 Poverty in LA County
While the current economic crisis is garnering front page attention, the reality is that many of L.A. County’s residents have been grappling with a poverty crisis that began long before now. L.A. was at a crossroads before this crisis began and we are now in danger of falling much further behind. Changing social and economic trends over the last twenty years have put our community under great strain. Homelessness is only one symptom of poverty; our community also struggles with the following challenges:
- Our children’s future is in jeopardy:
- Only 60% of youth graduate high school on time
- National probability of graduating is 70%
- Only 40% of our students have taken the classes they need to prepare for public universities
- Over 50% of middle schools are failing federal education standards
- Staggering numbers of our residents have no health insurance and can’t find an affordable home
- Los Angeles is the homeless capital of the nation
- L.A. County foreclosures are up 222%
- 73,000 people are homeless every night – 40% of them are women and children
- 1.6 million people have no health insurance – 200,000 of them are children
- People with median incomes can afford less than 2% of homes sold in the county
- The fair market rate for a one or two bedroom apartment in the Los Angeles market has increased by over 40% from 2000 to 2005, while the median household income only grew ½ of 1 percent for the same period
- Over half of households in Los Angeles spend more than 30% of their income on housing. For this reason, it very often only takes one crisis to push a family into homelessness
- The number one reason for homelessness is the loss of a job
- The number of working people who live in poverty is skyrocketing
- Nearly 1/3 of our full time workers live below the poverty line
- Unemployment in L.A. County is up from 5.7% in April 2008 to 10% in February 2009
- Over 200,000 households live on less than $10,000 per year
- 1 in 4 children live in poverty
- More people live in extreme poverty in L.A. County than the total population of Seattle, Miami or Las Vegas
- Extreme poverty means:
- 1 person earning less than $5,200 a year
- A family of three earning less than $8,800 a year
- A family of four earning less than $10,600 a year
- In 2007, over 583,000 people in L.A. County lived in extreme poverty
Find out how United Way of Greater Los Angeles is addressing these issues.
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