New Census Report Says That 7.1% of Individuals in NEAR Poverty Receive Housing Assistance vs 8.3% of All Individuals in Poverty.

New report is HERE.  I extracted a PDF graph HERE, and embedded below, showing the rate of 2012 use of various government programs for those individuals in poverty or near poverty.

A table on page 25 says that the near poverty rate of use of housing assistance in 1981 by individuals was 5.3%, vs. the 2012 estimate of 7.1%.

Report table on page 26 shows that Oregon's 2012 near poverty rate was 4.8%, slightly higher than national average of 4.7%.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Correction: 2013 Oregon LIHTC NOFA Selections: 43% Of All Units Are in High Poverty Rate Census Tracts: Only 18% Are in CT With Low Poverty Rates.

OHCS staff pointed out an error in the attached spreadsheet. I have corrected that and changed the text in the headline and below accordingly to reflect a lower percentage of units in High Poverty CT's in the 2013 cycle (but that is the same percentage as units placed in service from 2000-2010). 

I regret the error and appreciate the timely feedback from OHCS. 
----
The Excel worksheet HERE and embedded below has the details.  

Readers may recall my prior August 2012 analysis HERE of Oregon LIHTC project poverty rate data for projects placed in service from 2001 to 2010. Two related observations:

1. Projects selected in the 2013 NOFA had the SAME higher rates of location in HIGH poverty rate census tracts than did projects placed in service from 2001 to 2010. (43% ).  
2. Projects selected in the 2013 NOFA also had higher rates of location in LOW poverty rate census tracts than did projects placed in service from 2001 to 2010. (18% vs 13%). 

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Bono TED Talk about Poverty Reductions.

With St. Patrick's day upon us, what better time for a TED talk from Bono?  

Talk illustrates significant progress on poverty and disease reduction and includes use of the term "Factivist" that I can relate to:).

Talk is HERE, and embedded below.


Originally posted as (distant relative of?) the first Mayor of Dublin, 1409. 

A First: HUD Oregon LIHTC Data Merged with Census Tract 2010 Poverty Data from ACS.

HUD has updated (HERE) their LIHTC project database to include projects placed in service through 2010. For the first time the database includes 2010 geographic codes, including census tracts ID's/FIPS (I have posted the HUD LIHTC data dictionary, updated in July 2012, HERE). 

In advance of a more formal announcement from HUD of the changes (coming soon I expect HERE) I downloaded LIHTC data for 588 LIHTC projects (32,750 units) in Oregon. I imported that data into Excel and then merged the data with American Community Survey 2006-2010 poverty data for Oregon census tracts ( using ACS Table B06012). In the merged table I added columns/fields with formulas that identify high and low poverty rate categories and the names of metro areas and counties.

That combined table, the source LIHTC data from HUD, the poverty data from ACS, a pivot table, and two summary county level poverty rate tables are found in the Excel workbook found HERE.  

(Embed of this Excel workbook follows observations below and opens to summary table showing High Poverty LIHTC location %'s by county).

Some Initial Observations, 227 Oregon LIHTC Projects Placed Into Service in Last Decade (2001-2010)

LIHTC Projects/Units in High Poverty Census Tracts

• In Oregon, 42% of all projects and 48% of LIHTC low income units were located in high poverty census tracts (poverty rates of 20% or more).  
• In Multnomah County 65% of all projects and 72% of LIHTC low income units were located in high poverty census tracts (poverty rates of 20% or more).  
• Multnomah County accounts for 51% of all Oregon LIHTC projects (and 66% of all units) located in Census Tracts with known poverty rates of 20% and higher. 

LIHTC Projects/Units in LOW Poverty Census Tracts

• In Oregon, 12% of all projects and 13% of all LIHTC low income units were located in low poverty census tracts (poverty rate 10% or below).  
• In Multnomah County 8% of all projects and 4% of all LIHTC low income units were located in low poverty census tracts (poverty rate 10% or below).
• Multnomah County accounts for 21% of all Oregon LIHTC projects (and 16% of all units) located in census tracts with poverty rates of 10% and lower.

Notes:
1. All project and unit count percentages are for LIHTC projects where CT's were identified and could be matched with poverty rates; 2 projects placed into service in last decade did not have identifiable CT information
2. At the top of the pivot table I have filtered LIHTC projects to select only those with placed in service dates from 2001-2010.
3. Projects placed in service in 2011 and 2012 are not included in the HUD data; my guess is that there may be 20 or so LIHTC projects in service that are not included in the HUD data.

Combinations with Other ACS and Census Data Now Possible
While I have focused on poverty rates for LIHTC projects, the addition of 2010 Census Tract ID's make it possible to combine LIHTC data with other demographic information available at the census tract level.  Examples include race, ethnicity, diversity, incomes, and tenure. The HUD database also includes additional information on LIHTC projects (source of funding, bedroom size, targeted populations) and additional geographic information including latitude and longitude values that can be used for mapping.

Excel Embed:

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog. 

State of America's Children Report Out, Includes Some Oregon Data.

Report is HERE. 

Lots of data, encourage browsing entire report. Some Oregon examples below. (Oregon 2009 population data found on various tables, including PDF pages 28-33, pg 46-47, pg 49):

• Children were 22.8% of Oregon's population, in contrast, the 65 and older population in Oregon numbered 517,000 or 13.5% of the total population. This means that the share of Oregon's population that were children is 69% larger than the elderly share of Oregon's population. (22.8%/13.5%-1=69%).
• 164,000 Oregon children lived in poverty, 19.2% of all Oregon children.
• Of 879,000 children in Oregon 32%, 279,000, are minority [Nationwide, minority children were 44.7% of total population].
• Rankings by share of children in state--Oregon's highest rank (10th) was for American Indian/Alaska Native who represented 2% of Oregon's children and the next highest rank was for Hispanic children (12th) who represented 19.8% of Oregon's children.

Only housing data in report is NLIHC Out of Reach affordability data on page 78. This was BIG missed opportunity for HUD to highlight number of children served by HUD assisted housing. 

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

This Definition of Poverty Article Will Anger Both Ends of the Political Spectrum.

I expect to see multiple heated responses to the Heritage Foundation article HERE on the definition of poverty; direct URL to PDF is HERE. 

A prior WaPo story about alternative Census measures of poverty is HERE.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

New Excel Tool Allows 3 Side by Side Geographic Comparisons on Up to 48 Oregon Poverty Related Metrics.

In a prior post HERE, I lauded OHCS for their preparation of county level data sheets that displayed easy to read data from dozens of poverty related data sets. 

OHCS staff were good enough to send me an Excel version of their data. From it I was able to create a test Excel file HERE that allows side by side comparisons of selected data for any combination of 3 Portland metro counties, Oregon, and the U.S. (I would have added all Oregon counties but it was too labor intensive for me to copy and paste from individual county worksheets).

ALL the user has to do is use a pull down to select available years and geographies, and the relevant data from the 48 available metrics appears, for up to three different areas/years. For example, you could choose the same county and see data for three different time periods, three different geographies for the same time period, ETC.

The workbook also has a READ ME me worksheet that includes notes AND a table that shows the user which data is available for which years. 

NOTE: This workbook was created in Excel 2007 format.Some users report when they cannot direct view Excel files in this format from within their browser and that Excel files they save end up with a compressed .zip file extension. My suggestion is to RIGHT CLICK and save the file to your PC. Then navigate to the file you downloaded and look at its file extension. IF it appears as .ZIP extension, change the .ZIP extension to an Excel 2007 extension (.xlsx), and THEN open the file with Excel 2007/2010.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Highly Recommended: New OHCS Reports On Poverty Have Lots of Additional Data to County Level.

Recent OHCS Director's message referred to new OHCS poverty reports so I took a look.  Very pleased to see EXTENSIVE data that goes way beyond poverty data, all displayed in very compact 2 page formats.

Reports includes 5 year ACS cost burden data at different income levels, unit counts etc.  

HIGHLY recommended; I will follow up to see if consolidated Excel version may be available for some of data. 

You can find statewide and county level reports HERE; Multnomah County report as example is HERE and I have pasted just one part of Multnomah County report showing cost burdens below: 

Click to Enlarge

Kudos to Bill Carpenter, Natasha Detweiler, and OHCS leadership for the quality, reach and usability of these reports. Reports are of such quality that they really should be award winning, AND of much use to many advocacy organizations.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

HAP Receives $500,000 Urban Institute Grant to Improve Family Services at New Columbia and Humboldt Gardens.

Important news from HAP in their latest HUD Unwrapped newsletter HERE:

With funding for the demonstration project provided by Open Society Foundation's Special Fund for Poverty Alleviation, the Urban Institute will work with HAP's New Columbia and Humboldt Gardens communities to enhance services that address the complex needs of residents and evaluate the results of the project. "We're eager to participate with the Urban Institute," said John Keating, HAP's program director of Strategic Partnerships. "This initiative will help us and housing agencies across the country be more innovative when helping families create a better life for themselves and their children. We are especially excited to connect young people with the many opportunities that can help them build a great future

A national press release naming other cities also receiving grants is HERE. PR notes that this effort is funded with $3 million in seed money from the Open Society Foundation's Special Fund for Poverty Alleviation (HERE). 

Readers may also recall my December post HERE with links to related background materials on Urban Institute evaluation of Chicago Family Case Management Demonstration, used as a model for this continuing effort.

Look for updates from HAP in coming months for more specifics on commitments from other local partners and outcome goals.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Basic Facts About Low Income Children, 2009

Relevant to Kitzhaber stated goal of focusing on children,  new National Center for Children in Poverty paper is HERE.

Only housing bit (pg 6) is : 

children living in low-income families were two times more likely to have moved in the past year and two times less likely to live in families that own a home.

(Move % was 18% vs 9%; ownership % was 39% vs 81%).

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Oregon Housing Council Meets Friday May 7th, Board Materials Updated.

The Oregon Housing Council meets Friday May 7th. The agenda and meeting packet have been added to the Oregon Housing Council Meeting Materials link in the right pane.

Last Currently Scheduled Meeting Before Hardest Hit Application Submission Date; Joint Meeting with CAPO
Note that this is the last currently scheduled meeting before the Hardest Hit grant application is due for transmission to the U.S.Treasury (NLT June 1st). [First HH outreach session is in Medford the following Monday, May 10th]. Also, following the regular meeting there is a scheduled joint meeting with the Community Action directors, aka Community Action Partnership of Oregon. (No agenda or meeting materials for that meeting are currently posted).

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Census Coming Up with New Poverty Definition; Might Include Renter Breakout?

Commerce Department PR is HERE.

Planned new measure won't be available until fall 2011, to match release of traditional Census Poverty measures from 2010 Census.

General ideas about how measurement will likely change (final details yet to be decided) found within the document HERE. Looks like there MAY be a breakout by tenure (renter/homeowner, see pg 4).

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

2000-2008 Suburbanization of Poverty Report Includes Portland Metro Profile.

Brookings report page is HERE.

Download PDF of report HERE.

Metro profiles HERE will open to Portland metro profile.
From Portland profile:

• In 2008, 102,059 people in the primary city lived below of the poverty level ($21,834 for a family of four), compared to 143,672 poor in the surrounding suburbs. This represents a significant increase for the city compared to 2000, and a significant increase for the suburbs.
• The poverty rate—the share of the total population living below the poverty line—showed a significant increase in the city and a significant increase in the suburbs over this time period. In 2008, the suburban poverty rate was 9.8 percent compared to a primary city poverty rate of 14.3 percent.
• In 2008, 41.5 percent of poor individuals across the metro area lived in the primary city compared to 58.5 percent in the suburbs. Compared to 2000, this is not a significant increase in the suburban share of the metro area’s poor.
• Using a broader definition of “low-income,” 227,538 individuals in the primary city—or 32.0 percent of the population—fell below 200 percent of the federal poverty level in 2008, compared to 358,454 (24.4 percent) in the suburbs.
• Based on increases in unemployment throughout 2009, we project that the Portland-Vancouver, OR-WA metro area may experience an increase in its poverty rate of approximately 2.9 percentage points

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

American Community Survey Release Dates.

HERE is a link to a Census Bureau press release showing release dates for data from the annual American Community Survey.

Income and poverty data will be released in late August; housing data is scheduled for a late September release.

CORRECTED: Ways and Means SubCommittee Hearing on Alternate Poverty Measures Includes Audio File.

I blogged about NYC role in this recently, but Subcommittee of House Ways and Means Committee recently held a broader hearing on the subject HERE. (Wash. Rep Jim McDermott is chair of Subcommittee).

I compiled all of the written testimony into a single file HERE

{Reference to audio file deleted, as it was to wrong hearing).

NYC Suggests New Geographic Variable New Poverty Definitions.

New York City has suggested a number of changes to the existing poverty measure, which uses a single nationwide figure.

While the full detail on the NYC proposal is not yet available, some background information from the NYC Center for Economic Committee is available HERE.

A press release is also available HERE.

Cross Post: Copenhagen Consensus Rates Vitamin/Mineral Supplements as Top Priority.

Cross post from my Oregon Open Government News and Issues Blog HERE.

Oregon Example: Postive Family Income Impacts of Mainstream Programs.

With the annual Oregon poverty conference coming up soon and my recent stories about SCHIP and the Healthy Kids Ballot measure, I thought it would be interesting to develop an example showing the impact of mainstream programs on family incomes and the variable share of costs paid for by those programs. The programs I chose for this example were health insurance, food stamps, rent assistance, and earned income tax credits.

Using a variety of data sources, I estimated the share of costs for these items paid for by the government, and the resulting family savings, for a working family with two adults and one child, with one adult working at 110% of the 2008 Oregon minimum wage.

The details are found in the PDF HERE. The summary is that these four support programs:

• Increased income by 56%, more than $10,000 a year.

• Moved the family from 104% of the poverty level to 162% of the poverty level.