The Housing Dimension of Welfare Reform - the ICCR

4.2 Milestones for a comprehensive welfare policy reform and housing
4.2.1 Overcoming income poverty and social exclusion
Income poverty is largely a transient, albeit quite dispersed,
phenomenon. In 1997 just over 10 per cent of the population of the
countries under study had been poor for more than three years. At the
same time, around 30 per cent had experienced poverty at some time
during the years 1994-1997. The risk of becoming and remaining poor
shows significant country variation. Thus, for instance, while in Denmark
only one in five of those experiencing poverty have been poor throughout
the period 1994-1997, the respective ratio in France is one in two!
Despite this variation the pathways into poverty are quite similar across
countries. By far the strongest cause of income poverty is unemployment
or inactivity. Another strong determinant of entry into poverty is
connected to the educational level of the household.
Many of the cross-sectional comparative findings about income poverty –
for instance with regard to the significance of the age or gender of the
main earner of the household, the role of housing deprivation or of the
number of children – are to be explained by country-specific patterns of
inclusion and exclusion that operate through or in interaction with the
educational system and the labour market. Insofar as exit from poverty is
concerned, the most significant factor in this respect is the length of time
spent in poverty. The longer the time spent in poverty the more difficult
it is to come out of the poverty trap.
Persons living in persistent poverty and facing cumulative non-monetary
deprivation are a small minority. Across the EU they only amount to two
percent: they make up five per cent of the population in Ireland but only
one per cent of the population in the U.K. and Austria. Despite this group
being a comparatively small minority (even among the persistently poor),
they constitute a new kind of challenge for social policies and welfare
reform.
What do we learn from the above findings?
Probably the first and most important conclusion to draw is that social
policy must continue to invest in basic social infrastructures, like
education or health, and to support an inclusive labour market and the
provision of jobs. Lack and loss of educational capital but also labour
resources are the main causes of income poverty. Prevention measures or
EUROHOME-IMPACT FINAL REPORT 66