Women in Poverty: How the pandemic has affected their access to shelters
By Sylvia Lorson and Ryanne Locker
Women experience higher levels of poverty and the pandemic has not helped. From lack of government assistance and rising unemployment, the ability to escape poverty has become even more difficult.
According to a study published by the Center of American Progress, “In 2018, 12.9 percent of women lived in poverty compared with 10.6 percent of men. Nearly 10 million women lived in deep poverty, defined as falling below 50 percent of the federal poverty line.”
A single mother is more likely to be poverty stricken than a mother who is married, 1 in 4 unmarried mothers are in poverty.
However, the problem of poverty lies in society as women experience sexism, domestic abuse and disability. There is no easy way to fix these problems.
There are many ways to combat poverty, one being certain government programs; from the stimulus checks from earlier this year to programs that have been around for years that need improvements. Those programs offer a longer-term solution compared to the checks.
Programs such as SNAP, WIC, Social Security and Medicaid can make a difference. Improving family leave can help working mothers support their children, which was proposed by the Providing Americans Insured Days of Leave Act of 2020.
Three shelters and how they are managing during COVID
The Highlands is a teen pregnancy shelter located in Tallmadge. They house teenage girls from the ages of 14-20 that are pregnant or have a newborn baby and find themselves in a situation where they become homeless or may become homeless.
The Highlands has had a unique experience during the pandemic. They used to have a wait list of teen girls trying to get in, but since the pandemic began there are actually spots available.
“I think that people don’t want to risk going someplace where they are exposed to more people they don’t know,” said program director Mary Kay Dotterer in an email.
To try to limit the exposure of their clients and the babies, The Highlands has put in place new regulations.
“We are currently asking screening questions and if someone has lived in multiple houses or ‘couch surfed’ we are asking for a negative test,” said Dotterer.
At first, they had actually banned visitors. They now require all staff and visitors to wear masks at all times. All visitors are asked the COVID screening questions.
“Workers and agency visitors were asked to visit outside during the warm weather and maintain masks and distancing,” said Dotterer. “Currently they visit away from the other youth in an area designated for visitation, asked screening questions and must remain masked.”
Another women’s shelter that has had to deal with COVID with new regulations is ACCESS (Akron Citizen’s Coalition for Emergency Shelter Services).
In a normal year, ACCESS would have 35-40 women and children (55% being children) at a time and about 400-450 people total throughout the year. In the early months of the pandemic, they saw less people coming to their shelter.
“In April, we were down to about 12,” said Rachel Valentine, Director of Client Services at ACCESS. “Because people didn’t want to come to any kind of communal living.”
Among the changes they have had to make to be COVID-safe, ACCESS now required all staff and residents to wear masks at all times unless they are in their rooms, they staggered mealtimes, moving programming online and lots of cleaning.
They also have a “quarantine” room set aside just in case a resident gets it. So far, they have not had a resident test positive for COVID.
Locally, shelters have been providing help to those who are in need. In Cleveland, The City Mission has been working to provide as much as they can with the pandemic.
They provide for men, women and children from the city and local areas. Their main focus is on providing temporary housing and a path towards getting employment and permanent housing.
“Women and children are coming to us out of very difficult circumstances. They have been subjected to abuse, violence, they are impacted by trauma,” Richard Trickel, CEO of City Mission. “They have been struggling with a variety of mental health concerns as a result of that. And through strategic partnerships that we have, we engage them with therapists and proper medical personnel to help care for those psychological- as well as physical- needs.”
At the beginning of the pandemic, they stopped all programs and volunteers at the shelter. They allowed people to stay at the shelter while they worked out a system to protect everyone from COVID-19.
The system allowed maintenance to disinfect areas, installed plexiglass in common areas, separated meal times and set up a special area for children to still go to online school while being socially distanced.
As a shelter, they have had only 4 cases.
An Inside View
Another community affected by the pandemic has been the LGBT community. Accroding to a study done by the Williams Institute, School of Law, “Among LGBT people, transgender people have especially high rates of poverty—29.4%.”
The start of the pandemic was difficult and college students definitely suffered from the sudden change. Especially ones that were struggling to make ends meet before the pandemic.
Poverty just does not affect straight cis women but also people who are LGBTQ+ from gender brinary to transgender. Especially being in college, some students still need their parents’ support even if it is not by choice. COVID-19 has forced people to make difficult choices even at the sake of their mental health
Our source wanted to remain anonymous to avoid repercussions with their family. As they describe the beginning of lockdown as the most difficult part. Being a Cleveland State University student, they lived in an apartment with a friend and were struggling before the pandemic even began.
But once they lost their job because of quarantine, they had to move home. This situation was not ideal, as they had had a conflict with their family about them changing their gender identity. Their family had struggled in the past with money and this only brought more stress into the relationship with their family.
As soon they could go back to their apartment they did. But the pandemic made it difficult for them to afford food.
“I have had to borrow a bit of money from some friends. Not in excess. But you know, sometimes you have to cover groceries. I also regularly see a therapist, because the stress of this has been astronomical,” they said.
Overall, the pandemic has affected everyone. Some more than others. But it is sheltered like these and the help from community members that have really helped those in need most during this time.
Hey Guys! New story for my reporting public policy class. It is all about Women and LGBTQ+ in Poverty and Coronavirus. https://t.co/Y0EgvTsy6o
— Locker room talk (@ryalocker) November 18, 2020
