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Letter: Island needs new poverty cutoff
Published: October 5, 2011 5:5

I am writing in regards to recent reports that poverty is on the rise ["Poverty line leaves out too many," Opinion, Oct. 3]. I agree with Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy that it is time to consider regionalizing the federal poverty line. To think that a family of four can survive on $21,100 in Suffolk County is ridiculous.

The bare minimum income needed is at least $30,000 as I have illustrated in the following monthly budget: rent, $1,500; transportation, $200; food, $400; phone and Internet service, $100; water, $40; Long Island Power Authority, $100; National Grid, $100; clothes, $150. The total is $30,480 per year after taxes.

Note that I have not included child-care costs or health insurance.

The federal poverty line is used to determine who can receive benefits. If a family of four makes $21,200 they are not eligible for a full welfare case. It gets worse. If that family income is $27,560, the family is not even eligible for food stamps.

Even now, there are some areas which have been regionalized: Alaska and Hawaii have different poverty guidelines that reflect the real cost of living in those areas.

Regionalizing would make a drastic change in the lives of families on Long Island, affecting their eligibility for more than 32 government financial assistance programs, including food stamps, health care and child care.

The original guidelines were developed in 1963 and were based on family spending for food. According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, food now comprises only one-seventh of an average family's expenses, while the costs of housing, child care, health care and transportation have grown disproportionately. The current poverty guidelines have little bearing on the cost of family necessities.

It is time to take a serious look at changing the method of determining poverty levels, because we need to provide our families with the assistance they need to get through these difficult economic times.

Peter Barnett, Sayville

Editor's note: The writer is on the board of the Long Island Coalition for the Homeless.


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