The Poverty Tracker collects measures of economic disadvantage beyond income poverty, including infor- mation on a comprehensive set of material hardships, which capture individuals’ ability to meet basic needs (see text box for definition). MATERIAL HARDSHIP IN NEW YORK CITY Measures of material hardship The Poverty Tracker measures material hardship across five domains (food, housing, bills, financial, and medical) and defines “material hardship” as having faced severe forms of food, housing, bills, and financial hardship, or any form of medical hardship.
Severe Bills Hardship
Severe Food Hardship
Severe Housing Hardship
Severe Financial Hardship
Medical Hardship
Material Hardship
Having to stay in a shelter or other place not meant for regular housing, or having to move in with others due to cost.
Having utilities cut off due to lack of money.
Often running out of money between paychecks or pay cycles.
Not being able to see a medical professional due to cost.
Running out of food or often
MEDICAL HARDSHIP: Facing any of these forms of hardship. Not being able to see a medical professional due to cost
worrying that food would run out with- out enough money to buy more.
It is not only those living below the poverty line who struggle to make ends meet: material hardship is even more widespread than poverty. In 2022, roughly 3 in 10 adults faced material hardship — a return to pre-pandemic levels and an increase from the year prior, when a quarter of adult New Yorkers experi- enced material hardship. New York is a high-cost city, and many New Yorkers living above the poverty line also struggle to keep food on the table and rent paid. In the pre-pandemic years, roughly 3 in 10 adults in New York City faced at least one form of material hardship and more than 1 in 10 faced multiple forms of hardship (see Figure 1.4). In 2021, however, we saw the material hardship rate fall to 24% as historic policy expansions provided much needed cash-assistance to New Yorkers reeling from the pandemic’s economic impacts. Despite this decline, rates of material hardship increased to pre-pandemic levels in 2022 as these policy expansions expired and New Yorkers grappled with record-high levels of inflation and increases in the cost of living. In 2022, 29% of adults in New York City faced at least one form of material hardship and 12% faced multiple forms. The share of children in families facing material hardship also increased to pre-pandemic levels be- tween 2021 and 2022, rising from 26% to 31% (see Figure 1.4). 12
12 We do not have data on this comprehensive set of hardships at the national level for comparison, but national estimates of food inse- curity also show rates increasing in 2022 alongside increases in poverty. See: Hall, “Food Insecurity Increased in 2022, With Severe Impact on Households With Children and Ongoing Racial Inequities.”
14 THE STATE OF POVERTY AND DISADVANTAGE IN NEW YORK CITY VOL. 6
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