Study: 1 in 5 Charlottesville families not making enough to pay their bills

One out of every five Charlottesville families cannot pay their bills and one out of three cannot afford the added costs to keep a job, according to a study conducted under the auspices of the Greater Charlottesville Area Development Corporation.

To address the issue, the community needs to support local companies that would locate within the city near the needy populations and provide jobs from manufacturing to construction to services, the study states.

The study, authored by C. Ridge Schuyler and Meg Hannan, shows that of 7,099 families living in the city, 2,069 do not make enough money annually to pay for rent, food, utilities and necessities and the added costs of holding down a daily job, including day care and transportation to and from work.

Chamber and development corporation officials will review the study at a 9:30 a.m. meeting at the Holiday Inn University Area today.

The study recommends that the city and community build up existing local businesses and foster new ones to take advantage of the Central Virginia regional economy and create jobs that do not require college educations, yet provide a living wage. One recommendation is the creation of a central “job hub” agency, either profit or nonprofit, that would help small business apply for contracts with local employers such as the University of Virginia, area governments and even the Defense Intelligence Agency.

“We found that we have a serious issue in Charlottesville that people don’t always recognize and that’s that there are a lot of families struggling to remain independent,” said Schuyler. “We also found that the region has the means to help get them out of poverty and the questions is can we provide that pathway? The answer, we think, is yes.”

Jobs are the means.

“In order to get a pathway out of poverty, the number one way out is a job,” said Timothy Hulbert, president and chief executive of the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce. “Included in that is the support of a family so that a person can have a job in terms of transportation and day care.”

The chamber sponsored the study through its charitable Greater Charlottesville Area Development Corporation. The organization is supposed to “aid and support the economic, social, cultural and human development.”

The study used U.S. Census data to break down income and education levels in the city by neighborhood. The study also details the various nonprofit agencies in the city that assist struggling families.

An estimated 71 percent of area families earn enough money to be self-sufficient, the study shows. Another 20 percent of city families earn enough money to be above poverty figures, but cannot pay bills and cover expenses incurred in order to work without some form of assistance. About 9 percent of families are below poverty, according to the census figures.

The figures show that a single parent with two children living in the city needs $35,000 a year to live independently of social agencies and family assistance. A single parent with three children needs an estimated $40,000 a year to be independent.

According to census data, Charlottesville’s median income is $59,284, more than what is needed to live independently of social programs and family assistance. Median income, however, means that there are just as many families earning below that level as are above it.

The study shows a large block of Charlottesville families living in an area from the Rose Hill neighborhood and Preston Avenue on the northeast and west of Fifth Street and southwest toward Jefferson Park Avenue earn less than $30,000 a year. Other areas of the city have median incomes over $100,000.

Ridge and Hannan estimate that the local economy would have to expand by $20 to $30 million a year to create enough wealth to support the lower income families as well as those making enough for independent living.

“We know the future is brighter for those who graduate from college, but we’re talking about parents who have never gone to college or didn’t graduate high school,” Ridge said. “This is a generational issue that we have to address to give the children growing up a chance to make it to college.”

While economic development officials discuss bringing high-tech jobs to the area, the study notes that the family heads in need of jobs are not likely to qualify for those. Some may need help in applying for and maintaining employment. That help can be provided through a variety of nonprofit organizations in the area, the study showed.

Hulbert and Ridge noted that there are no quick answers to the problem. Both agreed that job creation should be done by the private sector serving the Central Virginia region. They envision a mix of jobs from catering to light manufacturing with firms competing for business and contracts with the area’s big economic engines.

The study notes that UVa, the region’s largest employer, spends $630 million a year buying goods and items from off of school grounds, a rich lode of possible contracts for burgeoning businesses.

Those companies would be encouraged to locate in communities where employees could easily walk, bicycle or take the bus to work to help decrease transportation costs for families.

“Think about the Ix building near downtown: When Frank Ix was there, people drove into the city to work and people from the neighborhoods were employed,” Hulbert said. “You can’t just shrug and say ‘manufacturing is over in America.’ There are small businesses that can manufacture items or build things and economic development officials can encourage them to locate where they can hire people close by.”

“You can’t compete with the worker in China who’s making $2,800 a year, but on the regional level, you may be able to compete with a small manufacturing operation,” Schuyler said. “If we can support local businesses and help them grow, they’ll hire local people.”

Hulbert said the study shows economic hardships among city residents and points out a way to resolve them.

“We need to stop talking about roads and water and get those issues resolved so we can start talking about lifting up the entire community,” he said.