Why are the employed among area’s poorest?

Ask ALICE: the United Way's Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed

By JEFF MORRIS

The poverty level of working people in Bedford Hills and Mount Kisco exceeds the average of Westchester County, according to a report from the United Way.

ALICE, an acronym for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed, refers to households that earn more than the Federal Poverty Level, but less than the basic cost of living, and represents the growing number of families who are unable to afford the basics of housing, child care, food, transportation, health care, and technology. These workers often struggle to keep their own households from financial ruin, while keeping local communities running.

The ALICE concept, which originated with the United Way of Northern New Jersey and has since spread among United Way chapters across the country, provides what is said to be a comprehensive, unbiased picture of financial hardship. It reveals that 41% of U.S. households cannot make ends meet.

United Way spun off a distinct entity, United for ALICE, which brings together United Ways, corporations, nonprofits and foundations in two-thirds of U.S. states. Its purpose is to raise awareness about the huge but hidden segment of the community that is struggling to afford basic necessities. By providing data and reports, United for ALICE hopes to ultimately stimulate action that will improve the financial stability of ALICE families and their communities.

One such report, this year’s The State of ALICE in New York, was prepared by United Way of New York State, and showed that in 2023, based on the Federal Poverty Level, 14% of New York households were defined as being in poverty. Yet this measure failed to account for an additional 33% of the state’s households — more than twice as many — who were also experiencing financial hardship. 

Hardship for 28% of Westchester households 

A separate report was released by United Way of Putnam and Westchester Counties. It showed, again using the latest data available from 2023, that Westchester, with a population of 990,817, had 374,012 households and a median household income of $114,457. Some 28% of households in the county meet the criteria for ALICE, while 10% are classified as in poverty. The report states that while conditions have improved for some households, many continue to struggle, especially as wages fail to keep pace with the rising cost of essentials. Households below the “ALICE Threshold” — made up of ALICE households plus those in poverty — can’t afford the essentials.

In the 2024 ALICE update, 38% of all Mount Kisco households were classified as below the ALICE Threshold, along with 21% of households in Bedford. Lewisboro was at 18% and Pound Ridge, 8%. 

A closer look at the data within individual census tracts shows an even higher percentage of struggling households. When broken down by census district, the 2023 data shows two locales within The Recorder’s circulation area exceed the county’s 39% level of households below the ALICE Threshold and in poverty: Mount Kisco, with 48%, and Bedford Hills, with 44%. 

Tom Gabriel of South Salem, president and CEO of United Way of Westchester and Putnam, said the organization decided to issue a new report this year after having just issued one in 2024, despite typically doing so every two years. This year’s report uses data from 2023. The data, he notes, are always two years old.

“Why we did it so quickly was, the 2024 report, which used 2022 data, wasn’t really capturing what was happening in the community,” said Gabriel. “In 2022, you’ll remember, the market was flooded with stimulus from the federal government — enhanced unemployment, enhanced child tax credit, emergency rental assistance, excluded worker fund money — there was so much money out there, it artificially propped up families.”

Gabriel said by “artificial” he doesn’t mean it was not necessary, but that the figures were not based on earned income.

“The report we released this year, which uses 2023 data, is a much more realistic look at what people are dealing with, after the stimulus money went away and inflation started to skyrocket.”

Tariffs expected to worsen situation

Gabriel anticipates that the numbers for this year, which won’t show up in a report for two years, will show people being squeezed even harder as tariffs begin to take effect and prices continue to rise.

In 2016, Gabriel points out, a family of four spent $600 a month on food; today that same family of four is spending $1,600. 

“That’s a 166% increase,” he said. “Housing costs including utilities, during that same timeframe, have gone up 66%.”

These figures, Gabriel says, are captured in the ALICE Essentials Index. “Whereas inflation looks at a bunch of different things, we look at the essentials: food, transportation, education, health care, technology — being able to log into the internet so your kid can do homework, not so you can stream the latest Netflix movie — all those costs are outpacing inflation.”

Gabriel also notes that only about 22% of the population works a full-time salaried job. 

“Another close to 50% of the population are either full-time hourly or part-time hourly,” he said. “That’s important to understand because during the pandemic, the full-time salaried jobs could go home and work remotely, but for the most part, the full- or part-time hourly couldn’t. They’re service, hospitality, construction, landscapers, home health aides, retail sales, security guards; they’re all people essential to an economy, but they have to work to earn money. There’s no guarantee of that income coming in.”

Gabriel says the gap keeps increasing.

“We talk a lot about ALICE being the new definition for the working poor,” he said. “These are all people that are working. These are not people on safety net programs. They don’t make much more than minimum wage; there’s no way to survive on that in Westchester.” 

Particularly troublesome, says Gabriel, is that poverty is pegged by the federal government at $30,000, “so you don’t qualify for benefits if you’re making $31,000.”

Gabriel calls the federal poverty definition “a 70-year problem that has never been corrected” since it does not take into account the variation in cost of living in different communities. With that flat amount of $30,000, “you are disproportionately providing more services to people in Appalachia than you are to Westchester.”

He said there have been efforts to legislate changes at various levels of government to make adjustments to aid formulas, but more education is needed.

United Way works in collaboration with various local organizations to provide services to those in need, including the Community Center of Northern Westchester, Neighbors Link, Mount Kisco Interfaith Food Pantry, and others. Gabriel notes that they also administered the distribution of between $300,000 and $500,000 in federal funds through FEMA as part of the Emergency Food and Shelter Program, which was created under the Reagan administration, to all of those organizations. That program was eliminated by executive order in January shortly after President Donald Trump took office.  

“That’s a huge hit to all those organizations,” he said.

Jeff Morris has been a reporter for The Recorder since its inception, and previously wrote for The Record-Review, The Lewisboro Ledger, and business periodicals, and even edited jokes for Reader’s Digest.