From food insecurity, to housing, to auto insurance, local clergy and community activists say the rising costs of everyday needs are pushing working families beyond their ability to keep up. They’re calling on state leaders to help bring relief.
Representatives of the Buffalo/Niagara Chapter of the National Action Network and Agents for Advocacy are sounding the call locally for state intervention.
“We cannot ignore the growing economic inequities happening in our communities,” said Reverend James Lewis, president of the local chapter of NAN. “People across Buffalo and across this entire state are hurting every week. More families tell us that they can't keep up with rent, groceries and their car insurance bills. When prices of important things like health and car insurance skyrocket, people go about their lives without them, and that's a shame.”
According to Bankrate’s annual report, New York ranks third in highest percentage of income spent on car insurance. Janique Curry, local NAN vice president and a business owner, says you don’t have to be the car owner to feel the effects.
“It's an escalating expense that touches every part of our operations, from the owners to employees to our delivery drivers to our vendors and other customers,” she said. “There's so much talk about affordability, but this is something that we really want to work with our state leaders on, to make sure that the state can fix this for us and put the money directly in the people's pocket.”
But how do state leaders make the change? Activists offer ideas including legal action, or perhaps including legislation in the state budget, which will be released in January.
Among the speakers was Mark Talley, founder and executive director of Agents for Advocacy. He recently held a turkey drive to support local families in advance of Thanksgiving, and he plans to host another food drive in early December. He and other speakers say state reforms are needed to put working families first, and by his observation, they’re not being put first now.
“We try to do our part to plug in the gaps, plug in the holes. But unfortunately, we can't just do it all by ourselves,” Talley said.
Lewis suggests people in Florida brought relief by coming together and taking on the problem.
“The residents of Florida gathered themselves together with their community partners and community action organizations, and they lobbied the state, and the state went after the insurance companies, and they are reducing their prices in Florida” he said.
