For the elderly, poverty level doesn’t cut it, By Alexandra Zavis, October 17, 2010, Los Angeles Times: “At the age of 80, Exaltacion Divinagracia thought that life would be easier. The petite widow still works part time at a nursery school. To keep the house she rented with her late husband, she has taken six roommates, all over 75. After church on Saturdays and Sundays, she drags a beat-up suitcase from one food pantry to the next in search of enough to eat for the coming week. Divinagracia takes home less than $13,000 a year, including public benefits. But according to the government’s income standards, she is not impoverished. To get that designation a single person must live on $10,830 a year or less. Experts say the standard – which is used nationwide to assess need, determine eligibility for aid and measure the effectiveness of public programs – has little to do with reality, particularly in places like Los Angeles, where housing costs are high. A recent UCLA study found that most older Californians, those 65 or older, need at least twice the income calculated by the federal government to make ends meet – $21,763 a year on average for a single person renting a one-bedroom apartment, or $30,634 for a couple…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty