MOSCOW — Just like a decade ago, Latah County still lacks the resources to address housing and food security needs among its residents, according to a new study by the League of Women Voters of Moscow.

The Poverty on the Palouse report, which aims to provide a snapshot of the state of poverty in Latah County, is an update of a similar study conducted in 2012.

The new poverty study was published earlier this month and focuses on deficiencies related to housing, food insecurity, child care, health care and transportation.

It also provides information on local resources that aim to meet those needs. The study can be found at the League of Women Voters website, my.lwv.org/idaho/moscow, and in the Moscow Library.

According to the study, some strides were made in addressing poverty on the Palouse since 2012. But rising prices and the COVID-19 pandemic have left many residents struggling to meet their basic needs.

Food banks, for example,are having a difficult time keeping up with rising demand. Nancy Chaney, who is chairperson of the Poverty on the Palouse Report, said she was most surprised to see how some food banks have seen their demand double in recent years.

In 2022, the West Side Food Pantry, in Moscow, averaged 500 visits per month by adults, plus 300 visits by seniors and children. Those averages doubled in 2023. The Moscow Food Bank had 650 family visits per month in 2022 and also saw a significant increase in 2023.

On a positive note, Chaney said food banks have done a better job of networking with each other since 2012 to help with storage and distribution of food supplies.

The study also says the lack of affordable housing is a growing problem in Latah County.

In a 2019 regional housing assessment published by the Partnership for Economic Prosperity, it was estimated the region was short of the needed number of single-family homes by roughly 340 units. From 2017 to 2027, the region needed an additional 270 single-family units per year, the housing assessment said.

Chaney said new housing developments are out of the range of middle-class families, let alone low-income families.

Organizations like Moscow Affordable Housing Trust are working to provide more affordable homes in the area, but not at the scale or pace that is needed to alleviate the shortage, the poverty study says.

“We’re making inch-by-inch strides when we need to be moving by the mile,” Chaney said.

The study says that solving the housing problem will require investment from public and private sectors, help from service organizations and the faith community and legislative interventions to remove unnecessary obstacles.

The study identified the need for more homeless shelters. Sojourners Alliance, a nonprofit based in Moscow, is the only shelter for homeless individuals between Boise and Coeur d’Alene, the study says.

There is also a need for an emergency shelter to help people avoid harsh weather conditions and natural events like flooding and poor air quality from wildfire smoke.

Among the other problems identified in the poverty study are the lack of healthcare and child-care workers in the region and the state. In 2022, Idaho ranked at the bottom nationally in physicians per capita. Latah County is seeing a shortage in child care providers, and could see that problem worsen after Idaho funding was cut from daycares and early childhood learning centers.

Chaney said one of the most notable factors behind poverty on the Palouse is the sudden loss of government funds that were made available during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those temporary relief funds went away after people got accustomed to receiving extra assistance for food and child care, for example.

She also pointed to wages remaining stagnant even as prices increase.

Chaney said she hopes this study will provide valuable information to organizations seeking grants that will alleviate these problems.

“I hope, as with our 2012 study, that the service providers are able to use this information in the report as fodder for their funding requests,” she said.

Chaney said that after the 2012 study was published, Family Promise of the Palouse was established in Moscow to provide temporary housing to homeless families. The CHAS Health clinic, a federally qualified health center for people who are underinsured, was also established.

Chaney said one factor she was pleased to see unchanged since 2012 is the “enthusiasm and compassion” of the people working to solve these problems.

Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.