Beacon House, 309 E. Lake St., provides temporary housing for homeless families. Those who use the facility face a variety of barriers in finding gainful employment.
Links:
See the Web site for First Lutheran Church, which sponsors Beacon House.
View a brochure of local resources put together by the Hunger Prevention Coalition of Eau Claire County.
Being homeless makes finding work a tough sell
By Nat Shuda
shudang@uwec.edu
For many people in the Chippewa Valley, going to work can result in some stressful situations, such as dealing with customers or coworkers. For some, finding work can be more of a challenge, especially for those who live under the poverty line, including those without a roof over their head.
In Eau Claire County, an estimated 8,691 people, or about 9.7 percent of the entire county population, live in poverty, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released in October. Of this number, an estimated 2,280 are under the age of 17, meaning about one in four of those living under the poverty level is part of a family unit.
Kelly Christianson is the executive director for Interfaith Hospitality Network’s Beacon House, 309 E. Lake St., which provides temporary housing for homeless families. She said one of the biggest barriers for those who use Beacon House in finding jobs is one of education, Christianson said. Other barriers include health and child care, as well as family issues. Because of these barriers, she said, it is often difficult for homeless families to find and keep work.
“Speaking from what we see from a typical basis, (for) most of the families that come to the shelter, the education level is not beyond high school,” Christianson said, adding that in the four-and-a-half years she has worked at Beacon House, she has met more than 300 adults among 250 families.
Out of this number, she said she has encountered only one person with a post-secondary education, and according to a recent report from the U.S. Census Bureau, adults with bachelor’s degrees earn about $23,000 more a year than those with high school diplomas.
“There are not a lot of good paying jobs for unskilled labor – it’s kind of the bottom line,” Christianson said.
Because of the educational barrier, she said, many who stay at Beacon House are limited to primarily service industry jobs, such as restaurant and hotel staff, gas station and retail clerks, factory workers and seasonal and temporary laborers, many of which pay $6.50 an hour.
“Maybe, at some of the popular places like telemarketing, they can get $7 or $8 an hour,” Christianson said. “It’s exciting when somebody makes that much.”
However, for people making slightly more than minimum wage, it is tough to find housing, she said, explaining “most places they can afford are between $375 and $425 a month.”
According to the Self-Sufficiency Standard for the City of Eau Claire, the average hourly wage needed in order to have sufficient after-tax income to meet basic needs is more than $16. The Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services and the Eau Claire County UW-Extension office use the number as economic indicators when calculating assistance.