CDC Indicators Show Challenging Trends For Butler County

By Hannah Fierle

Miami University journalism student

Miami University’s campus is regarded by many as one of the most beautiful in the country. Its red brick roads and stately buildings are reminiscent of a posh school somewhere along the East Coast.

However, Miami is situated in Oxford, a community within rural Butler County. Miami’s predominantly white and middle class demographic creates a stark contrast with the demographic make up of Butler County.

Breaking down the Community Health Status Indicators for Butler County tells the story of an area that is faced with many socioeconomic challenges.

The CHSI is a 2015 report for all U.S. counties that ranked different indicators of a community's health, such as Heath Care Access and Quality, Health Behaviors, Social Factors, and Physical Environment. In its measurements, the CHSI compares areas to peer counties and groups the rankings into quartiles labeled Better, Moderate, and Worse.

Focusing on the CHSI’s Social Factors, Butler County residents experience high housing costs as well as high rates of poverty and unemployment, which contributes to poor socioeconomic health.

Two Sides Of Oxford

"Living in Oxford as a resident, I see both sides," says Bob Ratterman, director of the Oxford Food Pantry. "I see the more middle class student population, but there are people who come to the pantry who might have very serious economic problems."

The Oxford Food Pantry is a choice pantry that allows low-income households to come in and shop for food every two weeks, free of cost. The pantry is largely locally funded through donations and shipments from Shared Harvest Food Bank. Any households meeting federal income guidelines and located within the Talawanda School District are able to shop there.

"We see folks in all kinds of situations," says Ratterman. "Many of the households also qualify for food stamps and might only need to come once a month, while larger families with many children might need to rely more heavily on the pantry."

Ratterman estimates that about 300 households visit the pantry each month.

Alleviating Housing Woes

Outside of Oxford, poverty and unemployment is a problem particularly in the Hamilton and Middletown townships. The Butler Metro Housing Authority utilizes two types of programs to help alleviate high housing costs for low-income families.

"Overall, the socioeconomic health may be improving with bringing back jobs, but there are still some pretty big challenges in Hamilton and Middletown," says Ben Jones, director of Butler Metro.

Located in Hamilton, Butler Metro seeks to improve housing conditions for the whole county, while also focusing on areas most in need.

The first type of program is the Section 8 voucher that addresses the county as a whole.

The federal program supplements an individual’s rent, so the tenant pays what they can and Butler Metro pays the difference. When the individual finds a landlord willing to rent on a Section 8 voucher, the three parties sign a contract together.

Butler Metro currently has 2,423 Section 8 vouchers. This program allows tenants the flexibility to find a home anywhere in the county, or in some cases, anywhere in the state of Ohio.

The program's annual budget in Butler County is $13.5 million.

In addition, Butler Metro administers a public housing program which consists of 1,145 public units that are rented to low to moderate-income households.

Roughly half of the units are located in Hamilton, with the other half in Middletown. The program is currently at about 98 percent occupancy.

"By federal law, we house people who earn 0-80 percent of the median income," says Jones. "Unfortunately, sometimes we are working with people on the lower end of this spectrum."

Addressing A Different Set Of Challenges

Many of the clients who may need assistance from Butler Metro also struggle with the area’s unemployment and poverty. A local organization, Supports to Encourage Low-Income Families (SELF), helps the low-income population in finding career and family stability.

"It’s my belief based on my reading of the data that we have an affordable housing cost crisis in this country, not just locally," says Jeffrey Diver, the director of SELF. "We have people who can’t afford to pay more than 30 percent of their income paying 50 percent or more because housing is so unaffordable and this puts them in a tough financial spot."

Programs offered by SELF address a wide variety of challenges in the community, while recognizing that each household’s situation might be different. Whether an individual has been out of the workforce and may need new certification or training, needs reliable transportation to and from a job, or assistance with childcare for families with children, SELF helps families work toward financial stability.

But what Diver recognizes as the biggest challenge may be surprising to some.

"The biggest barrier that I see is a lack of confidence that a lot of our clients may have," says Diver. "Some have been out of the workforce for a long period of time, some maybe were formally incarcerated, maybe a family lost their primary breadwinner. So, what we try to do at SELF is help build that sense of confidence and provide encouragement that these families need."

This lack of confidence may also be attributed to the fact that many of the clients are in families experiencing generational poverty and may be lacking a strong support system.

While families and individuals of all ages and backgrounds may rely on SELF, a large proportion of the clients is single parents, typically women, with two or more children.

Bringing Light To An Area Overlooked

In describing the area's struggles, J.D Vance's popular memoir of growing up in Middletown, Hillbilly Elegy, has drawn additional focus to the area and similar communities.

"Vance’s grandparents, aunt, uncle, sister, and, most of all, his mother, struggled profoundly with the demands of their new middle-class life, and were never able to fully escape the legacy of abuse, alcoholism, poverty, and trauma so characteristic of their part of America," says a New York Times review of the book.

Though Ohio's unemployment rate has held steady at or near 5 percent since early 2015, the state faces an opioid epidemic and rural areas like Butler Country struggle to recruit businesses to locate there -- making the challenges described in Vance's memoir seem more potent and relevant than they would perhaps otherwise be.

Organizations like Oxford Choice Pantry, SELF, and Butler Metro work to mitigate those struggles and make life comfortable for everyone in Butler County, not just those who commit Oxford's red brick streets to memory.

Photo: Just minutes from Miami University sits the Miami Mobile Home Park on College Corner Pike. -- Photo by Hannah Fierle