A considerable proportion of Mid-Hudson Valley households experience major financial need. Residents were asked if they had experienced each of several economic difficulties in the past twelve months. These difficulties included problems paying for food, housing costs, utility bills, or medical treatment.
Although 76% of Mid-Hudson Valley residents have not experienced any of these economic problems, about one in four residents mentioned at least one.
The most common economic difficulty experienced by Mid-Hudson Valley residents was not having enough money to pay for the mortgage, rent, or utility bills. Given the recent spike in foreclosures nationally, it is not surprising that 13% of Mid-Hudson Valley residents have encountered a problem meeting their housing expenses on at least one occasion in the past year.
For 4% of Mid-Hudson Valley residents the housing situation became severe. These residents had to move in with other friends or family members for at least a little while because they were unable to pay for housing.
The problem of affordable health care hit home for many Mid-Hudson Valley residents this year, as well. Paying for medical expenses was a particular hardship for some residents. 11% of Mid-Hudson Valley residents missed or skipped a doctor’s appointment because they could not afford to pay for it. 10% of residents in the region reported they could not buy needed medication because it was too expensive.
Nearly one in ten residents in the Mid-Hudson region did not have enough money to pay for food on at least one occasion. 9% of residents cut the size of their meals or skipped them altogether because they could not afford to do otherwise. This includes 5% of residents in the Mid-Hudson region who sought emergency food from a church, a food pantry, or a food bank.
Understandably, residents who have had economic difficulty in one area generally experience problems in another. On average, these residents have dealt with more than two areas of considerable economic hardship in the past year.
With the exception of Putnam County where the average number of economic difficulties faced by these residents is less than two, there are few differences throughout the region.
For instance, residents living in the other six counties of Columbia, Dutchess, Greene, Orange, Sullivan, and Ulster Counties who have had problems paying for food, housing costs, utility bills, or medical treatment have experienced economic hardship in at least two or more essential areas in the past year.
Not surprisingly, residents who have experienced at least one economic hardship in the past year are more economically vulnerable. Nearly half of these residents live in households with low incomes. They are also twice as likely to be low income parents.
As noted, the problems compound themselves. Half of residents who have experienced economic hardship live in households in which at least one person has had gaps in his or her health insurance coverage. More than three in ten live with children who have not been continuously insured.
14% of residents who have experienced problems paying for food, housing costs, utility bills, or medical treatment at least once in the past year live in government assisted housing compared with just 5% of all Mid-Hudson Valley residents.
Residents who faced at least one economic hardship are more than twice as likely to live in a household where there is an adult who is looking for work. 25% of these residents live in a household in which at least one person is looking for work compared with 11% of Mid-Hudson Valley residents overall.
