From: Gregory Dagge
To: Meredith Matthews; Stacy Atkins-Salazar; Alex Stillman; Kimberley White; Sarah Schaefer; Tabatha Miller; David Loya; Rhea Varley; Merritt Perry; Engineering Dept; Emily Sinkhorn; Jennifer Dart Subject: CITY OF ARCATA SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING AGENDA OLD BUSINESS Date: Wednesday, February 25, 2026 10:07:42 AM
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Provide Direction on Potential Projects the City May Submit for Funding Under the State Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) 2025 Notice of Funds Availability (NOFA)
Dear City Council and Leadership Team,
A new report from the UC Davis Labor and Community Center highlights a troubling and urgent reality: Humboldt County residents are increasingly dependent on CalFresh simply to meet basic food needs. Our county now far outpaces the state in CalFresh enrollment while lagging significantly behind in median income. This combination leaves thousands of working families living on the edge, struggling to keep up with rising costs for housing, utilities, and essential services.
As the Council considers direction on potential projects for the 2025 State Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Notice of Funding Availability, I urge you to prioritize investments that directly reduce financial burdens on Arcata’s working poor. One such opportunity is the proposed Water Meter Replacement Project, with an estimated CDBG‑eligible cost of up to $3.3 million.
Upgrading Arcata’s water meters to real‑time usage monitoring is more than an infrastructure improvement—it is a cost‑of‑living intervention. Modern meters help residents detect leaks early, manage their usage, and avoid unexpected high bills. For households already relying on CalFresh to put food on the table, even a single month of unexpectedly high water charges can create cascading financial hardship.
By pursuing CDBG funding for this project, the City can:
• Prevent rate increases from falling disproportionately on low‑income households, who already spend a higher share of their income on utilities. • Improve billing accuracy and transparency, reducing disputes and stress for residents living paycheck to paycheck.
• Support long‑term water conservation, lowering systemwide operational costs and delaying future rate hikes.
• Ensure that essential infrastructure upgrades are not financed solely through ratepayer increases, which would further strain the very families the UC Davis report identifies as most vulnerable.
CDBG exists precisely to support communities like ours—places where working people are doing everything right yet still struggle to afford necessities. Directing these funds toward water meter modernization aligns with the program’s goals, advances equity, and provides immediate and long‑term relief to Arcata residents.
I respectfully request that the Council include the Water Meter Replacement Project as a priority submission under the 2025 CDBG NOFA and frame it explicitly as a measure to protect and support Arcata’s working families.
Sincerely,
Gregory Daggett
Report: Humboldt County’s low-wage work
‘insufficient’ for basic needs
Rate of local residents with full-time work living in poverty nearly doubled in 10 years, CalFresh enrollment rates
outpace state
https://www.times-standard.com/2026/02/20/report-humboldt-countys-low-wage-workinsufficient-for-basic-needs/ A new report from UC Davis Labor and Community Center found that Humboldt County residents increasingly depend on CalFresh to meet basic food needs. The county far outpaces the state in enrollment levels while lagging well behind in median income level, a combination that leaves residents living on the edge.
“The center found that every age group in Humboldt County saw increased CalFresh enrollment between 2014 and 2024, but the 18 to 59 age group far outpaced statewide rates and increases in those rates,” a news release stated Thursday. “Median household incomes in Humboldt County have fallen further behind statewide averages, and the rate of full-time workers living in poverty in the county nearly doubled in 10 years.” Roughly 1 in 4 Humboldt County children and 1 in 6 seniors rely on CalFresh benefits, the program formerly called food stamps.
“That aligns with what we have seen at Food for People,” Carly Robbins, Food for People’s executive director, said in an email on Friday. “Need for food assistance has increased dramatically over the past decade because household incomes simply have not kept pace with the rising cost of rent, utilities, food, gas, the list goes on.” In 2014, Humboldt County had the 19th-highest CalFresh enrollment rate among the state’s 58 counties. Ten years later, Humboldt County reached ninth place.
During that span of time, the number of residents served by Humboldt County’s food bank, Food for People, increased significantly. In 2016, Food for People served roughly 12,000 residents each month.
“The only time we saw demand decrease was when temporary federal benefit expansions in response to COVID helped households afford groceries on their own,” Robbins said. “Once those programs ended, demand at food banks surged, at the same time that food prices rose dramatically. That combination continues to put tremendous pressure on households today.” After COVID-era CalFresh benefits were rolled back in March 2023, the number of people served jumped from 16,000 to 21,000 residents.
Robbins noted that during the 2014 to 2024 time period, the number of households visiting Food for People increased 53%. Senior programs “saw an even sharper rise” of 73%, Robbins said. The mobile produce pantry, which delivers food to underserved communities, grew 143%.
“Participation in our programs has continued to rise year after year, and our most recent data shows increasing need across every program area,” Robbins said. “The most significant growth is currently in our senior programs, reflecting how fixed incomes are falling further behind the cost of living.”
As of January, there were 28,608 people receiving CalFresh benefits in Humboldt County, and 6,957 of them were children younger than 18, according to the Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services.
CalFresh enrollment is often tied to unemployment. But Humboldt County is bucking that trend.
“With the steep increase in CalFresh usage by working-age adults aged 18-59 in Humboldt County relative to the state, one might expect to see unemployment rates in the county rising disproportionately to the statewide rate,” the UC Davis report noted. “Instead, from 2014 to 2024, Humboldt County’s unemployment rate tracked consistently just under the statewide average.”
Where the county failed to keep up is in wages.
Median household income in Humboldt County — in 2024 inflation-adjusted dollars — increased $17,526 from 2014 to 2024. The statewide average was a $38,216 increase. “A disproportionately high percentage of workers in Humboldt County work full-time, yearround, yet live in poverty,” the UC Davis report stated. “… While unemployment contributes to CalFresh use, in Humboldt County, the wide range of low-wage employment is insufficient for workers to afford basic necessities, such as food. Over the past 10 years, Humboldt County has fallen further behind the state of California in median household income and has seen a significant increase in the number of workers who work full-time, year-round, yet remain in poverty. As a result, Humboldt County has risen in the ranks of counties with the highest CalFresh enrollment rates.”
UC Davis concluded local leaders have work to do.
“Our findings indicate that city-, county-, and state-level decision makers must be prepared to address the specific food access needs of nearly one-fourth of Humboldt County residents to meet the challenges posed by food insecurity compounded by federal policymaking,” the report stated.
Asked about specific ideas at the county level to address food insecurity affecting nearly onequarter of the county, DHHS program manager Alisha Babel cited the speed of CalFresh application processing.
“The county is committed to processing CalFresh applications, renewals, and changes timely, so community members have access to stable food benefits,” she said in an email. “Over the past 10 years, the county developed a CalFresh Outreach network intended to inform the community of potential eligibility to CalFresh. We have also developed relationships with community partners providing education on applying and maintaining CalFresh benefits so they can outreach directly to the individuals and families they serve.” HR 1, Trump’s so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill,” made changes to work requirements and eligibility for CalFresh benefits, which Robbins said puts more demands on local resources. “That is very true, especially now as the changes to SNAP/CalFresh benefits due to HR 1 are largely shifting costs of administering the program on the states and eventually counties,” Robbins said. State investments such as universal school meals and programs like CalFood are making an important difference by helping food-insecure households access nutritious food. However, many policy solutions still rely heavily on food banks to absorb unmet need, and food banks are already stretched thin.”
She noted that November’s delays on CalFresh benefits showed how fragile the economics of meeting basic needs is in Humboldt County.
“Strengthening and stabilizing federal nutrition programs remains one of the most effective ways to reduce pressure on local emergency food systems,” she said.
Ruth Schneider can be reached at 707-441-0520.