The State of Mobility, Instability and the National Release of the 2014 Assets & Service Continuum in DC, MD & VA Opportunity Scorecard Andrea Levere President, CFED Common Cents Conference September 9, 2014 Bethesda, MD
Who is CFED? CFED (Corporation for Enterprise Development) empowers individuals and families to build and preserve assets by advancing policies and strategies that help them go to college, buy a home, start a business, and save for now and for the future. We combine the vision of a think tank with real-world experience to: Identify Good Ideas: CFED s research finds ideas with potential for making the economy work for everyone, particularly those on the margins. Develop partnerships: CFED works in partnership with diverse organizations across the country to promote lasting change. Bring Them to Scale: CFED brings together community practice, public policy and private markets to achieve the greatest economic impact.
Assets & Opportunity Scorecard What is it? State-level assessment of how families are faring and state policies to support financial security and opportunity 2014 2009 2012 2013 2007 2005 2002 12 years of using data to build the assets movement and drive policy change
Improvement on several indicators of economic recovery in the region $20,000 $18,994 $18,000 Average Credit Card Debt $16,000 $15,543 $14,000 $12,000 $10,000 Economic Recession $14,443 $13,140 $13,970 $12,651 $11,490 $10,221 D.C. Maryland Virginia National $8,000 $6,000 $4,000 $2,000 $0 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Improvement on several indicators of economic recovery in the region 12% 10% 8% 6% Annual Unemployment Economic Recession 10.4% 9.5% 9.3% 8.9% 7.1% 7.0% 6.6% 6.5% 8.7% 7.6% 6.8% 5.6% D.C. National Maryland Virginia 4% 2% 0% 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Persistent financial insecurity 31.7% 15.2% 34.8% 9.7% 36.5% 11.2% Liquid Asset Poor lack savings to cover basic expenses for three months if job loss, a medical emergency, or other crisis leads to a loss of income D.C.* Maryland Virginia Liquid Asset Poverty Income Poverty $5,887 for a family of four *No data available for 2011. Liquid Asset Poverty Rate is from 2010.
Households of color disproportionately affected Twice as many household of color in Maryland and Virginia are Liquid Asset Poor compared to white households. 49% 56% 24% 29% Maryland White Households Virginia Households of Color *No data available for District of Columbia.
The liquid asset poor borrow to cover unexpected costs Over half of consumers have subprime credit scores 55.9% 55.7% 52.7% High-cost loans are the only option for many with subprime credit scores, which can create a cycle of debt D.C. Maryland Virginia
Many households in DC, MD, VA are financially underserved Unbanked households have no checking or savings account Underbanked households have an account, but still rely on alternative financial services 33.2% 22.3% 26.8% 21.2% 23.3% 28.3% 20.1% 16.7% 10.9% 5.6% 6.6% 8.2% D.C. Maryland Virginia National Underbanked Unbanked
How does the federal government build assets? U.S. has long history of subsidizing asset building Homestead Act GI Bills Creation of 30-year mortgage Home Mortgage Interest Deduction 401(k)s, Individual Retirement Accounts, etc. Today s policy is Upside Down Subsidizes middle- and upper-income; penalizes the working poor Priority frontier for policy advocacy
Annual Subsidy How well does the federal government build assets? $100,000 $90,000 $80,000 $70,000 $60,000 $50,000 $40,000 $30,000 $20,000 $10,000 $0 FY2009 Distribution of Asset Building Subsidies, Average Benefit by Income Bracket $26 Source: CFED. 2010. Upside Down: The $400 Billion Federal Asset Budget Annual Income
Household Financial Security Framework What it takes to build financial security and opportunity over time
How do state governments build assets? Scorecard evaluates all states on 67 policies in five indexes In 2014, the states were ranked on their policies for the first time since the Scorecard was published The website provides transparent criteria for the rankings and tools for policy development
Policies that many states have adopted States with strongest policies Overall state policy adoption States with weakest policies Maryland is ranked 1 D.C. is ranked 15 Virginia is ranked 38 Policies that few states have adopted
What is the Assets & Opportunity Network? National learning and advocacy community that answers the call for More effective way to collaborate nationally to learn and test better ways to expand economic opportunity More coordinated, effective constituency to advocate for policies Please join us today!
Lead State & Local Organizations Lead Organizations in MD, DC, VA
Andrea Levere National Thank you! Release of the 2014 Assets & Opportunity Scorecard President, CFED alevere@cfed.org