I fear that single people who are not seniors and who have no children are among the most underserved populations in the United States. When they are in need, they may have more trouble getting help than seniors or families that include children.
In Canada, researchers have already documented that those single people are in fact the “forgotten poor,” as I will explain below. I don’t know for sure whether the same is true in the U.S. I have asked members of Unmarried Equality, Fairness for Single People, and the Community of Single People about their experiences, and I will share some of their answers here, focusing on the ones from the U.S., since I’m writing this for Unmarried Equality.
I am sharing what I found not as a definitive statement but as a call to action. My hope is that journalists, advocates, and social scientists will research this issue more systematically, and publish their findings, as has already been done in Canada.
The Language of Families Is Pervasive. Is It Just Talk?
I’ve been concerned for a long time about working-age solo single people. I worry when I hear the language of families. As I lamented previously, “On the political left and right, at all levels of government, in the media, the marketplace, the workplace, the medical establishment, in places of worship, in popular culture, and in every other nook and cranny of our everyday lives, everyone is so very concerned about couples and families. Especially ‘working families.’”
If it is just talk, it should stop, for all the reasons I already described. But if it is more than talk – if solo single people who are not seniors have less access to the help they need than everyone else, then the matter is more serious still.
Previously, I summarized Census Bureau data showing that single people are more likely to be food insecure, but less likely to get the food they need. In an inspiring report, Ellen Worthing described her own challenges and what she did to create real change in her city, resulting in greater availability of food for thousands of other single people (scroll to the end of this article).
Working-Age Singles with No Children Are Canada’s “Forgotten Poor”
In Canada, the situation for solo singles who are not seniors is clear:
“Working-age single persons without dependents are disproportionately represented among the ranks of the poor, and often struggle to meet their basic needs on incomes far below the poverty line. These individuals are Canada’s ‘forgotten poor’ because they are often left out of poverty reduction plans that focus on seniors or families with children.”
Researchers Dean Herd, Yuna Kim, and Christine Carrasco systematically examined the characteristics of 69,000 singles receiving assistance in Toronto. Among their findings:
- The singles getting assistance include people across the educational spectrum. The number of people who have some post-secondary credentials, for example, is about the same as those who have not completed high school.
- They aren’t just young men (though I think young men are just as deserving of the help that they need as anyone else). Nearly 4 in 10 are women, and about the same number are over the age of 45.
The report concludes that “income support for people living in poverty, like social assistance, tax credits, and supplementary benefits, is much less generous for singles than for families with children.”
In the U.S., Are Working-Age Singles without Children Having a Harder Time Getting the Help They Need?
Here are some of the responses I received when I asked single people what is happening in the places where they live. Again, my hope is that reporters, advocates, and social scientists will look into this more systematically, to verify and document more of the details and determine just how widespread particular practices and policies may be.
- “In Denver, the city has a program to get $4000, for whatever purpose you need, now. The only criterion? Earn under $70,000 and have a dependent. If the dependent requirement were gone, I wouldn’t be broke.”
- “The last time I checked, public housing had units for people with children, the elderly, and the disabled. There were no units available for single people who weren’t elderly.”
- “You couldn’t apply for Medicaid until the Health Care Act passed. That’s still true in states that did not vote for Medicaid expansion. In North Carolina, you have to have kids, be pregnant, over 65, or have certain disabilities, to qualify for Medicaid.”
- “Many utility assistance programs require TANF, SNAP, or SSI for some member of the family. This applies to my state. No kids, no TANF. SNAP is limited to a few months for childless people. SSI basically requires a disability, with few exceptions. For multiple-person families, if one person collects any of these benefits, they qualify for utility assistance. Singles are more likely to be left in the cold and dark. Failure to keep utilities on will then turn into eviction and one more homeless person.”
- A person from West Virginia reported being “rejected for aid for electric bill because I had no children nor married.”
- “I have used the SNAP program (formerly food stamps) and I was given $192 a month for food benefits; no cleaning products, no toilet paper, no other basics. Families with children got an additional allowance for those things.”
- “Nor are any benefits given to help you feed your pets (on SNAP).”
- “I just checked to see if I could register for free food as a single adult in my town. Luckily, I would be able to if I claimed an emergency, but the location would be very far and I hear the wait is hours long.”
- A food bank in Alabama advertised a matching gift for the holidays: “Your gift of $25 will double to $50 to help us provide up to 400 meals for hungry children and families.”
- “Another example worth exploring might be escaping domestic violence. People with children often get different opportunities for respite compared to singles purely because of the number of people requiring shelter.”
- “Many of us are losing members of our Found Families to the pandemic, but our grief will not be taken as seriously as if they were a partner or parent/child. This includes both formal/legal measures such as time off for funerals, and emotional measures like being brought meals or being asked to help sort through possessions.”
- “This also shows up in group therapy. You’re way more likely to find a group for widows or bereft parents than your best friend or Found Family member (unless you start using substances).”
Sometimes help is available for working-age solo single people, but it takes extra effort to track it down. For example, the home page of my local food bank proclaims that they are “transforming the health of Santa Barbara County through fresh produce and essential foods, nutrition knowledge, and education for children, families and seniors.” Sometimes the only donate buttons on the page are for programs for children, families, or seniors. I’ve always been able to get a work-around by contacting someone at the food bank, but that should not be necessary. This month, for the first time, when I clicked the Donate button, I found this (I’m adding the emphasis): “Families, seniors and individuals in Santa Barbara County who need assistance are facing a supply shortage this season.”
The Good News
A few single people said they have had no trouble getting the help they need. Some, though, are relying on informal help from friends, relatives, and neighbors, or they have come up with inventive solutions, such as bartering.
Several people mentioned something I’ve noticed, too: awareness of food insecurity among college students seems to be growing, along with attempts to address the issue. Many college students are working-age solo singles.
Others noted that requirements have been enforced less stringently during the pandemic. For example, one person observed that “some of the places giving out food right now literally aren’t asking any questions, but in pre-COVID times, a food insecure single adult would be very food insecure.” Another person who volunteered at a nonprofit community center said she saw no evidence that singles were excluded from food distribution.
With more attention to this issue, maybe the good news about solo singles in need of help will start outweighing the bad. Single status should never be a risk factor for poverty, hunger, untreated illnesses, unheated homes, houselessness, abuse, or neglect.
I am very grateful to Ellen Worthing for her important work in effecting social change and for the heads-up about the report from Canada. Many thanks, too, to “cdt” and all the other single people who looked into the options in their area or described their own experiences. A few more things: (1) The opinions expressed here do not represent the official positions of Unmarried Equality. (2) I’ll post all these blog posts at the UE Facebook page; please join our discussions there. (3) For links to previous columns, click here.
About Bella DePaulo
