Almost half of all Floridians are struggling to make ends meet. That’s the takeaway from a new reportby the United Way. It’s called the ALICE report, which stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. It was done in partnership with Rutgers University-Newark’s School of Public Affairs and Administration.
The report states Florida’s 15 percent poverty rate doesn’t properly show exactly how much people are struggling when it comes to necessities such as housing, food, child care and transportation. Part of this is because the federal metrics for defining the poverty rate have not been updated since 1974. So, the United Way and its partner set out to create a new set of standards that takes an even crisper look at poverty in Florida.
We’ll take a closer look at those standards and what they tell us about poverty in the Sunshine state.Guest:
Lars Gilberts, the Florida United Way Statewide Director of the ALICE Project.
