Figure 3.1 compares the rates of hardship between these income groups in affording food, housing, medical care, finances, and bills. Strikingly, and consistent with past work using the Poverty Tracker, those below 200% of the poverty line are about twice as likely, if not more, to experience most of the hardships measured by the tracker. In other words, these hardship rates reinforce the idea that it is not until New Yorkers have substantial- ly higher incomes than the poverty line that their risk of experiencing hardship begins to markedly decline. 22 A number of research groups have also devised alternative measures to poverty intended to capture the full array of needs faced by workers or families. These standards are substantially higher than would be embodied in a poverty line and they typically align closer to 200% of the SPM threshold. 23 Groups like the Poor People’s Campaign also use the 200% threshold to describe the population it considers in need of assistance. 24 In addition, the likelihood of falling into poverty is also significantly higher among those be- tween 100% and 200% of the poverty line compared to those above the 200% threshold. 25 In short, the poverty line is too low to fully capture what it means to afford a more “decent” minimum standard of living. This may be particularly true in places like New York City, where we know the costs of living (and raising chil- dren) are significantly higher than in other places across the country. We argue that 200% of the poverty line better captures what it takes to secure such a standard of living. Understanding how many New Yorkers are living below 200% of the poverty line also has implica- tions for public policy. Though upper-middle class and affluent families benefit from a host of policies such as low tax rates on wealth and tax breaks and deductions throughout the tax code, 26 income transfers and safety net programs like SNAP, housing vouchers, and the EITC usually target those with the lowest incomes in order to help them afford their most basic needs. These safety-net policies are essential, but they do not reach everyone in need and are only designed to help people afford just minimal basic needs and avoid the worst suffering. In the next section, we quantify how many New Yorkers fall below 200% of the poverty line, which is followed by an analysis of the extent to which safety-net and income transfer policies reach New Yorkers at different income levels. How many New Yorkers are living below 200% of the poverty line? For a renting household with two adults and two children, the SPM poverty line is $43,890, meaning that 200% of the poverty line translates to $87,780 (see Figure 1.3 in Section 1 for additional details). Figure 3.2 shows that 56% of New Yorkers (more than 4.6 million) live below 200% of the poverty line and likely struggle to afford a decent living standard. This includes more than 1.1 million children and more than 3.5 million adults. The share of children living below 200% of the poverty line is even higher, at 66%. When using twice the poverty line as our measure of a more decent standard of living in the city, the share of New Yorkers with incomes insufficient to meet this standard more than doubles, and for children nearly 22 Appendix Table C.1 shows hardship rates broken out for narrower income groups. While those with incomes between 100% and 200% of the SPM poverty line generally have lower hardship rates than those in poverty, these remain substantially elevated relative to those above twice the poverty line. 23 For additional measures, see the Economic Policy Institute’s Family Budget Calculator (https://www.epi.org/resources/budget/), the Mas- sachusetts Institute of Technology’s Living Wage Calculator (https://livingwage.mit.edu/), the University of Washington’s Self-Sufficiency Standard (https://selfsufficiencystandard.org/), or the ALICE Household Survival Budget (https://www.unitedforalice.org/). 24 Learn more about the Poor People’s Campaign at https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/about/our-demands/ 25 Wimer et al, “The State of Poverty and Disadvantage in New York City, 2018.” 26 Gale and Vignaux, “The difference in how the wealthy make money – and pay taxes.”
THE STATE OF POVERTY AND DISADVANTAGE IN NEW YORK CITY 29
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