In N.Va., Let Down By a Rising Economy

The descent from working class to homeless was swift and methodical. Rob Messick lost his job as a contract worker for a technology firm in Alexandria in September. The bills, already high, piled higher: rent, child support, car insurance, medical expenses, utilities. The odd jobs he scored didn't keep pace. The eviction notice arrived in November.

A few miles away and three weeks later, Messick's girlfriend, Toni Willingham, soon to be the mother of his child, also found herself jobless. Her position at a government contracting firm dried up. Then she lost the $200-a-month room she was renting. ...

Although northern Virginia has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, tens of thousands of its jobs are contract work, where moderate income employees such as Messick and Willingham are at the mercy of employment that can end suddenly and disappear forever. Often, workers are able to jump to new jobs without disrupting their lives Messick did it for six years. Other times, finding work can be elusive.

"These jobs are becoming a growing share" of the region's economy, said Stephen Fuller, a professor of public policy at George Mason University, who estimates that 200,000 federal contract workers are employed in northern Virginia and thousands more in the private sector. "Particularly at the low end, (people) work only as long as it's available."

At the same time, the region's high-powered economy has increased housing prices so much that many moderate income workers are not able to keep up. In northern Virginia, the average monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment is $1,286, according to a recent report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

To afford that level of rent and utilities, without paying more than the federally recommended ratio of 30 percent of income on housing, a household must make $51,440 a year. Messick, who received about $32,000 between his day job and odd jobs, was putting nearly 60 percent of his income into housing.

The situation in northern Virginia is similar to those surfacing nationwide. Recent research by national poverty experts found that a higher percentage of Americans dropped below the poverty line for at least a year in the 1990s than in the previous two decades and they estimate the trend has continued for the past six years.

Large contributors to this temporary "acute poverty" were the rising cost of housing, the volatility of contract work and increasing health care costs, said Mark Rank, a professor of social policy at Washington University in St. Louis, who co-authored a 2004 study. ...

•	In northern Virginia, rising economy sinks working poor Washington Post, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2007 Byline: Chris L. Jenkins, The Washington Post

•	Many Americans are falling deeper into depths of poverty Close-up Seattle Times, Monday, Feb. 26, 2007 Byline: Tony Pugh, McClatchy Newspapers

	Story also ran in 5 others:  Associated Press, WVEC.com (VA), Examiner.com, WJLA (DC) and McClatchy-Tribune Information Services