Halpin Court is Ridgefield’s only privately built and owned low-income housing developments. The 25-unit complex has been open since 1991. The town has a poverty rate of 2.5% and an unemployment rate of 6.3% according to a 2012 Connecticut Economic Resource Center town profile. —Steve Coulter photo
Ridgefield — with its lavish mansions, pristine town center and nine-figure tax revenue — has not been synonymous with poverty.
However, in the wake of the economic collapse, there has been an increase in the town’s population that is living below, and slightly above, the poverty line.
“There are lots of people still struggling and that’s often due to job loss, which we’ve seen a lot of in the last five years,” said Karen Gaudian, the municipal agent for the elderly and town’s Social Services department administrator. “Finding work is pretty difficult and even the people who are fortunate to get a new job find out their new job is not the same caliber — the salary is not high enough…
“People don’t think we have a poor population but we do.”
According to the Connecticut Economic Resource Center (CERC) town profile released in 2012, Ridgefield has a 2.5% poverty rate. Based on that number, approximately 616 of its 24,638 residents are below the poverty line.
Comparatively, Fairfield County has a 8% poverty rate, while the rest of the state has a 9.2% rate.
Although the town sits well below the state’s poverty level, the result of poverty in town is similar to anywhere else, including families coping with impending house foreclosures.
“There’s the cost food and clothes, there’s medical expenses, there’s electric and heat bills, and the family can’t afford it all,” said Lisa Kuller, the clinical director of the Youth Service Bureau. “It creates problems for everyone in the family because in some cases, where the family is living below the poverty line, they don’t know where that night’s dinner is coming from.”
Family counseling
The Youth Service Bureau, which has been operating for 35 years, provides free counseling for families who can’t afford therapy otherwise.
“All the people we see have extreme financial difficulties,” she said. “If they can pay for therapy, we usually refer them elsewhere because with our time, we want to help those who can’t access therapy.
“Our goal is to help people get back on their feet, whether it’s teens with depression and anxiety issues or parents with their parenting problems.”
Ms. Kuller, who works part time in all five elementary schools, counsels individuals as well as whole families. She works on 20 cases in the office and 20 more in the schools.
“I’ve worked part time here for the last 12 years and now I work full time and there’s still not enough time to cover anything,” Ms. Kuller said.
While poverty seems to be increasing, First Selectman Rudy Marconi said the issue’s main propeller is job loss. The town has an unemployment rate of 6.3% — 758 residents, according to the CERC profile.
“Poverty is a relative term — I think what we’ve seen here is a rise in unemployment over the last five years,” he said. “Unfortunately, we can’t find jobs for people and that’s hurting us.”
Mr. Marconi said the town has seen improvement in unemployment numbers over the past two years.
“It’s nowhere near where it used to be prior to 2008, but we have seen improvement,” he said. “2009-2010 were the lowest years here, but it’s gotten better since then.”
Besides job loss, the other causes that bring individuals and families closer to the edge of poverty include medical bills, mortgage and rent payments, and heating and electric costs.
Divorce
However, divorce is the second largest factor contributing to poverty, according to both Ms. Kuller and Ms. Gaudian.
“Divorce tears families apart,” Ms. Kuller said. “When you have a single parent — doesn’t matter which one — raising all the kids, it becomes a struggle because there’s no longer that shared responsibility.”
Ms. Gaudian agrees.
“Divorce has a traumatic impact on a family economically — it causes families to lose their house and relocate, lose their cars and other possessions,” she said. “In some cases, they have to move out of Ridgefield because they can’t afford to live here and they must reduce their lifestyle.”
Ms. Kuller added that in most low-income, single parent cases, the mother ends up as the primary guardian, which changes the dynamic of the household.
“Moms have to come to terms with this identity shift where they go from being moms all day to being an employee who has to learn a craft and work all day and then come home to raise the children,” Ms. Kuller explained. “In these cases, the kids are equally affected because they don’t come home to mommy and they have to grow up more independent.”
Besides divorce, Ms. Kuller said three other factors can create single parent homes — mental disorder, alcohol addiction, and death. She has seen all of these.
In terms of extreme medical bills, she says these make up a minority of her cases but acknowledges that a severe medical crisis can damage a family financially as well as psychologically.
Ms. Gaudian believes this to be a “huge group” that factors into the town’s poverty because of the long, rolling cost of medical treatment.
“A traumatic medical expense, such as a car accident, or long-term disease, such as cancer, is devastating; families financially fall apart from it and sometimes are never able to recover,” she said.
The town can provide short-term help for families that suffer from these type of situations — it gives them cash to help pay medical bills so they don’t increase or incur debt. However, the financial support can’t be ongoing, and some 738 residents have made use of three different Medicaid assistance programs, according to the CERC profile.
With people facing home foreclosures, Ms. Gaudian said, the legal process can “go on for years,” which gives them a chance to find another job.
“If you miss a payment, they’re not going to throw you out next week,” she said. “However, missing a payment is terrifying — these are people fighting to keep their houses while they try to make ends meet.”
She said one of the problems the public faces is that even “affordable housing” isn’t affordable.
“It could be $1,400 a month, which is still very expensive,” she explained. “The town wants to increase these projects but they have to work out for the community at large.”
Elderly and disabled
In addition to those faced with the strains of divorce, medical expenses, and home foreclosures, the elderly and the disabled factor into the town’s poor population but they are qualified for long-term assistance that other groups can’t access.
Ms. Gaudian said the town provides this group with housing and transportation opportunities and services, as well as the food pantry and clothing donations.
“We’re here to advocate for them and we try to take care of them to the best of our ability,” she said.
Nonetheless, the situation remains dire for this group just as it does for younger individuals and families suffering from job loss, divorce and medical bills.
For the elderly, poverty can stem from a variety of other factors, Ms. Gaudian says.
One is that the individual does not have a retirement fund. They are “completely dependent on Social Security, which is not very much or not enough to live here.”
These people live on a fixed income while the cost of many needs — from groceries to oil — continues to soar. She said in most cases the low fixed income is around $1,000 a month.
“It’s tough to pay for everything with $1,000,” Ms. Gaudian said. “They’re not getting an increase in money while everything else goes up.”
According to CERC, the federal poverty levels in 2012 based on family size were: $11,170 for one, $15,130 for two, $19,090 for three, and $23,050 for four.
Ms. Gaudian noted that Connecticut Light and Power has programs for people struggling to pay their electric bills. The town’s social service department offers similar assistance.
“A big fear for seniors on fixed incomes is if they do not have enough to get through the month, they will forgo food and medications in order to pay their rent,” she said. “This is a very unhealthy and potentially dangerous practice — we’re here to make sure no one has to do this.”
Ms. Gaudian said more families are living just above the poverty line.
“Lots of people are on the edge of poverty,” she admitted. “They’re out of range, but not by much — it’s an extremely difficult spot to be in, but these people can also get assistance from the town and the state.”
Some of the problems these families face include whether or not a child can play a sport or go on a school field trip.
School lunches
The town offers several options to children living in these circumstances, including free or reduced lunches, free summer camp and an affordable day-care service for students under the age of 12.
Patricia Flynn, the bookkeeper for the food service department, said the district approved 120 students for free lunches and 24 for reduced-price lunches — less than 3% of students within the district — for the 2012-2013 school year.
“The increase in number of free and reduced lunches has been small percentagewise, but it’s been gradual,” Ms. Flynn said. “It’s the highest it’s ever been.”
The program began in the early 1960s.
A family can reapply for the program every year. In addition, families may apply any time during the school year if necessary.
The seven-part application focuses primarily on the household’s monthly income to see if the family qualifies for the program.
As long as a student qualifies, he or she can stay on the plan until graduation from high school.
Once in the program, the student’s identity is concealed and they can’t be overtly recognized. A student under the program can go to the cafeteria’s register “just like any student” and give their PIN number to receive a meal.
Ms. Flynn said about 70 high school students, the largest group in the district, get free or reduced-price lunches, consisting of an entree, a side dish, fruit and vegetables, and a milk.
The cost is reimbursed through federal funds, said Paul Henrickson, the business manager for the school district.