The recession hits homes
Tuesday, May 5th, 2009
More than half of the adults in Philadelphia are having trouble paying their bills. That's according to a new survey from the Public Health Management Corporation. The nonprofit's data show the majority of Philadelphians having trouble paying for housing and utilities live in eight Philadelphia neighborhoods.
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More than 60% of the community is struggling in Southwest Philadelphia, Upper North Philadelphia, Olney, Oak Lane and the Bridesburg/Kensington/Port Richmond area, according to the survey.
Claudia Sherrod is from the non-profit organization South Philadelphia H.O.M.E.S., Inc., a neighborhood that's also high on the list. She says during the 30 years she's worked there, things have gotten worse.
Sherrod: Drugs just really tore our community down and then they've taken a lot of these people out of the high rise buildings, you know people who are on welfare, and then they put them out into the communities and they didn't train 'em. They didn't educate them to what need to be done in order for them to survive.
Sherrod says there are resources for people who are struggling – they just need to be willing to ask for help.