Difficulty Paying Expenses
With the end of monthly advances of the child tax credit and rising inflation, 34% of Americans had difficulty paying household expenses in March 2022.
Percent of adults having difficulty paying for usual household expenses
Adults in households where it has been somewhat or very difficult to pay for usual household expenses in the last 7 days
The end of stimulus and child tax credits combined with inflation meant 34% of Americans had difficulty paying household expenses in March 2022, up from 26% in April 2021. Fully 37% of Southerners reported difficulty paying usual household expenses in the last 7 days, compared to only 33% of non-Southerners. The three states with the highest percentage of adults reporting difficulty were in the deep South: 46% in Louisiana, 45% in Mississippi, and 42% in Arkansas.
Southern Economic Advancement Project’s (SEAP) November 2021 survey of 3,500 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and New Orleans, Louisiana, revealed that 52% had difficulty paying utility bills and 34% experienced challenges accessing or maintaining housing during Covid. More than half of respondents (55%) considered affordable housing to be their community’s greatest challenge, and 43% selected affordable utilities as the greatest challenge.1 State and local officials can speed the delivery of Emergency Rental Assistance funds by reducing documentation burdens and they can dedicate flexible ARP funds to rent and utilities assistance and eviction diversion programs to help ease constituents’ challenges making ends meet (Emergency Rental Assistance).
“Two years into the pandemic, Southern families’ struggle with housing weighs heavy as lawmakers begin ARP spending plans”. The Southern Economic Advancement Project. March, 2022. https://theseap.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/ARP-Survey-Release_March_2022.pdf