Nearly half of San Antonians either cannot cover basic expenses or are one financial emergency away from not being able to afford necessities, according to a new local community survey.
The city’s “community wellbeing survey,” collected over two months between mid- November 2022 and late January 2023, informed a portion of the city’s latest Status of Poverty Report, which also collects U.S. Census Bureau statistics regarding the population living under the federal poverty level.
That statistic roughly tracks with a 2021 report that found 46% of households in Bexar County couldn’t afford essentials such as housing, child care, food, transportation, health care and a basic smartphone plan, according to wage advocacy organization United for ALICE.
While the city’s poverty rate has slightly decreased as San Antonio has grown over the last decade — from 18.6% between 2013 and 2017 to 17.7% between 2018 and 2022 — more than 250,000 residents still live at or below the Census Bureau’s poverty line.
Those five-year American Community Survey figures differ from the one-year estimates that the Bureau releases every year. The 2022 one-year poverty rate estimate for the city was 18.7%.
“It is very disappointing,” City Councilman John Courage (D9) said after the council’s Planning and Community Development Committee received a staff presentation about the report Thursday. “We haven’t moved the needle. And I think we need to be looking at more ways that the community — not just the city government — but the community as a whole can be more invested in helping people find a way out of poverty.”
Of the more than 250,000 San Antonians living at or below the poverty line, more than half are under the age of 18, Councilwoman Adriana Rocha Garcia (D4) noted.
For a family of three with two adults and one child, in 2022 that means an annual income of $23,556. For an individual, that’s $15,225, according to the Census Bureau.
The report contains “sobering information,” said Rocha Garcia, who chairs the committee. “Those highly vulnerable demographics, children, older adults, African Americans and people with disabilities … are always at the top of the list. I just want to make sure that we have some sort of an action plan.”
While the proportion of children under age 5 living in poverty decreased by 2.6%, to about 27%, the proportion of adults 65 and older increased slightly by 1.5%. Black residents continue to disproportionally experience poverty, making up 23% of people living in poverty, despite making up 6.6% of the city’s population. Single women still lead a majority, nearly 53%, of households living in poverty.
Of the five major Texas cities, San Antonio has the second-highest poverty rate, after Houston’s 19.6%, a detail city staff emphasized at least twice.
Meanwhile, median income growth in San Antonio lagged behind the state and the U.S. overall.
The city’s first Status of Poverty Report was completed in 2019 and was used to guide spending priorities during the height of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 as well as the affordable housing implementation plan in 2021 and the city’s historic $150 million housing bond approved in 2022, said Patrick Steck, assistant human services director. The report was updated in 2022 using 2015-2022 Census estimates.
“I’ve heard from various community members how they have accessed it online, used it for grant writing or pulling statistics on our community,” Steck said. “So it’s been a valuable resource.”
The report makes several general recommendations for future investments — including an emphasis on services for the most vulnerable residents and enhancing coordination with and referrals to service providers — and one more specific one; to engaging a newly established “social lab” with the Department of Human Services to analyze local poverty trends.
This team will look at “how we can really make small adjustments with our programs operationally to better serve the most vulnerable residents,” Steck said. “We’re looking to bring together the data and the frontline experts.”
The committee also received Tuesday an update on the city’s digital one-stop “housing stability portal,” one of the many initiatives aimed at decreasing poverty in San Antonio. The portal, operated by San Antonio Community Resource Directory (SACRD) is slated to launch in April.
Unlike the Housing Base website, which allows people to search a limited inventory of available housing, the SACRD portal will connect social workers, librarians, outreach workers and anyone in need of supportive housing services such as rental or eviction assistance, home repair, housing counseling or relocation services, said Veronica Gonzales, assistant director of the housing department.
The portal is still undergoing development and feedback will continue to be collected before and after launch to improve its functionality, she added.
About 70% of current SACRD users are “professional users,” said Bill Neely, executive director of the nonprofit. “These are people that are using the site on behalf of someone else, as part of their job or as volunteers.”
While a large swath of the population doesn’t have internet access, Neely expects the portal will continue to be used by professionals and residents alike to help others find critical resources. Over the past year, more than 1,000 people have taken training courses on how to use SACRD.org., he said.
“We don’t intend for SACRD to replace the in-person interaction, we intend to make it more efficient,” Neely said.
