Housing
3 Charts That Prove Anti-Poverty Programs Actually Work
New data suggests America's expanded safety net has been crucial to reducing poverty over time.
By the government's official poverty measure, the share of Americans considered poor has remained largely unchanged for 50 years. In 1967, 14 percent of the U.S. population lived in poverty. In 2011, it was 15 percent. That comparison – with only modest movement in between – looks like an indictment of the massive resources the country has spent fighting poverty, subsidizing housing and feeding children, giving the low-income tax breaks and help with their energy bills.
Hasn't any of it had a bigger effect?