Travis County Commissioners Court
February 14, 2006
Item 33
33. Receive reports from health and human services and veterans service staff on american community survey and 2005 Travis County human service non-profits survey. This is different than the backup that we were previously provided.
>> it was the same.
>> media we need some assistance in here with the computer thing. I fleaf this is our final item today for -- I believe this is our final item today for health and human services. The other one went consent.
>> 27 had things that I need to abstain on.
>> I’ll see if I can do my intro while we are getting set up here. Sherri flemming, good afternoon, Commissioners, judge Biscoe. Health and human services one of the roles that it plays for -- for the court is to -- through our research and planning division monitor community conditions and provide information to the court and the community about changing community needs. And one of the ways that we do that is by -- by monitoring data collected through the american community survey, which is a product of the u.s. Census bureau. The report that we will be presenting you experts from today -- excerpts from today is our second annual analysis of this data. In a few cases we have used additional information, or data to make the information a little bit more meaningful in those areas where the -- there may have been a smaller sample used and more opportunity for fluctuation. Taken together, this complimentary data sets -- brings forward information that we think is very timely and useful information on the -- on the changing demographics in Travis County. I have with me today corey -- corin darling the lead writer, she will briefly take you through first the american community survey and the demographic changes that are reported and then we will go into our non-profit survey, which is also an annual analysis of factors that are impacting the social services community in Travis County.
>> > on this slide it has some of the key demographic data that we have in Travis County. First of all the age structure in our community looks like it is really beginning to shift. The fastest growing segment is 45 to 60 for -- 64-year-olds, followed by 65 and older, children under 18 who now comprise over one quarter of Travis County's population, we think this is an important trend to watch, because although our community currently really has a high percentage of working age residents, growth some of the younger and older population indicates this may change in upcoming years. Additionally Travis County is becoming more ethnically diverse. It's likely soon that no single ethnic group will comprise more than one-half of the total population. Our diversification is characterized by growth in the hispanic and also in the asian populations. Finally, language trends show that an overall increase in residents who speak a language other than english at home, those who speak english less than very well and also students enrolled in bilingual education. This slide shows the educational attainment of adults in Travis County. As we know, education is an important indicator of both the individual as well as the community level. For an individual we know that education translates into greater job opportunity and greater life long self sufficiency. Also on a community level, economic prosperity is dependent on a sufficiently educated and skilled workforce. High levels of educational at tapement really -- attainment really do remain a great asset for community as seen in the data. As the 2004 more than 50% of residents 25 or older have completed at least an associate's degree. This is up from about 48% in 2000. Additionally when compared to the national average of 27% and the Texas average of 25.6%, 44.3% of Travis County residents have completed a bachelor's degree. So that's pretty significant. However american community survey data does point to one growing challenge, which is the number and percent of residents with less than a ninth grade education is actually growing, from about 5.5% in 2000 to about 7.1% in 2004. In terms of income it shows a widening income gap in the Travis County community. As seen in the chart on the slide, the percentage of households with middle range incomes, which we have defined with this analysis is 25,000 to 99,000, decreased between 2000 and 2004 while those making less than 25,000, also those making more than 100,000 increased. On a related issue to income, poverty in 2004, the data showed that 106,765 Travis County residents or about 12.6 percent lived in households with incomes below the poverty line. This is 93 -- the 310 for an individual or 18,850 for a family of four. Additionally 57,470 Travis County public school students or 48 pony 5% were considered economically disadvantaged in the 20032004 school year. These are actually children who lives in families where the incomes are at 185% of the poverty level or below. The last issue that I will touch on briefly is housing affordability. According to the u.s. Department of h.u.d., housing ununaffordable when more than 30% of income is spend on housing expenses. Households who spend a large percentage of their incomes on housing, of course, have difficulty meeting other basic needs such as food and medical bills, are likely to have fewer resources which could put them at greater risk for homelessness. The american community survey data shows that affordable housing continues to be a significant issue in Travis County. The chart shows an overall increasing trend of both renters as well as mortgage holders spending more than 30% of the -- on housing costs. When compared to both the Texas as well as the national averages, a greater percentage of Travis County households face housing affordability challenges.
>> so what's included in housing?
>> housing expenses include the cost of the rent or the mortgage as well as taxes, insurance and utilities.
>> okay. In summary the american community data shows that the age structure as well as racial and ethnic composition of the community is changing. The community appears to be becoming more in terms of implications for us in social services as well as for the community at large, [reading graphic] a recent report by the economic policy institute and the center on budget and policy priorities discusses some of these impacts. For example, research cited in this report indicates increased income and equality could be linked to increased crime victimization, higher mortality rates and poorer health within a community. Additionally the report suggests that as the divide grows among families at different income levels and fewer and fewer families fall in the middle, families belonging to any one group may have less contact and familiarity with the problems faced by other groups. This in turn can lead to a decreasing level of shared commitment to addressing community-wide issues or problems. Housing is also another example, economic growth can of course lead to more demand for housing and consequently higher housing prices. However the increase in income from middle and especially low income families tend not to keep up with the pace of increased housing costs, thus the limited supply of affordable housing ... [reading graphic] the finally implication of changing dem graphs is that growth mopping some of the populations, most likely to need social services especially the youngest, oldest and low income populations will likely increase the demand for educational supportive, health and emergency services, our next steps for this report is basically just to share and December semi - disseminate the information, [reading graphic]
>> it's important also to note that this data was collected prior to hurricanes s katrina and rita. Next year we would look forward to be able to have that piece of information to quantify some of this data. Our next report is an annual report that draws upon input from our social service goes partners in the community. And in basically is a measure of their experiences with regard to use much their services, responsiveness of volunteers, and their budgets and ability to -- to raise funds.
>> sherri already touched on a few of the purposes. Basically the survey offers an opportunity to assess conditions in southerly service delivery, including the demand for services and the status of collective resources. Offers us an opportunity to gather information about emerging trends or issues that may impact service delivery. An example of this can be the effective new legislation what impact that might have on service delivery. Additionally offers an opportunity to identify and engage additional non-profit organizations. This year we sent via e-mail, the survey was sent to 213 non-profit agencies. This recipient list was updated from 2004 when there had been an effort to expand the list to include as many non-profits as possible. 78 agencies responded to the survey. So our response rate was 37%. The majority of respondents represent large or medium organizations, 43% of the agencies had budgets more than one million. 56% are a city or county contractor, 72% participate in a [indiscernible] issue area group. The survey results really do show that the demand for services continues to rise in our community. 86% of respondents report an increase in demand for services since the same time last year. Respondents also provided qualitative data about an increased demand due to the recent influx of hurricane evacuees, as shown in the slide basic needs are most frequently requested, followed by mental health care and education. While 81% of providers experienced an increase in demand, capacity to meet this demand appears to gradually be increasing when compared to recent years. [reading graphic] however, despite gradually increasing capacity, some clear challenges remain as providers work to keep up with increasing need. [reading graphic] next steps from the survey. Use as only outreach tool to provide additional information to non-profit respondents. Finally just to really look at ways to build and improve the survey to collect the most useful and informative data. Bottom line about the second survey is that we would use the information to help us decide how to fund different services? Identify services that needed, two how to fund them, three how to collaborate with the non-profit agencies.
>> that would be correct, judge. I think it's one of many sources that I know health and human services calls upon in trying to help the court be informed by its investment choices.
>> hum. What isn't on here is a summary of the programs that we fund and how well they are doing. We have always of bemoaned the fact that we haven't done a good job of utilizing resources that could be used elsewhere. But in order to do that, we need to know what impact the different investments are having. I know this survey was not intended to do that. Right? But that is -- that is an important question. That seems to me that every budget cycle we ought to look at and if -- if every agency is performing well and every contract is delivering on the commitment, I would be the first to raise my hand and say let's keep on keeping on. But I do wonder from time to time whether a redirection of available resources wouldn't enable us to have a lot more positive impact in some cases.
>> I think that is certainly an interesting question, judge. I think, also, I think it brings to light the tremendous effort that we have made in these areas, but also the tremendous work that continues to -- to need to be done to -- to look at the root causes of some of these conditions among other -- our residents and in our community.
>> okay. Anything further on this item?
>> very informative, thanks.
>> thank you very much.
>> did a good job.
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Last Modified:
Wednesday, February 15, 2006 11:17 AM