing voucher would benefit my family because it would stabilize our situation until I find full-time work. The portability of the voucher would allow me to expand my job search farther afield because I then could accept positions outside the immediate area and move.

The graduated rent payment would allow me to rebuild my finances and gradually take over responsibility for all my expenses, while helping to ensure that I no longer have to choose among basic necessities for my family.

A strong rental housing policy is beneficial to many segments of society. The first and most obvious benefits are to the families themselves who move from homelessness, unaffordable or unsafe housing into safe and stable housing, which provides a foundation from which they can address employment, health and education concerns.

The benefits to health, mental health and education associated with housing stability are well documented in social science literature. Additional beneficiaries are the small-business landlords whose housing stock is maintained by revenues derived from the voucher program, as well as the local economies supported by the spending that occurs when families can purchase more than just housing with the incomes they have.

At a time when there are more renters, fewer jobs and even fewer that pay living wages, we must increase the supports available to families experiencing housing instability. I can only hope that federal officials understand this and will provide more housing vouchers for people like me in Maine and around the country.

I expect to win the race and to be back in the ranks of those fully contributing to society, but I could sure use a hand right now.



Lyn Grotke is a resident of Kents Hill. Her story, among others, was recently chronicled in a new 12-minute film titled, “Along the Way Home,” which may be viewed at www.alongthewayhome.org