For Low-Income, Working Families an Indiana Home Is...

• In a safe, stable community
• Near jobs
• Near good schools
• Affordable

"Low-income" family is a broad category. So what does it really mean? The current federal minimum wage (2006) is $5.15 an hour. Based on a 40-hour workweek, that's about $10,712 annually; for a family of four, with two adult wage earners, we're talking $21,424--before taxes. That's just over the federally established poverty level of $19,350 for that same family. That's very low-income.

Another way to look at it is to consider the difference between poverty and "self-sufficiency." When a family is "self-sufficient" it can afford necessities like a clean, safe home, food, healthcare, daycare and transportation, while also building savings for future needs like college tuition and retirement. And who wouldn't agree a hardworking family deserves that opportunity?

Though it varies around the state, according to a 2005 study, in Marion County the hourly wage needed to obtain self-sufficiency for a family of four (with two adult wage earners, one pre-schooler and one school-age child) was $10.08 per adult. In Orange County, it was $6.70; in Lake County, $10.02. When it comes to affording a decent home in a good neighborhood, earning anything less than the wages cited above is the equivalent of low-income.

And Yet...

• Poverty in Indiana is on the rise. In 2004, 11.6 percent of the state's population--over 700,000 men, women and children--lived in poverty.

• Indiana's children are the hardest hit. The number of children living in poverty nearly doubled from 2002 to 2004 (10.4 to 18.5 percent). That's 333,000 kids.

• In fact, the percentage of children living in poverty in Indiana is now greater than the nation's (17.8 percent).

• Four out of every 10 Hoosier families (over 640,000) are not self-sufficient.

If self-sufficiency leads to a stable living environment (and it does), then poverty leads to exactly the opposite.

Frequent moves lead to lower attendance rates at school for their children, along with poorer academic performance and achievement and higher dropout rates (and at early ages). Staying put in substandard housing isn't any better: children who live there are more likely to develop chronic health issues requiring hospitalization (in fact, they're twice as likely to suffer from them compared to children living in affordable homes).

Impoverished families move more frequently because they can't find affordable housing (when a family of four lives on $21,000, it takes only a tiny unexpected expense to turn their lives upside down). When families are forced to pay too much for a decent home, they can't afford other necessities like food, healthcare, daycare and transportation. And paying for the necessities means not having enough to pay for a decent home.

What the shortage of affordable homes in Indiana for low-income working families does mean is substandard care and education for children--along with at least one more generation of poverty and dependence.

Click here for information on finding affordable rental housing or buying a home.