One mother’s harrowing story describes the impact of a women’s shelter, Missouri’s tax credit system
Missouri’s tax credit program saves taxpayers more than half a million dollars each year while supporting pregnant women across the state, according to a report.
Missouri Program of maternity tax credits gives donors a 70% tax credit, giving them the opportunity to reduce their state tax liability if they donate to any eligible agency such as a maternity home or maternity support centre. The credit system provides a significant return on investment for both donors and the community, according to a report reviewed by Fox News Digital.
For example, for every $100 donated, the donor receives $70 in tax credits that can be applied to their state income tax liability, bringing their net out-of-pocket donation to $30.
In addition, by keeping women off the streets and helping them become more self-sufficient, maternity homes reduce the costs of state and publicly funded social support systems, the report claims.
As a result, the entire community benefits because the state does not need to provide women with funds for shelter, food services, treatment and other programs.
“At a minimum, there is an annual societal savings or avoided cost of approximately $28,750 per person receiving maternity home services,” the report said. “If the average program supports 20 women a year, the impact is $575,000 each year.”
Additionally, “there is an annual societal savings or avoided cost of approximately $74,559 per child of a mother receiving maternity services,” the report said. “Within a child’s first 10 years of life, the impact could be as much as $869,570 in savings from preventing premature birth and homelessness.”
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Alexandria at graduation. (Alexandria Allen)
St. Raymond’s Society, which provides financial and emotional support to young mothers and mothers-to-be, including tutoring and mentoring to help them navigate motherhood, has benefited greatly from the tax relief scheme.
“It’s a credit that goes straight against what they owe on state income tax,” said co-founder Steve Smith. “The other 30% that they don’t get a loan for can actually be rejected by both state and federal.”
As a result, Smith has become an outspoken advocate of the tax credit program and said he hopes other states will implement similar policies. But he said that each state differs in the way it implements tax breaks.
“Missouri was one of the first three states and I know there were at least eight other states that proposed it and more are being added,” he said.
“It’s really a win for the state, it’s a win for the donor, it’s a win for the agencies because in the end we get more money,” he added. “And in the end, the people who really win are the women and children who are served.”
Alexandria Allen, for example, turned her life around with the help of the Society of St. Raymond, and the benefit to her and her family was generational as she helped break the cycle of poverty, addiction and homelessness.
The report cited a 2017 study that found that a chronically homeless person would incur a societal cost of approximately $35,578 per year using shelters, food services, treatment and other programs.
But supportive housing reduces this cost by 49.5%, averaging about $12,800 per year in 2017 and saving approximately $4,800 per year per person receiving support. When adjusted for inflation, the study concluded that in 2023, supportive housing is likely to save the government and its taxpayers $6,191 per person per year.
When Allen appeared on the doorstep of the St. Raymond, she was recently sober, homeless and pregnant. Allen overcame her addiction to heroin and methamphetamine and with the help of her mentors from the Society of St. Raymonda managed to get back on her feet.
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But her poignant story is what brought her to St. Raymond. As a child, she was in the foster care system, where she experienced sexual abuse. She began to self-medicate and at the age of 16 she became pregnant with a son. By the time she was 19, she was cooking meth with her mother, who was also an addict.
“I always say that heroin took my life in a way because I had accumulated quite a criminal record,” she told Fox News Digital. “I lived my whole life just dedicated to getting high and getting off drugs.”
“But meth kind of stole my soul,” she added. “It just makes you completely devoid of empathy, that’s really the only way I can put it.”
In the midst of her addiction struggles, she lost custody of her son, and at 19, while hanging out at Walmart, she met a man who told her he was into drugs.
Allen followed him back to his apartment and held her against her will in his home for six months, forcing her to commit crimes for drug money.
Alexandria with her daughter. (Alexandria Allen)
“I just wasn’t allowed to leave,” she said. “If I tried to leave, he’d just beat me to within an inch of my life.”
In 2012, he tried to kill her, and she woke up in the hospital with a concussion, a broken nose and a broken skull. A few weeks later, she checked into rehab and has been sober ever since.
Allen believes that her St. Raymond helped get his life back on track. She now has three children with her husband, whom she met after getting out of rehab.
Allen found out about St. Raymond’s when she applied for Medicaid for pregnant women since she and her boyfriend, now husband, were homeless. She was immediately admitted to a women’s home.
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“I was able, for the first time in a hot minute, to take a shower, wash my clothes, brush my teeth, things that I think people take for granted,” she told Fox News Digital. “Then they just told me to rest for a few days, and then they start the whole program there.”
Allen got a mentor who talked to her about goal setting, planning, freedom and purpose. Her goals were to stay sober and regain custody of her son, who was still in foster care.
In St. Raymond’s Society, Allen said she learned how to be an adult, including how to cook, clean and take care of herself. She also got a job that provided her with income and a sense of purpose. She regained custody of her son four months after giving birth to her daughter.
Alexandria with her daughter. (Alexandria Allen)
Once she had those basic skills, Allen’s mentor encouraged her to get her GED, something she didn’t think would be possible since she dropped out of school so young.
She successfully earned her GED and while working and managing as a new mom, she pursued her bachelor’s degree, graduating with a dual major in 2019. In 2020, she graduated as a valedictorian of her MBA program.
Allen, who now lives in Missouri with her husband and three children, credits St. Raymond for his success.
“St. Raymond’s love and support doesn’t stop when you move out. It really is like family,” Allen said.
