Poverty in the suburbs

The suburbs are a location, not a lifestyle.

They don't guarantee green lawns or roomy homes or shiny cars, Trayce Davis knows.

Davis is one of about 367,000 people living in poverty in suburban Cook, Lake, DuPage, Kane and McHenry counties, according to a comprehensive report on poverty in Illinois made public today by the Heartland Alliance.

"We live in the suburbs, it means nothing. It's just a word," Davis said. "We are here struggling just like everybody else, and wow, man, it devastated me for a minute. I was like, 'I live in the suburbs. I moved away from the city to get some help, but the struggle goes on.' "

More Coverage Video Trayce's story

Here's what the suburbs look like for Davis:

She lives in a two-bedroom apartment in Zion with her boyfriend, two sons and stepson. Rent runs $725 a month, "with nothing included," Davis said.

She qualifies for subsidized housing, but continues to languish on multiple waiting lists that she's been on since moving to Lake County four years ago.

She's fortunate to be on the lists at all. Nine of the 12 Public Housing Authorities in the Chicago region that offer housing vouchers have waiting lists that are closed, the study found.

Davis doesn't own a car, so she takes the bus everywhere: to the grocery store, the temp agency, the water park where she works once a week, the Department of Health and Human Services for food stamps. "And God forbid something happens at school, and I have to go pick the kids up. I have to call someone and have them pick me up and take them home."

Davis figures she's doing well if her first check of the month covers the rent. "Then I can see my way a little bit and don't have to worry so much. I can take the other check then and pay the light bill and the food bill and all."

About a quarter of all renters in the suburbs also put that first check toward housing, the report found. Nearly 27 percent of renters in suburban Cook County and 22 percent of renters in the collar counties spend more than half their income on shelter.

Davis's life is a litany of tough choices: electricity bill or cable? Heat or food? Get to the temp agency at 5 a.m., because the early bird gets the job? Or help get the kids off to school?

"It's real hard, because my pay is like $8, $8.50 an hour. That's two-hundred-some a week. It's like, man, how can I do this?"

Some choices aren't really a choice.

"I haven't ever been in a position to be real choosy about where I work," Davis said.

With no high school diploma, she's hopped from temporary, minimum-wage job to temporary, minimum-wage job -- at IHOP, Cracker Barrel and Good Will, to name a few. Now she works one day a week at a water park, the most hours they can give her during the off-season.

For Davis, part-time employment is a full-time job.

"I just go to work and work until the assignment is over, and then I look for something else," Davis said. "You want a job, you better be (at the temp agency) when the doors open at 5. I've got to get my 30 to 40 hours a week, because I've got to live."

The numbers

Increasingly, the way Davis lives is the way other suburban residents live, the report found.

Between 1980 and 2006, the poverty rate increased by 91 percent in suburban Cook County and by 26 percent in the collar counties. The poverty rate in Chicago grew by a more modest 4 percent.

The suburbs now account for 42 percent of the region's poor population, up from 24 percent in 1980.

For a family of four, the federal government defines poverty as living on less than $21,200 a year. The figure varies for families of different sizes.

"One of our most dramatic findings was that the number of people who are poor has grown dramatically in the suburbs," said Amy Rynell, who co-authored the report. "There's a lot more dispersion of people with low incomes."

Working and poor

Like Davis, 210,000 Chicago-area residents living below the poverty line have a job, the report found. The challenge for most isn't finding work, but finding work that pays a living wage.

"People want to work," said Maureen Murphy of Lake County Catholic Charities. "Very few people are on welfare roles any longer, but they're still experiencing poverty. Working at Burger King, you can't afford housing."

One-third of all jobs in northeastern Illinois are low-wage service jobs, the study said. These minimum-wage jobs have replaced high-wage service and manufacturing jobs, a recent report by Northern Illinois University found.

Indeed, between 2000 and 2006, median annual household income in real dollars declined by $4,877 in Cook County, $8,470 in DuPage, $8,077 in Kane, $5,871 in Lake, and $6,498 in McHenry, the study found.

Meanwhile, the report found, "prices of vital household necessities escalated exponentially." Food costs increased by 15.4 percent, medical care by 31.2 percent, energy by 60 percent and gasoline by 93 percent.

Though many of the figures cited in the report date back to 2006, the report's authors stress that current economic trends have only exacerbated their findings.

Social service workers confirm the claim, saying they're seeing more and more working poor who need help.

"Most of them are working, but most of them have reduced hours," said Ann Rodriguez of Elgin Family Services. "We see lots of people who make good money, but because of reduced hours they can't make it."

Darlene Marcusson, executive director of St. Charles-based Lazarus House, said she's noticed similar trends.

About 75 percent of the people who receive temporary housing or other assistance from her organization have a job, she said. "The good news is they're working. The bad news is they're working and it's not enough."

Many of these people don't have much room for error.

At least 15 percent of people in each collar county do not have sufficient net worth to subsist at the poverty level for three months, the study found.

"People are in need," said Candace King, executive director of the DuPage Federation on Human Services Reform. "My office is in the welfare office. I call it the parking lot scale: If I come in and can't find parking space, things are bad."

For her part, Davis doesn't need any indicators or reports to know that people in the suburbs are struggling.

"We're just people trying to live one day at a time and be productive members of society and pay our bills and go on with life," she said.