Poverty in the united states is an existing problem for American society despite being a first-world country. In 2020, the U.S. had an estimated 37.2 million people living in poverty. Poverty needs more resources to meet basic needs such as food, housing, water, clothing, and healthcare. People cannot access these needs for different reasons, such as debt traps, inflation, unemployment, poor education, income inequality, and other socio-economic and political issues. The U.S. is prone to these factors, which means that poverty continues to prevail even in the 21st century. Thus, the focus of this essay is to highlight two significant aspects of poverty in the U.S.
Income is one of the main aspects of poverty influencing most other aspects. Income originated from employment or other forms of investment for most Americans. Income constantly determines the poverty level because it determines the quality of life a population can afford (Percheski, 2019). While a large population has remained employed between 2010 and 2020, about 37,000 Americans have remained below the poverty line. It means that despite a large part of the population being employed, other socio-economic factors impact income resulting in constant poverty. For example, the income data from the 2015-2016 fiscal year show a 3.2 increase in household income, manifested by a 2.2 million increase in full-time workers. As a result, the poverty level declined by 0.8%, which saw the poverty rate fall to about 12.7% (Fontenot et al., 2017). The data show that despite the high employment rate, the decline levels in the poverty rate are minimal.
The income rate has, however, been impacted by income inequality on race, sex, and class, which impact income rates, wealth, and living standards. In addition, the rising living standards and inflation impact the poverty level, especially in places like California. According to Grusky et al. (2015), the poverty levels in California are the perfect representation the income-related poverty in the U.S. Many families in California live just under the poverty rate. For example, an estimated 22% of Californians were living below the poverty rate in 2011. The high living standard due to economic policies in California has continuously caused a large part of the population to remain below the poverty line. Despite the high employment rate from 2013, the income of about a fifth of the Californian population remains insufficient for a quality life.
There is a continued push for the legal minimum wage across the U.S. to get to $15 per hour as the cost of living increases. About a quarter of the American population remains unskilled, meaning that they are employed in the minimum wage category, which pushes most of them to work multiple jobs to meet the cost of living. An estimated 75% of people working in the private sector work two or more jobs, resulting in most Americans working more than 14 hours per day. The income levels remain lower for most American compared to the needs forcing them to find a better way to compensate for income shortages (Percheski, 2019). Working double shifts is a common trend among many Americans trying to make ends meet.
Homelessness remains a significant aspect of poverty in the U.S. Lack of shelter today has been seen as an element of measuring the poverty rate. Before 2007, many people in the U.S. were on their way to owning homes, and many were on mortgage plans to pay for their houses. However, after the 2007 to 2009 financial crisis emanating from the housing finance sector, the number of homeless people rose by 30% (Fontenot et al., 2017). Although the number significantly improved years after the recession, over 20% of the population still needs access to quality housing because of the ever-rising housing cost.
Lack of housing has been a part of poverty as homeless people do not have access to the monetary resources to pay for rent or mortgages. While housing is a part of poverty, it impacts many other poverty aspects, such as security, health, food, and much more. The high cost of housing in Urban areas in the major cities across the U.S. has seen the number of homeless people rise sharply, especially in places like California, Washington, and New York. The situation has been associated with the rising cost of housing, institutionalized inequality, and the constant income rate and the business cycle, which impact the ability of people to pay for housing. According to Quigley and Raphael (2004), the rising cost of housing has been a significant cause of poverty and homelessness across the metropolitan regions in the U.S. The housing and urban planning data indicate a rise in housing prices between 1995 to 2002 in places like San Francisco by 65%, Boston by 62%, San Diego by 54 and Denver by 49%. Since then, housing prices have almost tripled, which has been associated with inflation and housing scarcity in these cities due to the increase in population.
California has been identified as among the state with the most homeless people. In large cities in California, such as Los Angeles, the tax policy change has increased the cost of living. In addition, the high cost of living associated with housing costs has forced more families into the streets like no other city in the U.S. As mentioned above, California is a rich state but has rising poverty, and one of the signs of poverty is the level of homelessness (Grusky et al.,2015). Homelessness in California mirrors American society, with most people today unable to afford proper housing in major cities such as New York and Los Angeles. Consequently, people are migrating from major cities, trying to find a living in smaller cities where they can afford a quality of life.
The housing aspects of poverty is a complex because it is both a causative and a consequence of poverty. For homeless families, low income contributes to the inability to afford a home, which is seen as poverty and causes the family to lack shelter. Consequently, kids born into homeless families see homelessness as a result of poverty. The complex correlation between poverty and housing creates a complex cycle of hardships. As a result, housing has become a policy playground, with the government aiming to lower the cost of housing. Housing prices, however, continue to rise each decade with the rising inflation rates.
Despite the first-world status of the U.S., the country’s poverty level remains high compared to other first-world countries, highlighted by the income and housing problems. Income is a crucial determinant of poverty status as a majority of minimum wage household fall in the low-income class while a minority fall in the middle and high-class earners. Consequently, about a tenth of the American population’s income needs to meet their needs resulting in high poverty rates impacting life quality. Homelessness in urban areas indicates the rising poverty level and the gap between the rich and the poor. The rising housing prices have contributed to people living on the streets and in their cars, living on food aid which constantly impacts the quality of life. However, as income and housing continuously remain a problem in the U.S., poverty aspects are highly interconnected. It is impossible to highlight two causes and effects as the poverty cycle creates a circular flow of highly integrated aspects ranging from income, dependency, needs, business cycles, health, housing, inequality, and education, among many other aspects.
References
Quigley, J. M., & Raphael, S. (2004). Is housing unaffordable? Why isn’t it more affordable? Journal of Economic Perspectives, 18(1), 191–214.
Grusky, D., CoDDou, M., CuMBErworth, E., Fisher, J., Furuta, J., Hill, J., … & Wright, R. (2015). Why is there so much poverty in California? The causes of California’s sky-high poverty and the evidence behind the equal opportunity plan for reducing It.
Fontenot, K., Semega, J., & Kollar, M. (2018). Income and poverty in the United States: 2017. Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Percheski, C. (2019). Income and Earnings. Age, 20(25), 30.
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