The nation's poverty rate dropped in 2006 for the first time in years, but Ventura County aid organizations are still reporting high demand for services as the working poor struggle with high housing, gas and food costs.

"We're noticing an increase in clients," said Socorro Lopez Hanson, executive director of Community Action of Ventura County, which provides utility, rent, food and other assistance for the poor. The agency's HEAT program for utility assistance saw 1,685 new clients between January and July of this year.

"They're working poor. They don't qualify for benefits," she said.

The number of people served by Ventura County's food bank, FOOD Share, also is on the rise, said Jeanne Benitez, manager of annual giving. Once families slip into poverty, it can be difficult for them to regain their footing, so they may rely on the agency's help for an extended period of time, she said.

"It takes quite awhile to rebuild your life and get it back together," she said.

County rate 8.9 percent

Overall, the nation's poverty rate was 12.3 percent in 2006, down from 12.6 percent a year before, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday. Ventura County's poverty rate was 8.9 percent, down a percentage point from the previous year, according to the data.

The last significant decline in the poverty rate came in 2000, during the Clinton administration, when it went from 11.9 percent to 11.3 percent.

The poverty level is the official measure used to decide eligibility for federal health, housing, nutrition and child care benefits. It differs by family size and makeup. For a family of four with two children, for example, a maximum income of $20,444 qualifies for the poverty level.

"I think the decline is good. It's not significant enough to say we're doing great; we need to do more," said Jamshid Damooei, a professor of economics at California Lutheran University, who noted that California fared better than the national average in part because the decline was higher in the West and among Hispanics than the overall rate.

"In Ventura County, we have a very thriving and very strong Hispanic population and that's good for us."

The numbers released Tuesday provided some good economic news at a time when financial markets have been rattled by a slumping housing market. But the good news was tempered by an increase in the number of Americans without health insurance, from 44.8 million in 2005 to 47 million last year, including 700,000 children.

Economy called uneven

Some advocates said the numbers were evidence of an uneven economy that is leaving many Americans behind.

"We find the new census figures disappointing for the fifth year of an economic recovery," said Robert Greenstein, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which analyzes programs that affect low- and moderate-income families and individuals.

"The country has yet to make progress in reducing poverty, raising the typical working-age family's income, or stemming the rise in the ranks of the uninsured," he said, "compared even to where we were in the last recession."

The rising lack of health insurance has strained local emergency rooms and urgent care centers as well as driven up interest in programs that provide coverage for the uninsured, said Mike Powers, director of the Ventura County Health Care Agency.

The agency has enacted several programs in recent years to provide healthcare services to the uninsured in an effort to improve patients' health, reduce emergency room visits and cut costs. One effort, Health Care for Kids, provides health coverage for any child in the county, even those not eligible for other government health programs like Medi-Cal or Healthy Families.

Agencies seek out clients

"Any child who comes in will get some type of access to health coverage," he said. "There's no reason any child in Ventura County should not have access to health coverage."

Ted Myers, director of the Ventura County Human Services Agency, said caseloads for Medi-Cal, food stamp and Cal-Works programs are on the rise in part because the agency has not been reaching all of the people who are eligible for the services.

Aid from the programs can help people get out of poverty, he said, and the agency is working to reach more people who are eligible.

"We're trying to make our programs more accessible and a little easier" for clients to navigate, he said.

Still, Tuesday's numbers are good news, Myers said. The poverty rate for the county's children dropped 2 percent, double the overall county decline of 1 percent.

"I'm pleased," he said. "And I'm a little surprised. But we do have a number of programs designed to get people out of poverty. Maybe this is an indication we're seeing some progress."

— The Associated Press contributed to this report.