UW of Northern NJ Study Finds Working Poor Living on Edge
On September 2, 2012, the Star-Ledger reported on the findings on the perilous situation of our working poor neighbors. The article, “New Report Puts a Harrowing Face on the Plight of N.J.’s Working Poor”, reports on the findings of a recent study by the United Way of Northern New Jersey including and quoting from the article:
- In the third-wealthiest state in the nation with the seventh-largest economy, more than a third of all households — 1.1 million — are unable to provide the basic necessities of food, housing, transportation, child care and health care;
- In half of New Jersey’s 566 municipalities more than 30% of households are below ALICE’s cost-of-living threshold;
- More than one in three seniors fall below ALICE’s threshold; and
- In Somerset County, the ninth-richest county in America, according to Forbes magazine, more than a quarter of all households don’t meet the ALICE threshold.
The ALICE report, which stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained and Employed, paints the picture, through personal stories from working poor families and the social service providers who help them, of people who often work 1 or 2 jobs but live just one crisis away from homelessness.
“This is no rehash of government poverty statistics. It is, instead, a disturbing look under the hood at exactly what it takes to survive in the Garden State, who can — and cannot — make ends meet.”
The statistics and stories are linked to Monarch Housing’s work to end homelessness in that we must be concerned not only with ending homelessness but with developing and funding innovative programs based on best practices that will end homelessness.
Click here to read the full story.
Click here for WNYC’s coverage of the study’s release.
