April 13, 2016 | Read Time: 3 minutes
More than three in four Americans believe poverty has held steady or spread in the past four years, and an even larger share want the presidential candidates to propose plans to help the poor, according to new data.
Fifty-five percent of people surveyed said they know someone they consider poor, according to the study by the Salvation Army and the firm Research Now. Nearly 61 percent of respondents in the Midwest said they know someone living in poverty.
The survey of more than 1,200 adults, conducted in March and released Wednesday, aimed to reveal how Americans perceive poverty.
The findings, along with those in another new Salvation Army report that reveals increasing demand for social services, underscore the need for an intensified effort by the charity to tackle the causes of families’ poverty, according to Lt. Col. Ron Busroe, the group’s national community-relations and development secretary.
Other findings from the “Perceptions of Poverty” study include:
- Nearly 31 percent of Americans — and 42 percent of people ages 25 to 34 — have received financial assistance for basic needs, such as food, housing, or utility bills.
- Forty percent of respondents said they believe poverty is a generational issue.
- One in four people surveyed said laziness and a lack of work ethic are the main causes of poverty.
- The study revealed a split in where Americans believe solutions lie: Sixty-four percent said they think government should help people living in poverty, which 17 percent of respondents said poor people need to rely on themselves for help.
Rising Need
Also Wednesday, the Salvation Army released an update of its Human Needs Index, which analyzes data from its 7,500 service centers, reaching back to 2004, to create a comprehensive measure of poverty. The index was launched in October, and is a collaboration with researchers at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University. It measures demand for social services, beginning at zero. It hit its highest level, 3, in 2012. That figure then fell, dipping down to 1.97 in 2014, but edged up last year to 2.28.
A scarcity of affordable housing is likely one driver of the increase, suggests Lt. Col. Busroe. “As the economy gets better, people start saying, ‘Well, we’ll raise the rent a little,” he says. Even small increases can cause hardship for households living on tight budgets and might lead them to seek his organization’s services. “They may not come to us for rent or mortgage assistance,” he says. “But if their rent goes up another $25 to $50, well, maybe they have to cut back on food.”
The latest figures indicate a regional shift in poverty. The top five states that reported the most demand for social services in 2015 were, in descending order: North Dakota, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Colorado. In 2014, Nevada held the top spot and Kansas and Michigan were among the five neediest states.
Other findings:
- The biggest increases in need were in Arkansas (up nearly 182 percent), Alabama (up 127 percent), and Colorado (up 104 percent).
- Demand for furniture and clothing grew the most among services. Salvation Army chapters provided 47 percent more clothing and 35 percent more furniture in 2015 than in the previous year.
Lt. Col. Busroe says his group intends to release updates of the index each quarter. The findings, he says, will help the Salvation Army to deploy resources where and when they’re needed most.
“This is almost real-time data,” he says. “When you get government reports on poverty, sometimes the numbers are two years old. This is about stuff that happened last month.”
