Causes of poverty, homelessness highlighted at first of three virtual Waterville forums

Katie Spencer White, CEO of the Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter in Waterville, speaks Wednesday night during the first of three virtual forums open to the public about homelessness. In this slide, White points out how Waterville has the second-highest poverty rate in Maine, at 28.2%, based on federal poverty guidelines. Facebook screenshot

WATERVILLE — Katie Spencer White likens being in poverty to having been thrown into a hole where there is no way out but up — a form of torture used many years ago in France.

“Unless you have the ladder, you’re going to be stuck in this hole,” White said.

White, CEO of the Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter at 19 Colby St. in Waterville, used the analogy to explain what poverty is. It is not a condition, White said, and it is not about God determining who is to be poor.

“This is really about policy choices,” she said, “and how we decide to utilize them.”

White was speaking Wednesday night at the first of three virtual forums she organized to include the community in discussions on the housing crisis, homelessness and poverty.

Wednesday’s forum was about the causes of poverty and homelessness.

The second session, set for Wednesday, Oct. 13, is expected to focus on what is being done to address the issues and how homeless services systems work.

The third forum, planned for Oct. 27, is to explore where to go from here and what policy solutions are possible.

All sessions begin at 7 p.m. via Zoom.

In White’s 30-minute presentation Wednesday, she said those in the hole of poverty rely on somebody or some policy to lower a rope to help them get out of the pit. In her travels, White said, she often hears people describe poverty as a condition.

“It’s a choice at the policy level,” she said. “It’s not an individual choice.”

While there have been a lot of ways developed to measure poverty, at the heart of it is that people have basic needs: food, clothing, shelter, sleep, security and clean air and water, according to White.

There are many stereotypes about those who are poor. For example, White said she hears people say somebody looks too well-dressed to be using food stamps, or has had her nails done, so she must not be poor, or drives a truck, so is not in poverty.

But what we know about poverty, she said, is that it is “not necessarily a look.”

“You can be very, very poor, but most people experiencing poverty do not want to look poor,” White said.

How poverty is measured can misrepresent reality. White said calculations for the poverty level used in the early 1960s are the same as those used today.

“That’s why it feels like somebody’s pulling the wool over our eyes,” she said.

Locally, Waterville has the second-highest municipal poverty rate in the state — 28.2%, based on federal poverty guidelines, according to White.

Orono has the highest rate, at 38%. Augusta is at 18.8% and Skowhegan at 19.8%, she said.

To be self-sufficient, people need a strong, supportive network of family or friends, financial resources such as savings and insurance and access to health services, according to White.

“The challenge for people who are experiencing poverty is that they’ve got knots in all of these areas,” she said.

Women, children, people with disabilities, people in places that lack of affordable housing, those who are unemployed or underemployed and people who have poor health and poor access to care are at risk of being poor. Those with adverse childhood experiences, such as abuse or neglect, are also at risk, according to White.

“Most Americans can’t afford a $400 emergency,” she said. “That could be a trigger for poverty and insecurity.”

About 30 people, including city councilors and other city officials, social workers and homeless shelter workers, attended the forum, at which White noted a positive: About $57 million is coming to Kennebec County as part of American Rescue Plan Act funds to help those impacted by COVID-19. People are working to determine how the money will be used. Waterville is scheduled to receive $1.67 million in Rescue Plan Act funds.

Waterville City Councilor Rebecca Green, D-Ward 4, is heading up a committee looking at the housing crisis in Waterville, including how to solve it. She also is a member of a new city committee exploring how Rescue Plan Act money might be spent in the city.

Some have said the guidelines for how to spend the money are not clear.

“There are number of groups already coming together to discuss potential projects,” Green said.

Maureen Davis, who helps run a community refrigerator in downtown Skowhegan where people in need have access to food, said she and others are interested in information being shared at the forum because they want to be better equipped to help the homeless in the community.

Elizabeth Leonard, a member of the Poor People’s Campaign, said she is anxious to see how Rescue Plan Act funds are allocated in the community. She said she is glad White and others can speak powerfully to the issues.

Last month, Gov. Janet Mills joined U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge to help launch “House America,” a national partnership to tackle homelessness. The project, the federal government’s response to the national homeless crisis, engages state, county, tribal and local officials to use funds from the American Rescue Plan Act to re-house and build additional housing for those who are homeless.

Mills said Maine will use federal funds to house 1,000 people and add 500 affordable housing units.

The governor has allocated $50 million to expand housing that would be affordable to more workers and their families through the Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan, her plan to invest American Rescue Plan Act funds. The options are to include some housing available for rent and some for purchase.