Hurricane Katrina put American poverty in an international spotlight. Many of those trapped in New Orleans were among the city’s poorest residents. They couldn’t afford a car to join the hundreds of thousands who fled the city. They took the brunt of the storm. Some lost their lives.

The number of Americans below the official poverty line has been rising since the economic boom of the 1990s subsided. Since 2000, the number of Americans in poverty has risen by 17 percent, the U.S. Census Bureau said last month.

Nationally, 12.7 percent of Americans are below the poverty line. In Nebraska, 11 percent live in poverty, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Nebraska ranks 33rd in the number of people below the federal poverty level.

There’s no simple solution for reducing poverty. More than 40 years ago, President Lyndon Johnson declared the War on Poverty. But the public became tired of spending billions with little result. Today there is little popular support for programs that simply transfer money to low-income citizens. As President Reagan said years later, poverty won.

New Orleans provides one example of how government policy aimed at easing poverty actually can perpetuate it. In New Orleans, large swaths of the city consisted largely of subsidized housing.

Policy analysts say that creates neighborhoods that are unattractive to investment by employers or even retailers. A better policy is to scatter subsidized housing across a community. Not only do poor residents have better access to services, they are more likely to find better jobs and make other connections that help them escape the cycle of poverty.

The steady increase in poverty should concern all Americans. Today, real per capita income is about twice what it was when the War on Poverty was in progress, but some working poor still cannot earn enough to support their families.

Government programs that provide tools to help people escape poverty, such as job training and Pell Grants for college expense, deserve public support.

Congress also needs to be careful about putting holes in the safety net that keeps some families afloat, especially at a time when Hurricane Katrina has left thousands homeless and without jobs. Congress needs to resist efforts to shift spending cuts from subsidies for big corporate farms to the food stamp program, which is threatened with $3 billion in cuts over the next five years.

Hurricane Katrina dramatically showed how vulnerable people in poverty are to forces beyond their control. Taxpayers have the right to insist on programs that work, but they also should recognize the importance of helping those in need.