There is an undeniable connection between homelessness and poverty. People in poverty live from day to day with little or no safety net for times when unforeseen expenses arise. If a family's resources are very small, expenditures on such necessities as food, shelter, or health care have to be carefully decided and sometimes sacrificed. Should one spend money on food, a visit to the doctor,…
Defining poverty and counting the poor is a difficult task. The official poverty measure used in the United States was developed during the 1960s by Mollie Orshansky of the Social Security Administration. Called the poverty index, this measure was based on the Department of Agriculture's 1955 Household Food Consumption Survey, which had determined that a family of three spent approximately …
An official count of the poor includes all those whose family incomes fall below the poverty threshold figure for that particular size family, as seen in Table 3.1. In 2003, based on those criteria, there were 35.9 million poor in the United States, 12.5% of the population. (See Table 3.2.) Children were poor at a higher rate (17.6%) than were adults aged eighteen to sixty-four (10.8%) or aged six…
The poverty rate is established by counting the number of families with before-tax income that is lower than the poverty threshold set for a family that size, so employment and wages are an essential part of the determination. Median annual household income in 2003 was $43,318. Half of all American households earned less than this amount and half earned more. (See Table 3.3.) Not surprisingly, med…
While most discussions of poverty focus simply on people who are below the poverty line versus those who are above it, it is important to keep in mind that even among the poor, some people have fewer resources than others. An analysis of changes in the distribution of wealth helps to explain why homelessness and poverty can remain level, even when the economy performs well. During the 1980s and 19…
One of the risk factors for becoming homeless is the lack of a financial safety net upon which individuals can fall back should something unexpected occur. The loss of a job, and in many cases the concomitant loss of health insurance, is one such occurrence. An accident resulting in the need for expensive medical treatment is another example of the sort of incident that requires a financial safety…
The official unemployment rate has been the subject of considerable scrutiny and criticism over the years. Many social and economic researchers believe that the rate misrepresents the actual number of people who cannot find work to support themselves and their families. For example, the official unemployment figures do not count those who have given up searching for work because of failure to fin…
In 1996 the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PL 104-193), the most sweeping welfare legislation since the 1960s, ended Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and gave the states control over the administration of benefits in the form of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) grants. In addition, the law made significant changes to Supp…
It is extremely difficult for the homeless to escape their condition without a job. Yet it is equally difficult for the homeless to find and keep good jobs. Health Care for the Homeless Information Resource Center's newsletter "Employment for Homeless People: What Works, Fall 2000" listed the following barriers: In addition, the homeless, like other workers, are subject to the…
It costs money to live. Even homeless people have needs that can only be met with money. From needing something as simple as a toothbrush or a meal, to money for a newspaper or a phone call to a job prospect, homeless people need money to begin to improve their lives. Out of the need to survive, homeless people have come up with a number of ways to earn money, weaving their ventures among local or…
According to the 1996 Urban Institute study, homeless people say that the primary reason they cannot exit homelessness is insufficient income. Of those clients surveyed, 54% cited employment-related reasons for why they remained homeless. Nearly a third (30%) cited insufficient income and nearly a quarter (24%) cited lack of a job. The data from the Urban Institute study showed how little income t…
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