Hundreds of thousands of Oklahomans are entering the holiday season with anxiety of how they’ll pay for food, rent and common household expenses, new federal data shows.
The U.S. Census Bureau’s latest Household Pulse Survey which provides near real-time estimates of the nation’s social and economic state, paints a dire picture for many struggling months into the COVID-19 pandemic which has killed thousands and caused soaring unemployment rates.
Among the survey results:
• Less than half of Oklahomans said they have enough money to regularly buy the food they want
• One in three have no to little confidence they can afford rent next month
• More than 60 percent have had at least some problems making usual household expenses
The survey’s findings, which included responses between November 15 and December 7, comes as Congress approved a second COVID-19 stimulus bill which reportedly would include $600 payments to millions of Americans making less than $75,000 annually.
Here are three graphics which illustrate what many Oklahomans are experiencing. more Oklahomans are struggling with food insecurity than there were earlier this year.
The findings show only 46.2 percent of Oklahoma households regularly can afford enough of the type of food they want. That’s below the current national average of 51 percent and well below prepandemic levels when about 58 percent said they regularly had enough of the type of food they wanted in March.
The number of Oklahomans who said they often or sometimes don’t have enough to eat are also on the rise.
More than 462,400 households, about 16 percent of the state’s population, either sometimes or frequently does not have enough to eat, according to the survey’s projections. That is up nearly by nearly 115,000 Oklahomans compared to March.
More than half of the households who said they don’t have enough to eat during the latest survey period have at least one child.
More Oklahomans also are struggling with rent or housing costs than earlier this year.
The survey shows about 33 percent of households have no or a slight confidence they can make rent next month. That is up from just 25.8 percent in May.
Many homeowners also are struggling to make mortgage payments. Of the just more than one million households which don’t own their property free and clear, the survey shows 14 percent have no or a slight confidence in making their next payment, 23 percent are moderately confident and 61 percent have a high confidence.
The survey goes on to report 48 percent of renters are very or somewhat likely to leave their home due to eviction in the next two months while 26 percent of homeowners said they are very or somewhat likely to leave their home due to foreclosure in the next two months.
With thousands of Oklahomans struggling to pay for food and housing, it’s not a surprise many also have problems affording other expenses.
In response to a question which asked if they had difficulty paying for usual household expenses during the coronavirus pandemic, 18 percent said it has been very difficult, 24 percent said it’s been somewhat difficult and almost 19 percent said it’s been a little difficult.
Only 36.2 percent of respondents said they have not had any difficulty. But many of those reported they had higher income levels than others.
Of those who said they have had a very or somewhat difficult time, 32 percent said they have taken out credit cards or loans, 34 percent have borrowed from friends or family and more than 40 percent said they have had to use money from saving or from selling off assets to meet their needs.