Demand Up For Shelters, Food, Clothes For Families
Agencies in County Show Rapid Increases

By Donna St. George
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 22, 2009

As the nation's recession deepens, more Montgomery County families are becoming homeless, with the number placed in emergency shelter at motels nearly doubling over the past year.

County officials said they have rarely seen such widespread need. Nearly 90 families were booked into motels in November, and 24 were housed in the county's three family shelters.

"This is probably the highest demand for shelter we've seen," said Alexander Wertheim, administrator of homeless services, who said job losses appear to be a driving force. Many of those in need "are not high-income to begin with, so any loss of income will translate into a crisis."

In a typical month, all 85 beds at the county's family shelters are filled, Wertheim said. The large number of additional families who need shelter -- and are placed in motels throughout the county -- is a sign of increasingly tough times, he said.

County figures show that from September through November 2007, Montgomery placed 129 families in motels, a figure that nearly doubled, to 249, during the same months of last year. "I think this may be setting records," Wertheim said.

Among the newly needy is Daverena White, 41, a single mother who recently worked as a home day-care provider and earlier had a job as a New York City schoolteacher. White's family is being evicted from her Clarksburg home this week, in the wake of a foreclosure. She and her children, ages 5, 10 and 16, have no place to relocate.

"I am hoping and praying that at least we can get placed in a shelter," White said. She said she is trying to be strong and have faith that she will eventually land in a good job and stable housing. Her main concern, she said, is her children and "having them be as happy as they can be in these circumstances."

"I believe wholeheartedly that I will bounce back," she said. "But I know we are about to go through some very, very tough times."

In addition to more families in crisis, the county has found a growing need among homeless individuals, who are also served by county shelters. Their numbers during the same three-month period shot up to 1,465 from 1,205 in 2007, an increase of nearly 22 percent.

There are many other signs of the economy's toll.

At the county's regional service offices, lines have been long as more people apply for government assistance. Often, more people show up than county staff members can manage, so applicants are turned away and told to come back another day.

The number of applicants last fall was up markedly, more than 20 percent in Germantown and Silver Spring, and more than 35 percent in Rockville. "We're seeing people needing longer-term help, and more of them needing it," said Uma Ahluwalia, director of the county Department of Health and Human Services.

Health clinics in the county also have recorded a growing demand for services, and caseloads have swollen with people seeking public aid grants to help pay rent and utility bills. Child-welfare cases are markedly up, as are calls to the suicide hotline.

"It's all related to the economy," Ahluwalia said, noting that some residents feel forced to prioritize essentials, deciding, for example, to spend limited income on food and forgo medication. "Every day, families have to make these choices," she said.

The county government's budget difficulties have meant a 1.5 percent cut for the Department of Health and Human Services, but the reduction of $3.1 million has not led to a decrease in aid for the needy, county officials said.

Many of the families seeking help had never applied for benefits before. "The faces of those in need are changing," Ahluwalia said. "It could be the neighbor down the street."

Still, some of the needy discover that they do not qualify for federal or state aid.

In Montgomery, with its high cost of living, the county has set a "self-sufficiency standard" at $68,086 for a family with one adult, one preschooler and one school-age child, in a calculation that accounts for housing, food, health care, utilities, child care, transportation and taxes. The federal poverty line, based on the cost of food, is set at $17,300.

In a sign of the increasing need, 5,904 applications for food stamps were filed in Montgomery from September through November, an increase of 33 percent over the same period a year earlier.

The rising need in Montgomery also has been clear at the nonprofit Manna Food Center, where the number of people seeking food was up 45 percent for the last six months of last year, compared with the same period in 2007.

"It's unprecedented" in Manna's 25 years of operation, said Amy Ginsburg Gabala, executive director. Other recessions, she said, have produced increases of 10 to 12 percent.

At the nonprofit Interfaith Works in Montgomery County, the number of people seeking free clothing and household goods rose by 48 percent during the first 10 months of last year, as compared with the same months a year earlier. Calls to the organization's emergency assistance line jumped more than 32 percent.

Equally telling, said Executive Director Becky Wagner, was a report from one of the group's caseworkers. "She came in one day and said that every baby in every family she had seen that month had a raw bottom because the parents could not afford to buy enough diapers," Wagner said.

So started an effort to encourage diaper donations.