The Housing Dimension of Welfare Reform - the ICCR

The implications of our logistic regression analyses can be summarised
as follows:
1. Both the entry into and exit from poverty is across countries clearly
related to variables which represent socio-economic position, housing
and deprivation.
2. Each of the above variables has its own independent contribution to
the risk of entry into and the likelihood of exit from poverty.
3. Work attachment of the household is the single most important
variable.
4. The probability of a poverty transition increases when several risk
factors cumulate. Interactions are however present, particularly on the
country level.
5. The risk to enter poverty is widely dispersed and broader parts of the
population may experience a transitory phase of poverty. Once poor
the exit chance will however strongly depend on the length of the
experience of poverty and on how the individual or household
manages to cope with structural barriers or constraints.
6. The housing situation does not appear to be a form of capital which
can support an exit, it is, however, related with different entry risks.
Characteristics of persistently poor
By far the most robust finding with regard to persistent poverty is that it
is strongly associated with the lack of resources and, in particular,
inactivity and/or the lack of integration into the labour market. This is
true across Europe and in most European countries: the unemployed, the
inactive and, more generally, those living in households where the work
intensity is zero or very low are between three to five times more likely
to slip into persistent poverty than those who work. Not surprisingly the
level of educational achievement in a household is as important a
protection against persistent poverty – the highest the combined
educational level in a household the less likely is unemployment and
hence persistent poverty.
All other findings about risk groups and persistent income poverty
display a strong country variation:
In most countries the retired do not face a higher than average risk of
persistent poverty. This is an interesting finding, especially considering
that persons of pension age are among the risk groups for temporary or
one-time poverty. This suggests that entry into pension, associated as it is
for most with a significant decrease of monetary resources, may lead to
EUROHOME-IMPACT FINAL REPORT 41