By Glenn Rolfe

GEORGETOWN — Kim Webb moved from Florida to Sussex County in May 2019.

Thus far, she is not living the high life.

“I was homeless for a long while, actually until August of this year,” said Ms. Webb, during an early-December visit to The Shepherd’s Office in Georgetown to pick up a free meal and take-home food. “I was in and out of hotels and stuff and living in my car and tents.”

Ms. Webb owns her car, works in Rehoboth Beach and rents a two-bedroom house in Milford.

“I was assistant manager one time, shift manager another time,” said Ms. Webb. “Now, I’m just like customer service at a McDonald’s, and I make $11 an hour.”

As a solo act — a single person with no children — Ms. Webb’s hourly wage ranks above the $6 per hour poverty rate for Sussex County and above the state’s $9.25 minimum wage but below the county’s projected livable/living wage of $11.91, as determined by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Living Wage Calculator.

“Right now, the livable wage, if you look at people, we have so many people not even making it on livable wages. That is not cutting it; it is not cutting,” said First State Community Action Agency Executive Director Bernice Edwards. “If you look even (at) housing, trying to pay monthly rent for housing, when you are on a very low wage, even at $10 an hour, in some places, people can’t do it.”

Some of the numbers

For the state of Delaware, according to MIT’s January 2020 data, the living wage for one working adult with no children was $12.60. One child increases it to $26.31, with $30.50 for two children and $37.28 for three children. The poverty level in these scenarios ranges from $6 with no children to $12.38 for three children.

For two working adults in the same First State household, the living wage calculations are $10.11 with no children, $14.47 with one child, $16.55 with two children and $19.34 with three children.

MIT’s Living Wage Calculator is based on families and individuals working in low-wage jobs making insufficient income to meet minimum standards given the local cost of living.

Updated in the first quarter of each year, MIT’s living wage scale is developed to estimate the cost of living in a specific community or region based on typical expenses. It gauges the hourly rate an individual in a household must earn to support him- or herself and their family.

The poverty rate reflects a person’s gross annual income in MIT’s calculations for all U.S. states and counties.

Broken down by county, in Kent County, the living wage for one working adult with no children is $12.87, $25.64 with one child, $29.83 with two children and $37.16 with three children, according to the MIT data. For two adults, with one working, the living wage in Kent is $19.87 with no children, $24.13 with one child and $26.61 with two children. If both adults are working, it’s $9.93 with no children, $14.14 with one child, $16.22 with two and $19.28 with three.

For Sussex County, MIT’s data shows the living wage for one adult with no children at $11.91, followed by $25.77 for one child, $29.96 for two kids and $37.40 for three children. In a Sussex household with two adults, with one working, living wage is $19.45 with no children, $24.25 with one child, $26.74 for two children and $31.31 for three. If both adults are working, the living wage in Sussex is $9.73 with no children, $14.20 with one, $16.28 with two and $19.39 with three.

For New Castle County, the living wage for one adult would be $12.78, $26.73 with one child, $30.92 with two and $37.28 with three. With two adults and one working, $20.64 is the living wage with no children, going up to $31.19 with three children. If both adults are employed, their wage with no children is $10.32, $14.68 with one child and $16.76 with two kids.

Housing a major cost

Housing takes a sizable bite out of Ms. Webb’s weekly take-home pay. She moved into her rental residence in Milford in August.

“I pay $1,000 a month. I’ve been struggling. I was working a second job for maybe four-and-a-half weeks, but I was robbed at gunpoint. So I had to quit that job. I only still rely on this one job. I (also) pay my own utilities,” she said.

“I just go to work, come home and do the same thing over and over again,” she said. “I don’t have habits. I don’t smoke. I don’t drink or none of that. I just don’t really do much. I’m like a homebody, I guess. It’s boring, but you know, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. I’m 36, and I feel like I’m a little older than that.”

Paulette Rappa, executive director of The Way Home Inc., a nonprofit that helps ex-incarcerated offenders in Delaware reenter society, said housing is without question the biggest obstacle when factoring in livable wage.

“I think that whole thing is resting on that affordable housing. It begins and ends with affordable housing,” Ms. Rappa said. “If you don’t know where you’re going to sleep at night, that’s rough. We have Code Purple (emergency shelter during the winter months) open right now, so that helps. But we have people living in their cars, and they are working. We have people living out in tents, and they are working. But they just don’t make enough.”

As a rule of thumb, 30% of one’s take-home pay should be going toward housing, but that is a challenge in Delaware, Ms. Rappa said.

“They are eking up closer to 45%. In some instances, 56%, if you factor in transportation,” she said. “If you go back to the hospitality sector, that is in the east (part of the county). The more affordable rentals are in the west. So you have to factor in the transportation costs.”

Jeanine Kleimo, chairwoman of the Dover Interfaith Mission on Housing, also refers to the rubric that people “shouldn’t spend more than 30% of your income on housing. But I think the statistics are pretty widely available that there are a lot of people in Delaware who have to spend 50% or more of their income on housing.”

As an example, Ms. Rappa said she assisted a person needing a place to stay in late December. “But the cheapest I could find in this area (central Sussex/Georgetown) was $750 for a room — not a house, not an apartment, a room,” she said. “If you go towards Rehoboth on the east, then it’s $1,000, $1,200. In the west, yeah, you might find it slightly cheaper at like $600 or $550. But then again, you are faced with less jobs and the transportation issue.

“It is existing, not living.”

MIT’s extensive data shows housing consumes the greatest piece of the annual household income pie, on average ranging from $8,484 (single, no kids) to $18,252 (three children) in Sussex, $10,236 to $17,280 in Kent and $10,080 to $18,036 in New Castle County.

“Overall, for a person who is not highly skilled or educated, the wages that they earn in this economy when they do have a full-time job are often insufficient for them to find housing that is affordable, or they have to spend a disproportionate amount of their income on housing,” said Ms. Kleimo.

‘State of Housing in Delaware’

Ms. Kleimo pointed to “The State of Housing in Delaware,” a 2019 report by Housing Alliance Delaware, a statewide nonprofit created in 2017 to address affordable housing and homelessness.

HAD’s report states that a comparison of year-to-year data for its annual “Point in Time” count, a census for homelessness, shows a 15% reduction in homelessness in Delaware in 2019 (921 individuals), compared to the 2018 data of 1,021. It also shows annual housing starts remained strong and was, at the time of the report, 106% greater than that of the lowest part of the Great Recession.

But on the flip side, housing availability in Delaware “is growing further and further out of reach for more families,” the HAD report states. “The state’s renter wage, the hourly wage necessary to adequately afford a two-bedroom rental unit, has increased again. It now sits at $21.97 per hour -- or 2.5 full-time minimum wage jobs. This gross disparity in affordability has left 85% of extremely low-income households using more than 30% of their monthly income on housing expenses.”

Homeownership, an important vehicle to building intergenerational wealth, and a significant bridge to exiting poverty, continues to be unattainable, even for moderate-income Delawareans, according to HAD.

For example, it is estimated that in Sussex County, a family making $80,000 per year would only qualify for a mortgage $20,000 less than the county’s median home price. The rising renters wage and this homeownership affordability gap may be spurring homelessness in the county, where the rate has increased more than 50% from 2018.

“Certainly, a person who makes $10 an hour, their gross wages are $400 a week. That sounds not too bad,” said Ms. Kleimo. “But when you think that rentals are often $1,000 a month, (when) you pay for utilities, even in a small apartment, there isn’t a lot left over for the rest of life’s expenses.”

“I think all of us in the affordable-housing field want to encourage people to save and become owners. Eventually, there is nothing for saving, so that people in low-wage positions are stuck, living hand-to-mouth for the rest of their lives,” said Ms. Kleimo. “And it is very difficult, even for the healthiest and hardest-working person, to escape that cycle. Obviously, rents have outstripped the wage growth in the local economy. So it’s a challenge.”

Ms. Kleimo added that the housing stock “that we built as a nation is targeted for single families becoming homeowners. That American dream is just increasingly out of reach for working people. In addition to those regulatory obstacles to renting, … cities and towns plan and do these comprehensive plans, and they may say, ‘Well, we want more affordable housing’ and even want to address the need for the homeless. But they are not setting aside land to make it possible and affordable for this purpose. It’s still a competitive land market based on either single-family homeownership, traditional business development and industrial development.”

She said that the “housing models are not sufficient to meet demand and municipal regulations can be a barrier.”

“For example, Dover allows up to five unrelated individuals to share a single-family house. The example that I gave to a couple of City Council members recently was, let’s say you have two single moms who each have two kids. They each have a son and a daughter. And they think, ‘Well, gee, we could rent a three- or four-bedroom house. The girls could have a room, and the boys could have a room, and the two of us could either share a room or get our bedrooms.’ You can’t do it because that is six people.”

‘Without a whole lot of hope’

Dover Interfaith Mission for Housing has both a shelter and separate rental housing for men who need it.

“We have 34 men in the shelter at one time and 58 beds in our housing. In a year, in a normal year, we would see at least 200 men in the shelter,” Ms. Kleimo said. “Over 12 years, we have sheltered more than 3,000 homeless men. It’s very hard for them to move on. If there are people who have been incarcerated or have other, I’ll say, ‘blemishes,’ on their record, it’s really hard.”

In its efforts, Dover Interfaith Mission for Housing provides beds, mostly at $500 a month, which includes utilities, cable and internet access, “with the idea that if they are motivated, they can save money. So some are successful.”

However, in many cases, these individuals are merely “existing, not living, without a whole lot of hope for things getting better,” Ms. Kleimo said.

Jim Martin, director of The Shepherd’s Office in Georgetown, has numerous stories about working folks facing daily struggles in meeting livable levels.

“When I meet someone that is starting over in life, someone that maybe just got out of prison or rehab, or they are trying to get back into the marketplace as far as employment, they normally have to start at the bottom, unfortunately, for maybe the first year or two, until they can prove themselves again,” he said.

“Usually, employers, if you are low-skilled, they’ll give you chance. Then, they move you up quick if you prove to be a productive employee. A lot of times, people have to make really hard choices in between. They can’t buy everything that they need. These are needs they have, not wants. So they have to prioritize what is doable. That word, ‘doable,’ is something that would give someone hope.

“People are not able to handle a $300 emergency. If something happens, they are not able to handle that at all, like a car breakdown,” he added.

Training workforce is key

First State Community Action Agency, a fixture in Delaware for more than 50 years, is among the approximate 1,000 community action agencies nationwide and in U.S. territories engaged in the war on poverty.

Ms. Edwards said another primary solution to clearing the low-income hurdle is workforce training.

“We’re looking at our workforce development with our team right now because what we are seeing is minimum wage is not cutting it,” said Ms. Edwards. “That is why we are trying to train.”

Training for better, high-paying jobs also fits into the game plan at The Way Home.

“I just registered two individuals ... for the heavy-equipment operating training program that (Delaware Technical Community College) is offering for free. If we can get them into those types of positions that have stability and a wage that is above (what) they would be getting strictly on minimum wage or slightly above, … they have a better opportunity to find housing,” Ms. Rappa said.

‘People do struggle out there’

Logan Clifton knows the difficulty in making ends meet. He resides in rural Georgetown and has two children, ages 1 and 6, one of whom has special needs.

Mr. Clifton is employed full time, at $10.50 an hour as of this past fall. He previously worked at a chicken plant at a higher wage, but “then, I got … terminated,” he said.

There is Supplemental Security Income for his son with a disability. “My income plus that is the only thing that helps me through the day,” said Mr. Clifton. “I only have one job. But I’m thinking about getting two. It might come down to it.”

In that scenario, his girlfriend, the mother of the children, would watch the kids solo while he is working, Mr. Clifton said.

“I went to college but had to drop because I have (attention deficit disorder). I wasn’t able to pay attention. When my kids grow up, that is probably what I’ll do, is go back to college and get a different job,” said Mr. Clifton. “Everybody needs to know that people do struggle out there.”

To help ends meet, Ms. Webb, like many others, flocks to The Shepherd’s Office on North Bedford Street for free food and other necessities.

“I do come by The Shepherd’s Office and grab stuff off their table. I go to food banks like the Rehoboth (Community) Resource Center. I try to utilize what I can when I can,” said Ms. Webb. “It’s very hard. I am struggling, but I catch up. But I can’t let my house go because I don’t want to be back on the street. Not to mention, my commute to work is 30 minutes.”

Ex-offenders face few options

For those who have been incarcerated, the struggle to find a living wage and housing is exacerbated.

The system, Mr. Martin said, can be a deterrent.

“For them to show up for a job, it makes their life worse because there is no incentive to better their lives. Because as soon as it rises up on the IRS screen as someone that is a wage earner, all of a sudden, the courts catch up with them; they pay this and that for a fine,” Mr. Martin said. “So it’s almost better to be a complete knucklehead sometimes in our society. You are penalized when you try to step up and be responsible.

“A lot of people live in their cars. They are not telling anyone,” said Mr. Martin. “These are the quote-unquote ‘invisible’ homeless people — car-dwellers living penny to penny, from french fry to french fry, instead of paycheck to paycheck. I’ve seen cases where some people won’t work at a regular job. If they get a job, their Medicaid will be taken from them. There is no incentive for them at all to move away from poverty. People would rather have poverty plus Medicaid rather than a job even with a decent pay. It’s still not enough motivation to make the switch. I’ve seen people in that situation.”

In addition, ex-offenders have limited options and additional hurdles trying to meet living wage and housing needs, Ms. Rappa said.

“Unfortunately, many of the guys and gals that we work with — predominantly men — when they come out (of prison), the two sources of ready work for them are either the poultry factories or the hospitality sector,” she said. “We know because of COVID and the shutdown and the consequential restrictions that the hospitality sector is obliterated. And so, even when they were working there, we know that housing and affordable housing is critical here.

“On top of that, out of correction, you also face the burden many times (of) the costs of fines and fees. If you don’t pay those, (you) may lose your freedom. … Then, you’ve lost your job, and then, the cycle starts all over again. It’s ... almost like the hamster on the wheel, trying to break that cycle,” Ms. Rappa said. “These are individuals who are committed to improving and making better decisions in choices in their lives. They are working, but the system is so stacked unfairly against them.”

Is boosting minimum wage a solution?

After staying at $8.25 for four years, Delaware’s minimum wage increased twice in 2019, by $1 per hour to the current $9.25.

State Sen. Brian Pettyjohn, R-Georgetown, said there is a bill being circulated in the state legislature that would raise minimum wage to $15 per hour effective Jan. 1, 2026, with automatic yearly Consumer Price Index increases.

The bill, sponsored by seven Democrats, calls for a minimum hourly wage of not less than $11 by Jan. 1, 2022, $12 effective January 2023, $13 by January 2024 and $14 effective Jan. 1, 2025.

“The whole argument that raising the minimum will put small businesses out of business perhaps has some validity, again, prior to COVID,” said Ms. Rappa. “But if you don’t have discretionary income to spend to begin with, then you’re not taking advantage of a lot of these smaller businesses at all. So there is the other counterargument that if you give a person the ability to have a balanced life, they met their financial needs, and then, they can invest in the future, and they can develop recreational leisure, that is a balance in life, a quality of life. Then, they can take advantage of these small businesses.”