Report: Poverty level increases; Iowa providers feel squeeze on services

Some days 55 families seek free food at the Linn Community Food Bank, other days it's 21 or 44 families.

Some lost their job or had their hours cut or are short on rent, said Sue Pearson, a volunteer for more than a decade at the food pantry. The pantry is open Monday to Friday from 1 to 3:15 p.m. in the basement at First Presbyterian Church in Cedar Rapids.

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The demand and reasons vary from day-to-day, but month-after-month, year-after-year the number of families seeking food increases, Pearson said. The observation parallels new data released on Thursday.

The U.S. Census Bureau released a report that shows the poverty rate has increased in Iowa and across the nation.

The American Community Survey shows the poverty rate in Iowa was 12.7 percent in 2012 up from 10 percent in 2000 and 15.9 percent up from 12.2 percent nationally over the same time frame.

The Census' American Community Survey data on poverty comes as the Republican-led House is pushing to cut food stamps by $40 billion over 10 years. The data runs at odds with the efforts in Congress, said Michael Crawford, senior associate at Child and Family Policy Center in Des Moines

"I'm in favor of cutting the deficit," Crawford said. "But with families struggling so much, I don't think now is the time."

The recession has pushed more people into poverty, and for those already living in poverty, it pushes them deeper, he said.

The survey found a sharp increase in the number of the poorest Iowans, or those who earn less than 50 percent of the poverty level. In 2000, 101,203 people fit into that category. By 2012, the number grew to 159,392.

The poverty level for a family of four is $23,492, according to the Census Bureau.

At Shelter House in Iowa City, Resident Services Director Mark Sertterh said they've been turning away 20 to 30 people a night for the past four months. It's the most they've seen in "many, many years," he said.

Many of their clients are families, who are struggling to get ahead. They are out of work or in low paying jobs,  juggling child care and rent, he said.

"There just isn't much wiggle room if something comes up to weather the crisis," Sertterh said.

Here's other findings from the Census Bureau survey:

• The median income level has held stagnant nationally from 2011 to 2012, when it was $51,371. It was the first time since 2007 the median income level didn't decrease. Median income level increased by .5 percent in Iowa in that time frame to $50,957.

• In Iowa and nationally, an increasing number of people under the age of 65 migrated from private insurance to public coverage from 2008 to 2012.  In Iowa, people with private health insurance decreased from 74.8 percent to 71.6 percent, while the portion of people using public coverage increased from 15.2 percent to 18.6 percent. About one in 10 people in Iowa are uninsured as of 2012.