As winter nears, does a hunger and homelessness crisis await Beaufort, Jasper counties?
Maria Olivares pulled her car into the food distribution line Thursday morning to pick up vegetables from Bluffton Self Help. Olivares, who has lived in the Lowcountry for 15 years, said the charity has been there for her during difficult times.
The last couple of months have been tough for her family of four. Her husband has been without work for several months, she said. Despite seeming to check all the boxes, he has been unable to collect unemployment benefits.
With Christmas approaching, Olivares said she also appreciated that the charity was providing toys for her kids.
“I like what they do here,” she said in Spanish. “They give me a lot of help.”
Olivares is one of thousands in the Lowcountry — and millions across the country — caught in the economic fallout of the coronavirus. Winter in general can be a stressful time for many families as they confront hunger, higher utility bills and reduced work hours. This winter is shaping up to be so much harder.
“We’ve served more families for Thanksgiving that we have the past few years,” said Bluffton Self Help director Kim Hall. “It’s just the unknown right now, and that’s what we’re preparing for.”
The nonprofit, which provides financial and other assistance for people in Bluffton who are hurting, has seen requests for help increase by 35% since the COVID-19 pandemic set in, Hall said. She and other Beaufort and Jasper County nonprofit leaders expect this heightened demand to continue, or even increase, through the end of the year.
They cite a collision of factors: A spike in COVID-19 cases. Increased need during the winter months. And an end to several federal programs that helped those residents most in need during the pandemic.
On Dec. 26, two federal unemployment insurance programs — Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, which provides payments to freelancers and the self-employed, and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, which provides 13 additional weeks of benefits to people who have exhausted their state benefits — are set to expire. Congress has been unable to reach a deal for a new relief package since the CARES Act’s $600 weekly benefits expired in July.
Between the two programs, more than $586 million has been paid to unemployed South Carolinians, in addition to state unemployment benefits and other federal programs.
At year’s end, a moratorium on evictions put in place by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to reduce the spread of coronavirus will expire.
Brad Zervas, executive director of Lowcountry Legal Volunteers, said the organization expects the end of the CDC’s eviction ban this month to hurt many struggling families. Over the next few months, the agency plans to offer clinics explaining the law and unfair housing practices. Those who want more information should visit the organization’s website.
“We’re in really uncharted territory here,” Zervas said, noting the strain hybrid schooling is putting on working parents and the potential for stress to erupt into domestic violence.
“You’ve got a mom at home with three kids, and she hasn’t received child support since March. That’s not tenable,” he said. “These are the families right now that haven’t been able to pay their rent, and these are the families that have to put food on the table. The question is, ‘do I feed my children, or do I pay my rent?’ … Once that moratorium ends, then what?”
An increase in need
The need for food has increased dramatically during the pandemic.
Ponchitta Young, a board member at Agape Family Life Center, which offers health, wellness and education programs in Jasper County, said the center has seen a 35% increase in clients coming in for food since the pandemic began. She said the center tends to see more clients in the winter, not only for food, but also utility assistance and warm clothing and blankets.
“Whether they be homeless, unemployed, we just know there has been a greater need as a result of this pandemic,” Young said.
Lowcountry Food Bank, which serves 10 coastal counties, saw increased demand in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, said Brenda Shaw, chief development officer at Lowcountry Food Bank. She expects that to continue.
Feeding America, she said, projected a 39% increase in food insecurity in Beaufort County and a 25% increase in Jasper County between 2018 and October 2020. Feeding America estimated that 12% of Beaufort County residents and 15.3% of Jasper County residents lacked consistent access to healthy food in October, compared to 8.6% and 12.2%, respectively, in 2018.
And hunger, Shaw said, often precedes homelessness.
“The home is often the last thing people hold onto,” Shaw said. “They may be hungry a long time before they even lose their home.”
Cindy Ferguson, of Hilton Head, said she worried she would lose her home on the North end. A caregiver and devoted grandmother, Ferguson had been out of work for three weeks due to the flu.
“I didn’t know if we were going to have Christmas,” she said. “I do have my 6-year-old granddaughter ... She’s been messing with me the whole week, ‘Grandmother, put out the Christmas tree!’ I didn’t want to tell her that I didn’t know if we were going to have enough to pay the rent, or if we might have to pack up and leave.”
Then, she said, Deep Well Project came through with rental payment assistance, and they were able to stay. She’s hoping to find work by January.
It is unclear how many people are homeless in Beaufort County and how the pandemic may have exacerbated it. The most recent local data available, from 2019, indicated that Beaufort County had 126 homeless or transient individuals, as well as 939 “housing insecure” individuals — people about to become homeless or who were living with friends or family, said Ben Boswell, an administrative manager with Beaufort County Human Services.
One hopeful sign: Lynda Halpern, executive director of Family Promise, which places homeless families in Beaufort and Jasper counties in temporary shelter, said the shelter program is usually at capacity in the fall. Inexplicably, she said, it is not this year.
But with federal unemployment programs and the moratorium on evictions ending, Halpern said, “We do believe that we’re going to see a real increase in the number of calls we get.”
The path forward
Hilton Head has some advantages compared with other places, and that may help the area through the hard times, said Deep Well Project’s executive director, Sandy Gillis.
“We’ve had some positive perks with the tourism season continuing into fall,” she said. “That might continue to happen, which will help with the income situation. If we could have a mild winter, where people could be outside more and frankly get more tourists here, that could be a mitigating factor.”
What happens in Washington, D.C., Gillis said, is a “crapshoot.” But she said her organization is ready for whatever comes its way.
“Even though it is a dark picture, ... knowing what we’ve been through since March, I think we’re ready to battle it,” she said, “as one final push until we have vaccines.”
Still, Gillis and other leaders said the Lowcountry needs to stabilize housing and stem hunger. She pointed to the lack of workforce housing on the island as a long-term problem that can be felt right now. Others pointed out that Beaufort County lacks a designated homeless shelter.
Shaw and others said they’d like to see another relief package from Congress.
“The government should be doing more,” said Deloris Young, chief executive officer of Agape Family Life Center.
Zervas agreed. Government officials did not think far enough ahead.
“We better segregate some funding, and some resources and assets, to mitigate the problems, particularly with a number of families with whom we work,” he said.
Gillis called the next three months a “watershed” for determining how the area fares economically long term.
“Are we going to come through this with vaccines and go into the summer season in a big time recovery mode?” she asked. “Or are we going to be scrambling and fighting and trying to be figuring out a good path forward?”
This story was originally published December 4, 2020 at 11:51 AM.
