Tuesday, Aug. 04, 2009

More seeking public assistance

Thomas O’Neal doesn’t like to depend on other people.

In the past, the Johnston County man earned enough as a carpenter to pay the bills and buy food. But when the housing market collapsed, what used to be steady work slowed to a crawl, and O’Neal, 35, struggled to support his 8-year-old son.

So O’Neal, who has been a full-time carpenter since he finished high school 18 years ago, asked for help. To bridge the gap until he finds work, he applied for Medicaid and food stamps through the county’s Department of Social Services.

“You hope that it won’t be able to get this bad, but anything’s possible,” O’Neal said.

In Johnston and Wake counties, a rising tide of residents is asking for help. As more workers lose their jobs, officials say, they are struggling to provide health care for their families and put food on the table.

And the increased need is putting a strain on the counties’ social services departments, officials say.

The number of Johnstonians using food stamps is higher than ever. About 17,000 people — more than 10 percent of the county’s population — are now in the food and nutrition program. That’s a 28 percent jump in use since 2007.

About 58,000 people in Wake County are receiving food stamps. That’s an increase of about 32 percent from two years ago. In Wake, which has a population of more than 866,000, more than 74,000 people are receiving Medicaid benefits. That compares to about 61,000 in 2007.

The influx of people who need help takes a toll on social services departments, officials said.

“With the caseloads growing like they are, we have to work overtime,” Earl Marett, director of Johnston County Social Services, told county commissioners recently.

The eight workers in the Wake County Human Services customer-support center field about 60,000 calls a month, said Daniel Jones, manager of the center.

Only a little more than half of the calls get answered, and some people are put on hold for about 30 minutes until a worker can take the call, Jones said. Many people who can’t get through on the phone end up going to the office to ask about services.

Jones said the call center would need at least 17 workers to personally answer all the calls. “We’re doing the best we can,” he said. Demand for help is so great in Johnston that the department has used federal stimulus money to pay overtime for its staff.

Money for food programs comes from the federal government, while counties, the state and the federal government fund Medicaid, the health-insurance program for the poor.

Overall, about 45,000 people, turn to social services; most get help with food or medicine.

“Food stamps has grown more this year than any of the other programs,” said Betty Barnes, an administrator with Johnston social services. “We’re seeing all kinds of folks.”

Recently, an X-ray technician and a hospital social worker came through Barnes’ office.

In Wake County, workers recently laid off from six-figure jobs are calling social services, Jones said.

The growth in aid programs hasn’t been just because of the recession. The number of Johnstonians getting help has more than doubled in a decade when the county’s population grew by only a third.

Barnes said the increase in people getting help is partly because of expanded programs and wider eligibility.

When O’Neal decided to ask for help, he had hoped only to get health insurance and enough food stamps for his son. But the agency was able to help him too.

As a contractor, O’Neal is a victim of the slowdown in homebuilding. When his carpentry work fell off so badly about a year ago, he took a job working with concrete. But that job ended too.

Because he doesn’t have computer skills or a college degree, Johnston County’s 10.4 percent jobless rate is even less forgiving. O’Neal hopes he won’t need the help much longer. Meanwhile, he spends his time hunting for jobs, working in his yard and playing with his son and his girlfriend’s son. Some days, he helps out his grandmother, Iva O’Neal.

“I’ve been out of work before, but you don’t go a month without a job,” O’Neal said. “I’m willing to do what I need to do, but there’s no work out there.”