HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla — A new report from the United Way shows nearly half of Floridians are struggling to make ends meet—46%, to be exact.
We spoke to several people in the Tampa Bay area who said they are having a hard time paying the bills and putting food on the table.
Amyrah High is a mother who lives in Tampa with her two kids.
“I feel like what’s happening in the world affects my ability to stay above water no matter how financially responsible I am," High said.
"I have to spend cash, and EBT snaps the little bit that I do have, and I am only to get what I need," Louise Humphrey from Tampa said.
“Everything is expensive," single mom Shykiera Mitchell said.
Car insurance, rent, groceries, and school supplies are what I heard people are struggling most to pay for.
“I never really faced the fear of I don’t know where I'm going to go the next day," High said.
The United Way article shows that 46% of Floridians are struggling to make ends meet right now, which is 4.1 million out of 8.8 million families. The article shows the burden is higher in some of our more rural counties.
The report highlights the issue but does not point to a clear solution.
“With inflation right now, with the cost, with people's rents continuing to go up," Tina Brodowski from Metropolitan Ministries said. "TECO raised their prices a couple of times as well, and the income of these folks is not going up.”
She said they are seeing more people than ever come to them for help.
“Our goal is to keep the lights on and keep them housed so we can offer that assistance,” Brodowski said.
While neither United Way or Metropolitan Ministries points to a solution, there are resources to help.
Metropolitan Ministries provides emergency shelter, food and financial assistance to those in need.
Click here for Feeding Tampa Bay.
Click here for Hillsborough County Community Resource Center.
Click here for rent payment assistance from Crisis Center of Tampa Bay.
A South Tampa man turned to Susan Solves It after he said ADT told him he had to keep paying for a security system at his Hurricane Helene-damaged home, even though the system was so new that he never had a day of service.
