Reply #8: Single men, sometimes divorced men with children, [View All]

suffer a great deal from poverty. Many of them do not live in houses at all.

Another group of people who are very impoverished are families or women with children who live in mobile homes or subsidized housing of some sort. They probably have a TV and maybe even a microwave. They will have a refrigerator because it comes with the housing.

Finally, you get to women, sometimes with children, usually without, who live out of their cars or in the streets.

If a woman is living outside without a roof over her head and with a child, the child will probably be taken from her and she will be accused of neglect.

Food stamps help feed those who are not too proud to apply for them.

One of the big factors in poverty is divorce. Another is bankruptcy. If divorce or bankruptcy is associated with the poverty, then it is quite possible that what is left of the family will still have a TV and all the things they had in their home before the divorce or bankruptcy. They may even have a car that is worth less than a certain amount.

Remember, poverty is defined by a specific income. It is not a subjective issue. A person cannot just say "I'm poor."

Here are the US poverty guidelines for 2009. A single person is considered to be poor if he or she has an income of $10,830 per year. A family of four is considered poor on an income of $22,050 per year.

http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/09poverty.shtml