Overhaul Nebraska poverty guidelines
As an organization that has been fighting poverty in Nebraska for more than 11 years, seeing the recent editorial “Poverty measurement needs an update” (LJS, Jan. 20) was exciting and a little disappointing.
It was exciting to see an editorial dedicated to an issue that is often overlooked by the general public and policymakers but presents a significant challenge to addressing the very real needs of our communities and the many Nebraska families that struggle to make ends meet. The federal poverty guideline has failed to be an accurate measure of poverty for quite some time, and as a result, the multitude of programs that base eligibility on that standard fail to serve all those who really need help.
However, it was wrong to suggest that the flaw in the current system is that it does not account for receipt of various public assistance programs such as food stamps, child care and housing assistance. While these programs certainly help mitigate the effects of poverty on a family and can have the effect of helping a family better meets basic needs, we should not start counting these families as though they are no longer living in poverty, which might be one conclusion drawn from the editorial.
Rather, we should start using a more accurate measure of poverty to set eligibility and measure outcomes within our public benefits programs.
Fortunately, such a measure already exists. It’s called the Self-Sufficiency Standard for Nebraska. It was developed in 2002 through a partnership with the University of Washington; Wider Opportunities for Women, a national organization; and Nebraska Appleseed.
The standard adjusts for the many problems that currently plague the federal poverty guideline and takes into consideration the real costs of basic needs such as transportation, food and child care. It provides a county-by-county self-sufficient wage for all 93 counties and for 70 family types (adult, infant, preschooler, etc). A number of states have developed similar standards and have integrated them into their public programs for determining eligibility and measuring outcomes.
What the standard reveals is that most public programs are under-serving our communities. Once a parent enters the workforce, he or she begins losing access to critical work-support programs — such as child care — and, in some cases, may end up worse off financially than before.
This is not to suggest any fault of the individual, but rather reveals the cliff effect often created by public programs based on an inaccurate measure of poverty. I think this is the point the editorial was trying to make, and it presents an argument for an important policy change.
It is time for Nebraska to get serious about providing opportunity for low-income families to succeed by modifying critical work support programs, such as child care, food stamps and Medicaid, so they truly facilitate the transition to work rather than creating cliffs that lead to families cycling on and off public assistance programs for the long term. Fortunately, we already have a tool that can help us achieve that goal.
Now all we need is the political will to make it happen.
Rebecca L. Gould is executive director of the Nebraska Appleseed Center for Law in the Public Interest.
It was exciting to see an editorial dedicated to an issue that is often overlooked by the general public and policymakers but presents a significant challenge to addressing the very real needs of our communities and the many Nebraska families that struggle to make ends meet. The federal poverty guideline has failed to be an accurate measure of poverty for quite some time, and as a result, the multitude of programs that base eligibility on that standard fail to serve all those who really need help.
However, it was wrong to suggest that the flaw in the current system is that it does not account for receipt of various public assistance programs such as food stamps, child care and housing assistance. While these programs certainly help mitigate the effects of poverty on a family and can have the effect of helping a family better meets basic needs, we should not start counting these families as though they are no longer living in poverty, which might be one conclusion drawn from the editorial.
Rather, we should start using a more accurate measure of poverty to set eligibility and measure outcomes within our public benefits programs.
Fortunately, such a measure already exists. It’s called the Self-Sufficiency Standard for Nebraska. It was developed in 2002 through a partnership with the University of Washington; Wider Opportunities for Women, a national organization; and Nebraska Appleseed.
The standard adjusts for the many problems that currently plague the federal poverty guideline and takes into consideration the real costs of basic needs such as transportation, food and child care. It provides a county-by-county self-sufficient wage for all 93 counties and for 70 family types (adult, infant, preschooler, etc). A number of states have developed similar standards and have integrated them into their public programs for determining eligibility and measuring outcomes.
What the standard reveals is that most public programs are under-serving our communities. Once a parent enters the workforce, he or she begins losing access to critical work-support programs — such as child care — and, in some cases, may end up worse off financially than before.
This is not to suggest any fault of the individual, but rather reveals the cliff effect often created by public programs based on an inaccurate measure of poverty. I think this is the point the editorial was trying to make, and it presents an argument for an important policy change.
It is time for Nebraska to get serious about providing opportunity for low-income families to succeed by modifying critical work support programs, such as child care, food stamps and Medicaid, so they truly facilitate the transition to work rather than creating cliffs that lead to families cycling on and off public assistance programs for the long term. Fortunately, we already have a tool that can help us achieve that goal.
Now all we need is the political will to make it happen.
Rebecca L. Gould is executive director of the Nebraska Appleseed Center for Law in the Public Interest.
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