14. Over 15% of the homeless population in America is considered to be chronically homeless. This includes people who are disabled and have been homeless for more than a year. 15. Chronically homeless people are considered to be the most vulnerable of all the homeless population.
The origins of the Poverty measure While studying the impact of minimum wage increases on poverty, it is of significant importance to understand how poverty is measured. According to the definition of poverty – “The U.S. Census Bureau determines poverty status by comparing pre-tax cash income against a threshold that is set at three times the cost of a minimum food diet in 1963, updated annually for inflation using the Consumer Price Index (CPI; see the last section of this FAQ for an explanation of the CPI), and adjusted for family size, composition, and age of householder. "Family" is defined by the official poverty measure as persons living together who are related by birth, marriage, or adoption. Thresholds do not vary geographically.”
The author presents his research whereby he claims that the population in contact with poverty is overwhelming. His hypotheses are that more than 40 percent of Americans will have experienced poverty at some point in their lives between the ages of 25 to 60. Similarly, 54 percent of Americans could have experienced poverty for at least a year in their lives. However, though many will experience poverty, the experience is short-lived. Another important thing from the article is that povertyis widely distributed with respect to time and place.
In America although a lucky small percentage of Americans are fortunate enough that they do not experience economical struggles, there are however Americans of both middle and lower class that are working multiple jobs and living paycheck to paycheck. There are about 47 million people traveling throughout the day with nothing to their name, carrying all of their bags everywhere they go and especially not knowing where and when their next meal will be. This is not a lifestyle that is chosen. Some of these people are simply victims of bad luck over and over again which has lead them to be poor. Homeless people in America are people who do not have a place to spend time with their family, a place to enjoy holidays, a place to eat and sleep.
Types of poverty The types of poverty are: Weiss and Montgomery (2004) classified the types of poverty according to the length of time, i.e., chronic poverty and transitory poverty. Chronic poverty means those who have been in poverty for a very long time. This type of poverty can further be differentiated according to those who are physically advantage and those who are physically disadvantage, that without welfare support they will continue to be in poverty. In addition, this type of poverty could be permanent. Transitory poverty means those who found themselves in poverty unexpectedly within a short period of time, due to adverse shocks.
Poor people are unknown of their lack of voice, power, and rights, which leads them to exploitation. Poor people being unable to take part in social and cultural norms leads to breakdown of social relation among the people The effects of poverty can be mainly categorized as unemployment, illiteracy, food security, psychological well-being, increased crime rate, child health, homelessness etc. Major effect of poverty is unemployment to those without land or dependable wage labor. Poor people can rarely find permanent, salaried job in the village or even in the city. Poor people engage in informal and daily wage labor with no security and low earnings.
According to the State of America’s Children in the United States and Alabama 2017 Factsheets, 18 percent of the U.S.’s children were poor in 2016, and 25 percent of Alabama’s children were poor in 2016. These statistics are overwhelming due to the fact that child poverty affects all areas of their lives. Children exposed to poverty at such a young age are at a disadvantage in several areas; these children are at risk of low academic achievement, resulting in lasting negative effects. Our economy is not able to thrive if child poverty continues. Children living in poverty are also at risk of dropping out of school, being unemployed, and entering the juvenile justice system.
The first way to measure poverty, the absolute one, is to measure the income poverty; it shows the lack of money to meet the basic needs (food, clothing, shelter). It only requires defining a poverty threshold: below, you are poor, above, you are not. But things are not that simple. Relative poverty is actually not just monetary: the feeling of poverty also comes from an exclusion from the standard lifestyle. According to Hans
These families are also more likely to be exposed to illnesses, job loss, eviction, criminal victimization and family death. Children living in constant poverty also show the worst cognitive development, compared to children from higher socio-economic backgrounds ("Hunger and poverty", 2017). Moreover, children who grow up in poverty suffer more persistent, frequent and severe health problems than children who grow under better financial circumstances. Many infants who were born in families originally suffering from poverty have a low birth weight, which is related to many preventable physical and mental disabilities. They also have a have higher possibility of dying before their first birthday.
It also refers to a set standard which is defined in terms of the society in which an individual lives and which therefore differs between countries and over time. Absolute poverty and relative poverty are both valid concepts. The concept of absolute poverty is that there are minimum standards below which no one anywhere in the world should ever fall. The concept of relative poverty is that, in a rich country, there are higher minimum standards below which no one should fall, and that these standards should rise if and as the country becomes