For over a decade, the Poverty Tracker has focused on tracking the levels of income poverty, material hardship, and health challenges among represen- tative groups of adults in New York City. Key to this focus is the measurement of income poverty, or how many New Yorkers have total incomes or resources that fall below a specified level of need, often called the poverty line. As Section 1 of this report notes, in New York City, a family of four (with two adults and two children) who rent their home would need more than $43,890 in income to be considered out of poverty in 2022. As many New Yorkers would attest, however, four people getting by on just $43,890 in an expensive city like New York is incredibly challenging. The concept of poverty, however, is not meant to convey what it takes to fully make ends meet or get by with what might be considered a more “decent” standard of living. According to a recent National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NAS) report on measuring poverty: Poverty statistics are essential for determining the size and composition of the population whose basic needs are unmet, and for tracking changes in conditions for this group over time. Poverty reflects economic inequalities that exclude a portion of the population from the social mainstream to the ex- tent that their experienced deprivation pushes them below what is viewed as a basic standard of living (Sen, 1997). 19 Under this definition, poverty levels are meant to capture incomes that are too low to afford a minimal basic standard of living. In most places, affording not just a basic but a decent standard of living today requires considerably more income than what is represented by the poverty line. What do we mean when we refer to a decent standard of living? With respect to housing, this might mean not just a roof over everyone’s head but housing with sufficient and quality space for all family members. With respect to food, this might mean not just avoiding hunger but having access to a high-quality nutri- tious diet. It might also mean the ability to accrue a bit of savings and to be able to withstand modest shocks to one’s income that drive people back into poverty. While there is no “magic line” above which all of this is guaranteed, many recognize that having an income just above the poverty line leaves families often too far away from being able to afford a decent standard of living. In this spotlight, we propose that 200% of the SPM poverty line can be used to approximate what it takes to afford a more decent standard of living, quantify how many New Yorkers are falling below this higher benchmark, and also provide evidence on the degree to which policy helps New Yorkers achieve this more adequate standard of living. Our goal is to illuminate the degree to which policy could better help New York- ers afford not just basic needs and protect against the most severe levels of disadvantage and suffering, but also afford a more decent standard of living in New York City.
19 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, “An Updated Measure of Poverty: (Re)Drawing the Line”
THE STATE OF POVERTY AND DISADVANTAGE IN NEW YORK CITY 27
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