Myth vs. Reality
MYTH: People are poor because they are too lazy to work.
REALITY: The working poor are the fastest growing segment of the poor. One out of every three families that visit a food pantry have at least one member who works. Forty percent of all poor people over the age of 14 work. Most poor people in the U.S. (60 percent) do not receive any type of government assistance (welfare or food stamps).
MYTH: The homeless are alcoholics and the mentally ill who choose to live on the streets.
REALITY: On any given night, there are 73,000 homeless NYers, of whom about 70% are in shelters. 30% of the homeless population goes without shelter in a given year. In most communities, the majority are children. Only one third of the single adults who are homeless have a mental health problem. Children and teens are the fastest growing segment of the homeless. 22% of homeless people hold jobs. The lack of affordable housing and lack of jobs have forced many families into homelessness. Changes to rent laws, welfare reform & continued deinstitutionalization may cause an increase in homelessness in upcoming years.
MYTH: Once on welfare, always on welfare.
REALITY: Most welfare cases are opened for two years or less. These usually come about because of some major interruption of income: illness, of the wage-earner, exhaustion of unemployment benefits, desertion of a family member or a catastrophe such as a fire. More than half of all food stamp households leave the program within seven months.
MYTH: Anyone who really wants a job can get one.
REALITY: For every available job in New York there are at least eight people in need of a job. 40 percent of new jobs created in the US pay at or below the poverty level.
MYTH: Hunger and poverty are brought on by people’s own personal failures.
REALITY: Children constitute the largest part of New York State's hungry population. One in four children in NYS lives in poverty. Many poor people work.
MYTH: People on welfare get too much money.
REALITY: The average NYS household receiving both food stamps and public assistance benefits has an income of less than 74% of the federal poverty level.
MYTH: People on welfare are cheats who have more children to get more money.
REALITY: Less than 3 percent of welfare benefits are given to persons who are not entitled to them; this figure includes errors made by DSS. The average welfare family consists of 3 people: a mother and two children. Families on welfare are much more likely than other families to have children under the age of five; many mothers are able to become self-supporting once their youngest child begins school.
MYTH: People on food stamps are wasteful & use food stamps to buy beer & cigarettes.
REALITY: Food stamps cannot be used to buy alcohol, pet food or anything that is not food, such as cleaning products and toilet paper. There are very strict limits for eligibility: 92 percent of all food stamp households have a gross income at or below the poverty level. The average benefit is less than 70 cents per person per meal. Congressional studies have shown that food stamp participants get more nutrients for their food dollars than the average American household.