The ongoing cost of living crisis has not spared Whatcom County residents, and local service providers say they are seeing the effects.
Food banks face donation shortages and struggle to truck in food rescued from grocery stores due to spiking diesel prices.
At the Blaine School District (BSD), homelessness rates have gone up since COVID, reflecting a harsh economic climate for working families.
The Northern Light spoke with service providers from multiple agencies around Blaine and Whatcom County to see how helping working families and those facing homelessness has changed due to the current economic climate.
At the BSD Family Service Center, Director Julie Butschli has been connecting low-income and unhoused families with federal aid, grants and countless other methods of assistance — from Christmas presents to school supplies to housing referrals — since 2020.
Even compared to the zenith of the pandemic, she said, families are struggling more today.
One example of the needs that the Family Service Center is trying to meet come in the form of emergency gas vouchers. By law, the school district cannot give out standard gas cards, and has had to partner with one local gas station for emergency funds in case, for example, a student needs to go to the doctor in Bellingham and their family cannot afford the trip.
“The demand for gas vouchers is insane,” Butschli said. “If I didn’t limit it in some way, I would be handing them out every single day to multiple people, because it’s just so crazy.”
Butschli described one Blaine family living in their car, needing vouchers not just to get around, but to be able to run the engine overnight so they can have a heat source in the colder months.
Some families are living in one- or two-bed motel rooms since rental housing is “so expensive and elusive,” Butschli said.
Others move from campground to campground, two weeks at a time, unable to find consistent housing.
Butschli said multiple families have been connected to low-income housing. Others are being helped by local faith organizations. But those opportunities are hard won.
For every family she serves, it’s tough to narrow their individual cost of living crisis to a single source, Butschli said. It’s not just the price of gas, housing or insurance, but the combination of all those pressures adding up on a family. Butschli works with families facing homelessness, as well as middle class families who are struggling to stay afloat.
“Especially for our low-middle class (families), it’s, ‘What bill do I not pay? What bill can I go without at this point?’” Butschli said. “It’s really hard to pinpoint. Housing is not attainable. It’s not even that it’s not available, it’s that it’s not attainable.”
Those financial stressors "absolutely show up” in the attendance and performance of children facing housing insecurity, Butschli said.
Kids come to school more exhausted because of their chaotic living situations, and although the district provides free breakfast and lunch for low-income families and the federal government provides transportation for homeless students through the McKinney-Vento Act, just getting to school and being engaged in class can pose a major challenge.
“When I look at the complexity of my role juggling these pieces and coordinating all these variables with different agencies and departments within the school district, I think, ‘What in the world are these children juggling?’” Butschli said.
According to data from the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, since the 2022-23 school year, roughly 3% of the BSD student body identified as homeless at any point in the school year. That’s between 55 and 64 students, up from around 2%, or roughly 42 students, between 2018-19 and 2021-22.
In the current school year, 42% of the total student body identified as low-income.
As a percentage of the student body, the rate of homeless students in Blaine is similar to nearby school districts in Ferndale and Lynden, where rates have varied between 2% and 4%.
“Blaine School District absolutely prioritizes making sure kids can be included and experience what their peers are experiencing, regardless of their income,” Butschli said. “We’re trying to make sure that school is a safe haven for them.”
Another place where the impacts of the cost of living crisis can be seen is the Blaine Food Bank (BFB).
Known as one of the most well-equipped — and the most used outside of Bellingham — food banks in Whatcom County, Director Lisa Dobbin said the location has been dealing with a perfect storm of higher demand and higher operating costs over the past year.
The gas pump, once again, provides a perfect example.
BFB participates in the “Grocery Rescue” program where participating grocery stores donate fresh fruits, vegetables and proteins. The catch? BFB has to pick it up themselves, usually in Bellingham, and always with their diesel box trucks.
According to data from AAA, diesel prices in Bellingham are hovering around $6.50 per gallon. That’s down slightly from a month ago, but much higher than the average price from last year: a now-paltry $4.25 per gallon.
That means the box trucks that BFB rely on to bring in fresh food from participating grocery stores costs about 53% more to move compared to last year.
“Our trucks are on the road seven days a week,” Dobbin said. “The price of diesel being what it is — it’s horrifying. Fortunately, the amount of food we get through the rescue program certainly outweighs the cost that we’re having to spend on that fuel. But we’d love to have that additional money to be able to put towards food rather than fuel.”
While operating costs are increasing, demand is higher than ever, Dobbin said.
The food bank provides about 800 meals every week to needy families, serving more than 10,000 people every month. That’s up significantly, Dobbin said, from previous years.
Echoing what Butschli said, BFB customers who speak with Dobbin haven’t highlighted one specific, a spiking bill that’s caused this moment of need, but rather a tidal wave of economic factors hitting them all at once.
“It's the combination of all of it. People are just overwhelmed with all of the increases,” Dobbin said.
The increase in demand comes with new people looking for assistance. Dobbin described seeing more new faces each week over the past year, with many working families showing up for the first time.
“ I think the biggest change that we’ve seen is (serving) working families that used to be able to make ends meet, but they can’t now,” Dobbin said. “They’re looking at whether or not they’re going to feed their families or pay for their medication or pay for their car insurance ...For me, it’s just about giving back to the community and (asking), ‘What can we do to help these families get back to where they can survive on their own.’”
Have rising costs affected the way you live? The Northern Light wants to hear your story. Please email news@daffodilpress.net or call 360-332-1777.
