Local challenges spotlighted in ‘Cost of Poverty Experience’

KOOTENAI — Dozens of community members met in Kootenai Wednesday for a game that isn’t meant to be enjoyed. 

Local nonprofit Community Resource EnVision Center collaborated with Community Action Partnership to host the “Cost of Poverty Experience”: a simulation designed to make participants aware of the multitudinous challenges faced by those living in poverty. 

“It's really intended to put yourself in the shoes of somebody who's not able to make ends meet and to learn empathy,” Katie Begalke, CREC executive director, said. “It's not meant to make you feel good, necessarily. It's meant to give you a big dose of reality of what people are facing.”

CREC has worked for 13 years to help financially strained residents pursue resources available to support them. The organization is based in Kootenai, but employs rural resource specialists to support the Bonners Ferry and Priest River areas.

In Wednesday’s simulation, participants were given unique sets of circumstances to navigate throughout the session, which was designed to represent several weeks of day-to-day life. Some found themselves unemployed and unable to work due to chronic illness; others had jobs but were tasked with caring for children while struggling to pay bills. 

Often, participants of the simulation would work to improve their circumstances and find themselves on the doorstep of stability until an unexpected cost created a cascade of events that led to the loss of their job or eviction from their home. 

Many of the simulation’s challenges reflect genuine strains in the community. According to a five-year estimate from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2022 American Community Survey, about one in six Sandpoint residents were in poverty. The USCB’s separate 2022 Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates Program estimated about one in eight Bonner County residents fell below the poverty threshold. 

“It really doesn't take much,” Begalke said. “It takes a medical bill, it takes an accident … and all of a sudden, some folks are coming to us for the first time and are shocked that they need to.” 

Among other factors, the simulation highlighted the burden of rent or mortgage payments for local low-income residents. 

According to the USCB, the median value of Sandpoint’s owner-occupied housing units from 2018-2022 was $410,200 — 21% higher than Idaho’s average. For the same period, Sandpoint’s median household income was $60,208 — 15% lower than Idaho’s average.  

“The biggest challenge low-income community members are facing is definitely affordable housing,” Begalke said. She reported that nearly 60% of CREC’s clients seek rental assistance or low-income housing options. 

The area’s high property costs also affect businesses and organizations. To combat that pressure, CREC provides office space in Kootenai for eight nonprofits at a subsidized rate and has plans to further reduce strain for charitable organizations. 

“Our really big initiative is to bring all of the nonprofits under one roof,” Begalke said. 

That way, everyone can save money by sharing equipment and utilities and residents seeking assistance “don't have to drive all around town, wasting their precious resources.” 

First and foremost, however, Begalke and CREC aim to continue to connect locals in need with Sandpoint’s array of nonprofits willing to lend a hand.

“We just get people connected to the right people, places and programs that are going to assist them to overcome their challenges,” Begalke said. “We want people to know that we're here for them.”