STRATEGY

UNDERSTANDING THE POVERTY PROBLEM

Poverty Population

• Population in Poverty
• Over 41 million citizens below federal poverty thresholds within the United States
• Poverty threshold for a household of 1 - $15,225 and a household of 4 - $29,782
• Cost of Poverty
• ENORMOUS – In the 2023 fiscal year, the federal government spent over $1.1 trillion on 134 separate anti-poverty programs.
• Local Persons in Poverty
• Onondaga County: over 65,000 (out of a total population of 472,637 per 2022 census)
• Madison County: over 7,000 (out of a total population of 67,097 per 2022 census)
• Oneida County: over 37,000 (out of a total population of 231,055 per 2022 census)

Poverty Culture

• Individuals in poverty often live highly chaotic lives, moving from one crisis to the next
• Survival mode – where am I going to sleep, what am I going to eat, where will medicine come from, how am I going to pay for this all over again tomorrow, next week, next month
• There is no time to think/plan beyond the present day
• Each situation is unique
• A veteran with severe PTSD and substance abuse
• A single mother with four children, no high school education, no transferable job skills, no vehicle for transportation, and very little support for child care
• Single man with no high school diploma or transferable job skills, severe depression

THE STRATEGY

Required to Effect Change

• 2- or 3-week concentrated training
• Multiple years of mentoring
• High ratio of staff to client
• Long-term funding commitments are needed to fund necessary staffing

Build on Successful Examples Using a Tax Credit Program

• Housing Visions (HV) has been highly successful using the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program
• Completed 1,912 units of quality, affordable housing
• 181 more housing units currently under construction or starting within 6 months
• For a total of 2,093 housing units in 19 cities and towns across NY and PA with an investment of over 618 million dollars
• Housing Visions started an affiliate in 2010: Visions For Change (VFC)
• Visions For Change (VFC) in a 6-year timeframe achieved the following results:
• Developed curriculum and process
• Trained 319 individuals (within 32 classes and representing 319 households)
• 221 became employed (69%)
• 158 retained employment (71%)
• Of the 158 retaining employment:
• 153 clients were below the federal poverty threshold before starting the VFC class
• 81 households attained an income that brought them above the federal poverty threshold after completing the class
• 32 households above 150% of poverty thresholds after completing the class
• 9 households above 200% of poverty thresholds after completing the class
• Financial Impact:
• $2,662,938 increase in annual income by those retaining employment
• $149,457 decrease in annual SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program)
• $362,934 decrease in annual TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families)
• Average tracking of clients was only 31 months
• Discontinued due to lack of outside funding
• Other organizations could do what Visions For Change did, if properly funded

Life Visions' Poverty Reduction Tax Credit Program

• The program would award tax credits to organizations that are providing training and ongoing mentoring to persons in poverty
• Those organizations would assist individuals in working their way out of poverty
• The program would have a zero net cost to the government
• Organizations only receive credits as the income of their clients increases
• Government subsidies to clients would automatically decrease
• The clients' income tax payments to government would increase
• High Accountability
• Measurable results
• Organizations only receive credits as the clients' income measurably increases
• Monitored by
• CPAs
• Investors
• States
• IRS
• The program provides flexibility to allow what works best locally
• Proven results (Visions For Change history) 

LEARN MORE

• Diagram comparing Low Income Housing Tax Credit program (LIHTC) to Poverty Reduction Tax Credit program (PRTC)
• Tabular comparison of Low Income Housing Tax Credit program (LIHTC) to Poverty Reduction Tax Credit program (PRTC)
• Summary of Poverty Reduction Strategy
• Table of Contents of the Visions For Change training workbook
• Census Bureau poverty thresholds
• Census Bureau poverty tables for Syracuse, Onondaga County & the United States
• Housing Visions website
• More resources