A fifth of Suffolk County residents live in poverty according to a legislative report.
The legislature’s Welfare to Work Commission found that the federal definition of poverty was absurdly low for Long Island’s cost of living. Instead the report relied on two studies to conclude that a family of four needs at least $100,000 a year to provide for basic necessities.
Roughly half of Long Island households earn less than that. The report's authors said that the main obstacle to reducing poverty on Long Island is that the federal poverty rate is $28,000 thousand a year for a family or four.
“You have tens of thousands of Suffolk residents and households not getting the supportive services they need, such as food stamps, or Medicaid, because they earn too much," said Richard Koubek, chairman of the commission.
Koubek adds that a second hurdle to tackling poverty is addressing Long Island's racial segregation. He said this manifests in a number of ways including disparate education, access to health care, and transportation around the island.
