About one in three Washington households are not making enough money to make ends meet, according to recently released data from a national research group called United for ALICE. Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed (ALICE) describes people who are working, making more than the Federal Poverty Level, but not making enough money to cover their basic needs where they live.
"The federal government's basic measure of poverty is based on what it costs to provide a basic basket of food, and then they multiply that by three times, which is really pretty limited as a way of measuring how to think about people who have clearly very complicated needs," said Larry Geri, faculty member at The Evergreen State College who was on the Pacific Northwest ALICE research advisory committee.
Geri said ALICE data is a more comprehensive look at how much it costs to have a reasonable standard of living. ALICE accounts for many factors including housing, childcare, transportation, and even technology and taxes.
"It's one of the most, if not the most, comprehensive attempts to describe what's happening with families that are employed, but still struggling to make ends meet across the country," Geri said. "I don't think there's a better data set right now that is as comprehensive and is as consistent and reliable as ALICE."
In 2021, the Federal Poverty Level for a family of four with two children in childcare, was $26,500 a year. ALICE data says the same family in Washington needs $77,328 per year minimum just to survive.
In order to be financial stable, that family would need $124,764. Because the Federal Poverty Level is generally the baseline measure of financial hardship, the report says a "huge portion" of people who are struggling financially are being missed.
Geri said he learned how dire budgeting can get for families after working for a crisis hotline.
"It was extremely difficult at times, particularly at the end of the month, as call after call from people who had basically spent all their money for the month came in, and they needed some help from somewhere to make it to the first of the next month. Usually by that point, most of the available pots of funds available for people in need have already been drawn down," Geri said.
"You've got to basically work with people who are in crisis and help them figure out, both practically and emotionally, how they're going to make it to the first of the month."
How Tacoma is using ALICE data
ALICE data, Geri said, can be used to support better and more helpful policymaking and intervention efforts. The data is a significant guide for the city of Tacoma, Washington's guaranteed income experiment, which recently announced it has secured enough funding to extend its guaranteed income pilot program to new families.
Last year, the program gave 110 families $500 dollars a month to spend however they wanted. Initial reporting showed almost half the money was spent on retail sales at places like Walmart and Target. The next largest category was food and groceries. Some families were able to pay off debt, find better housing and boost credit scores.
Calculate a survival budget for your specific household here.
"The 12 month project was really designed to determine the efficacy of cash assistance programs in helping improve economic stability, well-being, housing security and overall reducing poverty in the community," said United Way of Pierce County President and CEO Dona Ponepinto.
"In terms of some key takeaways, we're seeing guaranteed income does alleviate poverty."
The UWPC manages the guaranteed income program for the city. Ponepinto said they aren't sure yet how many families will be able to participate in the second round or how it might expand, but the need is still clearly there. ALICE data shows one in three families in Pierce County isn't making enough money to survive.
"When you still have a majority of the households in in the county and in the state are at the $20 mark, it's getting tougher," Ponepinto said.
According to ALICE data, even a $20 an hour wage wouldn't be enough sustain a household with just one adult and one child.
Tacoma's guaranteed income pilot will continue, a statewide pilot stalls
The first round of the guaranteed income program was funded by a mix of grants and private donors, including $500,000 from Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. Called the Growing Resilience In Tacoma, or GRIT, program, its been studied by independent researchers at the University of Pennsylvania.
Funding for the second round includes $1.9 million over the next two years from the state and has some expanded partnerships including Pierce County Council Chair Ryan Mello.
Mello and King County Councilmember Girmay Zahilay, are founding members of the recently launched Counties for a Guaranteed Income. The group is similar to the Mayors for a Guaranteed Income, a collection of mayors that have been been running guaranteed income pilots across the country. Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards is a founding member. Ponepinto said the participating groups will continue to seek out private funding for the second iteration of the Tacoma program.
The first iteration targeted families in specific zip codes in Tacoma, but Ponepinto said the group hasn't determined yet exactly how to target the funds the second time around. More information will be available in the coming months including how many families will be part of the next round. A virtual town hall exploring the data is happening Tuesday, June 27, from 9 to 10 a.m.
These types of programs appear to be gaining traction nationally and locally. But a basic income bill that would have experimented with a statewide program by providing two years of unrestricted monthly payments to up to 7,500 Washington residents who meet specific criteria died in the state legislative session this year. A feasibility study estimated it would cost between $65 million and $244 million to run a two-year pilot program in Washington.
A change in perspective and increasing political pressure
More than the cost, Geri said looking at poverty data in this way changes how we talk about poverty and means the category of people who need help gets bigger. As a result, the pressure on elected officials to meet those needs grows, too.
"It's politically explosive," Geri said. "If you change the measures to include more people, that basically implies that we need to do something about it. So there's a lot of pressure to leave the measures as they are, and adjust them for inflation."
Geri said ALICE data provides a better picture of what needs to be done to "leverage local resources to have an impact on the things that matter in particular, how can we help people have more productive fulfilling lives."
"If we can figure out how to make improve employment and wages, and lower the cost of some of these really expensive pieces of the sort of market basket of goods and services people need, then you can hopefully make it possible for fewer people to call in a crisis, needing help to get from month to month."
