Study shows Minnesota still recovering from recession
It’s still a painful memory for many – The Great Recession. The tumbling stock market, plummeting home values and job losses left many people in financial ruin. And it turns out, Minnesota is one of the states that has not yet bounced back completely.
That’s according to The Human Needs Index (HNI), a joint venture between The Salvation Army and Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.
The idea behind the index is to take a closer look at poverty in the United States, pushing beyond government statistics to measure how many people are seeking out hot meals, free groceries, clothing and household items, as well as those who are asking for help with housing payments, medical bills and monthly utilities.
Pulling data from January 2004 – March 2015, the index tracked economic trends across the country, highlighting a peak level of need in 2012. It shows that Minnesota, along with Nevada, Kansas, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Indiana have not yet recovered to pre-recession levels of need.
“That doesn’t surprise me,” said Mallory Birch, assistant director of Social Services at The Salvation Army in the Twin Cities. “Demand continues to grow at our food shelves, as well as for utility and housing payment assistance.”
Since 2014, The Salvation Army in the Twin Cities alone has provided over 1,900 people with rent or mortgage assistance. But the number of requests far outpaces the demand. It’s just one of the categories from the study, but it’s a crucial part of preventing people from sliding into homelessness.
“For low-income families who are already in housing, what seems like a small problem, like a car repair, can quickly spiral into a crisis,” Birch explained.
The trouble compounds because that family may not have the money to repair the car, which can take away their only reliable transportation to get to work. And that can result in a job loss and ultimately, eviction from their home.
“It can be a downward spiral, and it can happen more quickly than you might think,” said Birch.
The data mined by the Human Needs Index will provide yet another tool to help The Salvation Army assess and meet the needs of the people we serve.
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