Citation URL: http://www.urban.org/JoyceMorton

This report presents an analysis of policies recommended by the Center for American Progress Task Force on Poverty. The analysis uses the TRIM3 microsimulation model. The policies include increasing the minimum wage, expanding the EITC and other tax credits, expanding the child care subsidy system, increasing participation in the Food Stamp Program, rescinding restrictions on legal aliens' eligibility for benefits, and increasing the number of housing vouchers. The analysis focuses on the policies' impacts on poverty, using a broad definition of income—after taxes and child care expenses and including the value of food and housing aid.

About 300,000 more persons in single-parent families lived in extreme poverty in 1998 than 1996. This primarily reflects an increase in the number of low-income families that left or chose not to enroll in government support programs. Increasing enrollment in government safety net programs could make a big difference. In 1998, if all families with children participated in the post-reform government safety net programs for which they qualified, poverty would have been 20 percent lower and extreme poverty would have been 70 percent lower. These poverty improvements provide a strong rationale for changing existing programs to provide "family-friendly" delivery systems and more standardized eligibility requirements. These changes could maximize the number of families that take advantage of government safety net programs.

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