Six out of ten residents in Miami-Dade County, with a majority of the Hispanic population, have difficulty meeting basic needs and 19% live in poverty, according to a report released today by the United Way.
The United Way 2018 ALICE report shows that a large portion of the 2.7 million residents of Miami-Dade, the most populous county in the state, “struggle to pay for basic needs such as food, shelter, transportation, health and child care. “
The study identifies 354,294 households (40%) as ALICE (limited assets, restricted income and employees) and highlights that a family of four with two children needs to earn at least $ 61,368 a year to cover their basic needs in Miami-Dade, the seventh most populated county in the United States.
“ALICE families have not been able to adjust to the rising cost of living and are vulnerable to financial difficulties,” despite the overall improvement in employment and earnings in the median income in Florida, the report said.
This economic recovery has been “unequal” and shows that families under the ALICE category “continue to face challenges due to the reduction of working hours, low salaries, natural disasters and an increase in the cost of living”.
The fact is that, in addition, “households headed by single women face more challenges than any other type of family in Miami.”
The figures presented by United Way suggest that the average income of a household in Miami-Dade is $ 45,935, when the state average is 50,860, and 169,904 households (19%) face poverty, compared to 14% at the state level.
Since the last report, which used data from 2015, the population welcomed to the ALICE category in Miami-Dade grew to reach 40%.
The average family income in the state of Florida is $ 50,860, while the “average budget for survival in the home,” according to United Way, is $ 55,164.
The gap widens in Miami-Dade, where the household survival budget is $ 61,368, while the average household income is $ 45,935.
The families integrated into ALICE “live just from check to check and, often, an unexpected bill, illness or natural disaster makes them fall into poverty,” said Holly Raschien, congresswoman from the State of Florida. .USES)
