Difficulty paying rent expected to be revealed again through community survey
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In order for nonprofit groups such as the Westmoreland Community Action Agency to respond to the needs of county residents, they need a firm handle on what those needs are.
“If someone says they live in New Kensington and they’re having to travel 20 minutes for child care, we know that we need to try and put more services closer to where they live,” said Toni Antonucci, director of advancement and development at Westmoreland CAA.
The agency has set a goal of 1,000 respondents for this year’s survey.
“We fell short of our goal last year, and we’re trying to raise awareness this year so we can meet it,” Antonucci said.
The survey will be open until the end of November, and asks residents to assess their access to child care, medical coverage, food, housing, utilities, transportation, education and employment.
Antonucci said responses from parents of young children can help the agency determine where the need is for programs such as Head Start and pre-kindergarten.
Agency officials can use the information from surveys to help build programming that better responds to residents’ needs.
Results from last year’s survey indicated the difficulty that some renters are having with payments. Based on the county’s median rental cost of $699 per month, more than 45% of renters are spending upwards of 30% of their income on housing costs.
“That means housing is largely unaffordable for 45.4% of residents who are renting,” Antonucci said. “With the rising cost of housing, we anticipate that unaffordability will increase.”
Information gleaned from the survey can help agency officials determine if they need to allocate more for programs such as SMART (Supported, Manageable, Affordable Renting for Teens) Housing, which targets youth ages 18-24 who are part of the Westmoreland County Children’s Bureau’s Independent Living program.
Antonucci said agency officials also continue to be surprised at how many county residents can only access the internet via a cellphone, as well as the ongoing need for better public transportation.
“Folks are spread out across rural areas, and in pockets of small towns and suburban neighborhoods, making transportation a challenge to solve,” she said.
Westmoreland CAA has 26 programs aimed at reducing poverty by connecting residents with local resources.
“Understanding the needs of the community is imperative to helping us design programs to meet those needs,” said agency CEO Mandy Welty Zalich. “We want to hear from everyone. This survey is a valuable tool to make that happen.”
The survey is available through the Survey Monkey website at SurveyMonkey.com/r/WMDFQGH.
For more, see WestmorelandCA.org.