Ohio’s child poverty rate was 17.7% in 2022, according to a new report • Ohio Capital Journal

According to the Ohio’s latest report, the poverty rate was 13.4% in 2022 and the state’s child poverty rate was 17.7% Ohio Association of Community Action Agencies.

While the state’s overall poverty rate is consistent with last year’s 2021 report, it is slightly higher than the national poverty rate of 12.6%. This is the 31st year that the OACAA, which represents 48 agencies across the state, has issued a report on the state of poverty.

“We cannot turn a deaf ear to child poverty, so we cannot turn a deaf ear to poverty overall,” OACAA Executive Director Philip E. Cole said during a press conference.

According to the report, in 2022, nearly one-fifth of children under six in Ohio lived in poverty. Approximately 18% of children ages 6 to 11 in Ohio lived in poverty and 15.9% of children ages 12 to 17 in Ohio lived in poverty.

“The life we ​​will lead is determined at birth,” Cole said. “While we know that poverty has many causes, your economic status at birth is an important cause that has nothing to do with personal choices. …No one can choose where or to whom they are born. It has to do with unequal access to important resources that people need to succeed in life. If a person doesn’t have access to the things they need to thrive, they will fare worse than others.”

This year’s report focused on the impact of poverty on children – particularly in terms of housing, food insecurity and health care.

“No population group is immune to the effects of poverty,” said Tina Kassebaum, partner and principal investigator at the Strategic Research Group. “Although children have no control over their housing situation, their access to food, or their overall health care, they are greatly affected by these and other factors.”

Housing

Nearly a quarter of Ohio children (23%) live in high-cost households – meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on housing.

Just over half of Ohio children (53%) living in low-income households are cost-burdened, putting them at greater risk of struggling with housing insecurity.

“We’ve seen landlords raise rents by up to 300% during the pandemic,” Cole said. “They’re not coming down.”

Affordable housing is a problem nationwide. According to a report from the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio earlier this year, Ohioans must earn at least $20.81 an hour in a full-time job to afford a two-bedroom apartment and the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

According to the OACAA report, there are only 79 affordable and available units per 100 renter households for people whose median income is at or below 50%.

“The state needs to look for ways to actually pay contractors to build affordable housing,” Cole said.

Food insecurity

The overall food insecurity rate for Ohio is 11.8% and the food insecurity rate for Ohio children is 14.8%, according to the State of Poverty report.

The pandemic-related expansion of SNAP benefits ended in February 2023 — meaning about 1.5 million Ohioans will receive less money for food, according to the report.

Additionally, there are nearly 300 fewer WIC-authorized providers in Ohio than there were in 2015.

There are no WIC vendors at all in Van Wert County. There are 42 fewer WIC providers in Cuyahoga County and 30 fewer WIC providers in Franklin County compared to 2015.

“One option is to increase direct funding to food banks and pantries,” Cole said. “Another possibility is a significant tax credit for each family member so that families have more money to buy food.”

State Reps. Lauren McNally, D-Youngstown, and Casey Weinstein, D-Hudson, introduced one Bill from last year that would provide for this a “Tax Credit for Thriving Families.”

That would give Middle- and low-income families receive a tax credit to close the gap in benefits from the pandemic period. However, there were no committee hearings for House Bill 290.

Weinstein previously said the tax credit would be $1,000 per year per child ages 0 to 5 and $500 per year per child ages 6 to 17. Families with annual incomes of $65,000 or less would be eligible for the full benefit amount.

Healthcare

More than 86,000 children in Ohio were disenrolled from Medicaid programs between March and September 2023. 4.6% of children in Ohio are uninsured.