Poverty Definition Should Include Housing

A leading think tank has called on the government to adopt a much broader definition of poverty that includes factors such as housing.  Demos has launched a new model for assessing poverty based on an 18-month research project, Poverty in perspective, and analysed data from a survey of 40,000 households. The model consists of 20 indicators including heating, neighbourhood deprivation, neighbourhood support, household composition, tenure, and overcrowding.  The researchers applied this model to low-income households to gain a better understanding of the factors driving child poverty, resulting in five social groups.  Download a copy of the report from the Demos website.