Burns responds to ‘depressing data’ on GJSD student poverty
Calls for Johnstown Housing Authority to stop importing the problem
Rep. Frank Burns January 12, 2024 | 10:30 AM
EBENSBURG, Jan. 12 – News that the Greater Johnstown School District is second-highest in childhood poverty in Pennsylvania at 40.63% – along with Superintendent Dr. Amy Arcurio’s plea to “right size our housing and stop importing poverty into our city” – has state Rep. Frank Burns reiterating his call to do just that and questioning other community leaders’ priorities.
Burns said the poverty ranking should come as no surprise, considering that $12,500 is the average household income of those relocating to Cambria County for public housing.
“The community’s number one focus should be to stop importing poverty via the Johnstown Housing Authority,” Burns said, echoing his longstanding and very public position. “Johnstown will never be able to climb out of this cycle of poverty unless HUD and the Johnstown Housing Authority stop making excuses, and seriously address the issue of people from outside the area coming to Johnstown to obtain public housing and Section 8 Program vouchers.”
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“It’s time to stop blaming the teachers and school officials and start putting the blame on who actually created this problem and is unwilling to fix it – the Johnstown Housing Authority.” – Rep. Frank Burns
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Burns, D-Cambria, said Arcurio last week emailed Cambria County state legislators – himself, state Sen. Wayne Langerholc and state Rep. Jim Rigby – notifying them of what she termed “depressing data” on GJSD student poverty that she felt was “definitely worthy of sharing.”
“Sad to say but we are #2 in the rankings of childhood poverty in the Commonwealth,” Arcurio wrote. “Sto-Rox School District (Pgh) is the only district in PA that has a higher percentage of children between the ages of 5-17 living in poverty.”
Arcurio ended with a reminder that, “We must right size our housing and stop importing poverty into our city.”
Burns has advocated taking that action for nearly a year, arguing it’s necessary since Johnstown has five times as many public housing units as comparably sized cities, the JHA estimates as many as 80 families per month migrate to Johnstown for public housing, and as many as half of Johnstown public housing units are occupied by people who came from outside Cambria County.
“Enough is enough – I believe this is the single biggest issue our city faces and we will never be able to revitalize this area if the Johnstown Housing Authority keeps importing poverty,” Burns said. “I want to share this latest poverty information with our local community organizations and our federally elected officials, to underscore how important it is that they focus on, and respond to, our community’s needs.
“It’s time to stop blaming the teachers and school officials and start putting the blame on who actually created this problem and is unwilling to fix it – the Johnstown Housing Authority.”
Burns said the lowly student poverty ranking should concern and perhaps embarrass those who wildly applauded the city’s recent “Municipal Excellence” award from the state Department of Community and Economic Development, as it gives little reason for celebration.
“This also underscores the ridiculousness of the city spending $6 million to $8 million on redoing Central Park,” Burns said. “The park should not be their top priority, as there are far more serious issues to address.”
Further, Burns said that the JHA’s unfettered importation of poor people from outside Cambria County to fill its 1,504 public housing units doesn’t result in a better life or situation for them. As one example, Burns said Cambria was ranked 64th out of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties for health outcomes in 2022.
“Continuing to bring people to Johnstown just to fill up our public housing units is putting these families in a worse situation than the cities they come from,” Burns said. “This is a travesty in humanity, forcing already disadvantaged people to move to a struggling area like Johnstown for housing.
“Instead of ignoring that the fact that nearly 1,000 families per year are moving to an area that puts their health at risk, the JHA and HUD should be held accountable and liable for what they are doing to the people they claim to be helping – and for the devastation their policies are having on the school district and our community.”