Facing up to grinding poverty
It’s 4 a.m. Lisa rises before the sun to douse her face in cold water at the local church because she doesn’t have running water at home. As she returns “home,” a dilapidated shack, she is reminded of the unreliable air conditioner, clogged sinks and a toilet that won’t flush. Her place reeks of the smell of urine, not belonging to her or those of any other human, but rather to unwelcome pests. Meanwhile, scattered in all this mess are her five children, stretched out in whatever comfortable sleeping corners they can find. She sees her children off to school and work, and then proceeds to her own job as a dishwasher, with hours that are not always guaranteed. This is the picture of poverty in our very own backyard, of our beloved Houston.
Thousands of residents in the Houston region live in similar conditions to those of Lisa and her family. As of 2013, nearly one-fifth of Harris County’s 4.2 million population was estimated to be below the poverty line; 27.4 percent are children. Nearly 400,000 individuals were estimated to be living in households with Supplemental Security Income, cash public assistance income or the federal assistance program known as food stamps or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. In addition, income segregation continues to aggravate the divide between the haves and havenots. As described in the July 5 Houston Chronicle article, “The Divide,” Houston epitomizes the growing gap in the U.S. between the rich and poor, where the fates of individuals such as Lisa are frequently determined by their ZIP codes.
However, poverty is about more than the lack of physical necessities and access to opportunities. According to Truong Lam, a member of Rice University’s Coalition on Hunger and Homelessness and co-founder of its student consultant program OWLS Help, poverty also means a mental state in which an individual feels helpless, invisible and as if they are being held prisoner in a city that cannot lift them out of poverty. Programs such as OWLS Help not only address clients’ housing, financial and education needs, but also provide the one-on-one attention and comprehensive care that is sorely lacking in Houston, where many social service caseworkers are often assigned up to 50 individuals at a time.
Having access to tax credits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) also provide a sense of relief and security, and can make all the difference for a working family struggling to get out of poverty. Results, a nonprofit advocacy organization, is making a push for policy makers both in Washington, D.C., and across the country to protect these tax credits. The EITC for low- and moderate-income workers encourages and rewards work and raises living standards, while the CTC offsets part of the cost of childrearing.
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, each year from 2011 to 2013, both tax credits helped to lift about 1.2 million Texans out of poverty, including 663,000 children. However, critical provisions of the tax credits that were enacted in 2009 are set to expire in 2017. If these provisions expire, 915,000 children and 1. 8 million Texans overall will be pushed into — or deeper into — poverty.
The grassroots approach of organizations such as OWLS Help and the policy-focused work of Results are vital to successfully combating poverty in Houston and Texas. Texas senators and our representatives in Congress must do their part to help reduce and end poverty. The first step is to make protection of the EITC and CTC a priority during the upcoming election season and for terms thereafter.
Lisa needs these financial provisions so that she can go to work without having to worry about whether her kids will have food in their stomachs, a roof over their heads and everything they need for school. Supporting Lisa and other struggling mothers like her not only provides a brighter future for their children but is also our best hope for the health and prosperity of our city.
Soifer is a member of Results, a nonprofit organization focused on ending the worst aspects of poverty. She is beginning a master’s program at Columbia University studying anthropology, with a focus on urban and poverty studies.