Science of Poverty Reduction
A Framework to Evaluate Affordability Proposals
| Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | CBPP | June 28, 2026
This article explains how affordability proposals should be judged by whether they lower the real cost of necessities such as food, housing, health care, utilities, and transportation for families with low and moderate incomes.
Addressing the Housing Affordability Crisis Requires Increasing Housing Supply and Rental Assistance
| Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | CBPP | June 22, 2026
This article reviews evidence that housing vouchers, affordable housing production, and tenant protections can reduce hardship while helping families live in safer, more stable communities.
The Food and Nutrition Assistance Landscape: Fiscal Year 2025 Annual Report
| USDA Economic Research Service | USDA ERS | June 23, 2026
This report summarizes recent data on SNAP, WIC, school meals, and other federal nutrition programs, showing how food assistance programs support household stability and reduce food insecurity.
Food Security Update
| World Bank | World Bank | June 2026
This regularly updated brief tracks global food insecurity, food prices, conflict, climate shocks, and policy responses that shape poverty and hunger around the world.
Medicaid Work Requirements Should Incentivize Employment and Reduce Poverty
| Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation | ASPE | June 1, 2026
This policy analysis examines how work requirements are projected to affect employment, health coverage, and poverty, making it useful for debates over whether benefit rules reduce or increase hardship.
Annual Homelessness Assessment Report Data and Reports
| U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development | HUD User | May 2026
This HUD data page provides national homelessness estimates, including chronic homelessness, veterans, families, and youth, helping policymakers track whether housing interventions are reducing homelessness.
Raising a City: How Addis Ababa Reimagined Early Childhood Development
| Brookings Institution | Brookings | May 2026
This report describes how early childhood development, child care systems, public investment, and workforce development can support children and families in rapidly growing cities.
Breaking Barriers Rapid Rehousing Program for Justice-Involved People
| RAND Corporation | RAND | April 2026
This evaluation studies a rapid rehousing and supportive services program for people affected by the justice system, showing how housing help can reduce instability for people facing multiple barriers.
Nearly 3.7 Million People at Risk of Losing Needed Rental Assistance
| Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | CBPP | April 24, 2026
This article analyzes proposed rental assistance time limits and work requirements, warning that millions of people could face eviction, homelessness, or deeper hardship if assistance is withdrawn.
A Quasi-Experiment Comparing the Health of Unhoused People Who Have and Have Not Experienced an Eviction
This study examines eviction and health among unhoused people in King County, Washington, adding evidence that housing instability can worsen physical health and substance-use risks.
Care Leavers Given One-Off £2,000 More Likely to Find Housing, UK Pilot Finds
| The Guardian | The Guardian | March 16, 2026
This article reports on a UK pilot showing that an unconditional cash payment helped young people leaving care improve housing stability, well-being, and relationships.
SNAP’s Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility Supports Working Families, Older Adults, and People With Disabilities
| Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | CBPP | March 17, 2026
This article explains how flexible SNAP eligibility rules help working families and other low-income households access food assistance even when earnings are slightly above standard limits.
Update 2023: Measuring the True Cost of Economic Security
| Gregory Acs and Urban Institute researchers | Urban Institute | March 2026
This report updates a measure of what families need to afford food, housing, child care, health care, transportation, savings, and other basic costs in different communities.
Evidence Matters Winter 2026
| U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development | HUD User | March 2026
This issue highlights housing research, rural housing needs, and federal housing data that can guide poverty reduction strategies in underserved communities.
Food Security in the U.S.: Measurement
| USDA Economic Research Service | USDA ERS | March 30, 2026
This page explains how USDA measures food security and food insecurity, helping readers understand the data behind hunger studies and nutrition assistance policy.
The Impact of Unconditional Cash Transfers on Parenting and Children
This paper studies a large randomized cash transfer and examines effects on parenting, spending on children, family choices, and child outcomes.
How the Big Beautiful Bill Hurts the Care Economy
| Brookings Institution | Brookings | February 13, 2026
This article examines the care economy, immigration policy, and family support systems, showing how child care and caregiving labor affect household economic security.
Housing First: Overview of the Evidence Base
| Susan E. Collins | University of Washington | 2026
This overview summarizes the research base for Housing First, including randomized trials and studies on housing stability, substance use, health care, and homelessness reduction.
Guaranteed Income as Targeted Welfare
| J. Berg | Erasmus University Rotterdam | 2026
This paper studies guaranteed income as a targeted welfare tool, including how direct cash support may influence financial stress, stability, and behavior.
The Employment Effects of a Guaranteed Income
| Eva Vivalt and coauthors | National Bureau of Economic Research | 2026
This paper examines how unconditional cash transfers affect work, job search, income, entrepreneurship, caregiving, and household decision-making.
Great Expectations: Responses to Current and Future Cash Transfers
| Achyuta Adhvaryu and coauthors | National Bureau of Economic Research | 2026
This research explores how receiving or expecting cash transfers can affect behavior, mental health, labor choices, and economic planning.
Next Generation Community Schools in New York City
| RAND Corporation | RAND | February 2026
This report evaluates community schools that integrate family supports such as housing assistance, immigration services, workforce training, and adult education.
Rural Housing
| U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development | HUD User | 2026
This article reviews rural housing cost burdens, manufactured housing, and programs that can help low-income rural households find or keep stable homes.
The Evolution of Housing Data in the United States, Part 2
| U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development | HUD User | February 19, 2026
This article explains housing data systems such as CHAS, showing how data helps identify low-income housing needs and target housing assistance.
Investing TANF Dollars in Basic Assistance Is Vital for Families
| Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | CBPP | January 15, 2026
This article argues that TANF funds are most effective at reducing hardship when they reach families as basic cash assistance rather than being diverted away from direct support.
Food Security and Nutrition Assistance
| USDA Economic Research Service | USDA ERS | February 18, 2026
This data page summarizes food insecurity trends and nutrition assistance participation, giving a compact evidence base for hunger and anti-poverty policy.
How Generous Are Each State’s Safety Net Programs?
| Brookings Institution | Brookings | 2026
This article compares how state and federal safety net rules shape benefit access, showing how families with similar needs can receive very different levels of help depending on location.
In Every Corner of the Country, the Middle Class Struggles With Affordability
| Brookings Institution | Brookings | December 2, 2025
This article uses local cost data to show how food, housing, child care, and other basic necessities strain household budgets across metropolitan areas.
Household Food Security in the United States in 2024
This report provides the official annual USDA food security estimates, including household food insecurity, very low food security, and participation in SNAP, WIC, and school meals.
Household Food Security in the United States in 2024 PDF
This PDF version of the USDA report provides detailed tables and analysis on household food security, food spending, child food insecurity, and nutrition assistance use.
Empowering Imperial County
| RAND Corporation | RAND | December 2025
This report examines local economic development and community conditions in Imperial County, showing how place-based strategies can address poverty, jobs, and infrastructure needs.
Military Compensation and Food Insecurity
| RAND Corporation | RAND | 2025
This report studies food insecurity among military households, showing how income, benefits, family size, and local costs affect economic hardship even among employed families.
A Meta-Analysis of Effects of Vocational Skills Training on Future Earnings
| Emerald Publishing | Education + Training | November 19, 2025
This meta-analysis reviews evidence on whether vocational skills training improves earnings for unemployed youth, helping distinguish effective job training from weak programs.
What Black Michiganders Say Their Communities Need
| Brookings Institution | Brookings | October 29, 2025
This report combines community interviews and policy analysis to identify local priorities for economic security, safety, housing, education, and opportunity in Black-majority communities.
Closing the SNAP Gap: Identifying Under-Enrollment in High-Poverty ZIP Codes
| Auyona Ray | arXiv | October 29, 2025
This study develops a diagnostic framework for finding high-poverty ZIP codes where SNAP enrollment is unexpectedly low, helping target outreach and reduce food assistance gaps.
A Quick Guide to SNAP Eligibility and Benefits
| Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | CBPP | October 3, 2025
This guide explains SNAP income limits, benefit formulas, deductions, and eligibility rules, making it a useful reference for understanding how food assistance reaches low-income households.
The Probability of Food Security
This paper introduces a long-run food security data series using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, enabling research on food insecurity dynamics over decades.
Many Low-Income People Will Soon Begin to Lose Food Assistance Under New Law
| Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | CBPP | September 10, 2025
This article analyzes changes that could reduce SNAP benefits for millions of people, highlighting how administrative and eligibility rules can increase hardship.
Congress Must Fully Fund WIC in 2026 Spending Bill
| Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | CBPP | September 12, 2025
This article explains why WIC funding matters for pregnant women, infants, and young children, especially during periods of high food prices and rising participation.
How Much Does SNAP Matter? SNAP’s Effects on Food Security
| Seungmin Lee | arXiv | August 27, 2025
This study uses a new food security measure to evaluate SNAP’s effect on household food security, adding nuance to debates over program design and measurement.
House Bill Would Leave Over 400,000 More People Without Stable Affordable Housing
| Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | CBPP | July 31, 2025
This article explains how flat or reduced housing voucher funding can leave more households exposed to eviction, homelessness, and rent burdens.
Rental Assistance Time Limits Would Place More Than 3 Million People at Risk
| Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | CBPP | July 18, 2025
This article analyzes proposed rental assistance limits and argues that cutting housing aid would destabilize children, older adults, people with disabilities, and working families.
The Food and Nutrition Assistance Landscape: Fiscal Year 2024 Annual Report
| USDA Economic Research Service | USDA ERS | 2025
This report summarizes major food assistance trends, spending, and policy changes, offering background on the scale and role of federal nutrition programs.
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Key Statistics and Research
| USDA Economic Research Service | USDA ERS | July 24, 2025
This page compiles SNAP participation, spending, household characteristics, and research links, making it a data hub for food assistance policy.
WIC Program
| USDA Economic Research Service | USDA ERS | July 22, 2025
This USDA page summarizes WIC research and data on nutrition assistance for low-income pregnant and postpartum women, infants, and young children.
The Impact of Unconditional Cash Transfers on Parenting and Children
This NBER page summarizes a randomized cash transfer study examining whether direct income support changes parental behavior, household spending, and children’s outcomes.
House Reconciliation Bill Proposes Deepest SNAP Cut in History
| Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | CBPP | May 28, 2025
This article analyzes proposed SNAP cuts and explains how reducing food assistance would increase hunger and deepen poverty for low-income households.
Food and Nutrition Assistance Programs: SNAP and WIC
| Institute for Research on Poverty | University of Wisconsin–Madison | April 30, 2025
This slide deck summarizes research on SNAP, WIC, and food security measurement, including new approaches to studying food insecurity over time.
2025 Budget Stakes: Cuts Would Widen Economic Disparities
| Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | CBPP | February 28, 2025
This article explains how cuts to assistance programs would widen racial and economic disparities, while stronger tax credits and supports could reduce child poverty.
2025 Budget Stakes: Poverty and Hardship Could Rise for Millions
| Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | CBPP | February 21, 2025
This article summarizes how food, housing, health, and income support cuts could increase poverty and hardship for families with low and moderate incomes.
Military Compensation and Food Insecurity Research Brief
| RAND Corporation | RAND | February 25, 2025
This research page summarizes RAND’s analysis of food insecurity among military families, showing how compensation policy intersects with food security.
Promising Approaches to Student Basic Needs Support
| RAND Corporation | RAND | 2025
This report studies college basic-needs programs that help students address food insecurity, homelessness, child care needs, and emergency aid.
An Evaluation of Single Stop Across Ten Colleges
| RAND Corporation | RAND | 2025
This evaluation examines a benefits access model that helps college students connect to food, housing, child care, tax, and financial supports.
Evaluation of Texas’s Student Success Acceleration Program
| RAND Corporation | RAND | 2025
This report evaluates student support programs that address food insecurity, housing instability, child care needs, and emergency aid to improve education and economic mobility.
A Longitudinal Case Study of 24 Transition Age Youth
| RAND Corporation | RAND | 2025
This study follows transition-age youth and examines how shelter, stable housing, identification documents, services, and health supports affect well-being and stability.
Employment Effects of Skills Trainings in Sub-Saharan Africa
| Bernd Beber and coauthors | Journal of Development Effectiveness | 2025
This systematic review examines randomized trials of skills training programs in sub-Saharan Africa, helping identify when job training improves employment.
Understanding the Health and Well-Being Needs of New York Veterans
| RAND Corporation | RAND | 2025
This research brief includes employment, food security, health, and service access needs among recently separated veterans, showing how safety net gaps can affect reintegration.
Federal Tools for Production and Preservation of Affordable Rental Housing
| U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development | HUD User | 2025
This paper describes federal rental housing production and preservation tools, including subsidies that can expand affordable housing for low-income households.
Household Responses to Guaranteed Income
| Sidhya Balakrishnan and coauthors | National Bureau of Economic Research | 2025
This study examines a guaranteed income program in Compton, California, including how cash transfers affected household spending, financial stability, and payment timing.
Child Poverty: Global, Regional and Select National Trends
| World Bank | World Bank | 2025
This report tracks child poverty globally and regionally, showing where poverty remains concentrated and why child-focused safety nets matter.
Poverty
| World Bank | World Bank | 2025
This topic page compiles global poverty data, research, and policy resources, including poverty measurement, social protection, and inclusive growth.
Measuring Poverty
| World Bank | World Bank | 2025
This explainer describes poverty lines, extreme poverty measurement, and how poverty data guide international anti-poverty strategies.
The Household Pulse Survey and Food Hardship
| U.S. Census Bureau | Census Bureau | 2025
This data source tracks household hardship, including food insufficiency, housing insecurity, employment changes, and difficulty paying expenses.
Children’s Interagency Coordinating Council FY 2024 Report to Congress
| Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation | ASPE | 2025
This ASPE topic page collects research on employment, self-sufficiency, family supports, and programs that help households with low incomes meet basic needs.
Social Safety Net
| Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation | ASPE | 2025
This page collects federal research on the social safety net, including benefits, child care, food, health, and housing supports for families facing hardship.
Poverty and Economic Mobility
| Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation | ASPE | 2025
This page gathers research on poverty guidelines, economic mobility, employment, income supports, and human services programs.
Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program
| Administration for Children and Families | ACF | May 7, 2025
This program page explains LIHEAP, which helps low-income households pay energy bills and avoid utility-related hardship.
Community Services Block Grant
| Administration for Children and Families | ACF | 2025
This page describes CSBG, a federal program that funds local anti-poverty services addressing employment, housing, nutrition, emergency needs, and community development.
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
| Administration for Children and Families | ACF | 2025
This page explains TANF data, funding, work participation, caseloads, and state flexibility, offering background for cash assistance and welfare policy.
Self-Sufficiency, Welfare and Employment
| Administration for Children and Families | ACF OPRE | 2025
This research page collects evaluations of employment services, welfare programs, TANF, and self-sufficiency strategies for families with low incomes.
Homeless People to Be Given Cash in First Major UK Trial to Reduce Poverty
| The Guardian | The Guardian | November 24, 2024
This article reports on a UK trial testing whether targeted cash support can help people experiencing homelessness resolve debts, deposits, equipment costs, and other barriers.
When Will the United States Walk the Walk for Young Children and Families?
| Brookings Institution | Brookings | October 4, 2024
This article argues that child poverty reduction requires stronger financial supports, food assistance, child care, and early childhood investment.
Unconditional Cash Transfers: A Bayesian Meta-Analysis
| Tommaso Crosta and coauthors | National Bureau of Economic Research | 2024
This meta-analysis combines evidence from 115 studies of unconditional cash transfers and finds effects across consumption, food security, assets, income, school enrollment, and well-being.
The Dynamic Effects of Cash Transfers to Agricultural Households
| Shilpa Aggarwal and coauthors | National Bureau of Economic Research | 2024
This study examines large cash transfers in Liberia and Malawi and finds sustained food security gains linked to farm investment and production.
Structuring Cash Transfers: Cash Flow Preferences, Constraints, and Long-Run Effects
| NBER researchers | National Bureau of Economic Research | 2024
This paper studies how transfer timing and structure affect household choices, showing that cash assistance design can matter as much as transfer size.
Household Responses to Guaranteed Income PDF
| Sidhya Balakrishnan and coauthors | National Bureau of Economic Research | 2024
This working paper studies a two-year unconditional cash transfer program and examines how families responded to recurring income support.
Program Report: Children and Families
| National Bureau of Economic Research | NBER Reporter | July 23, 2024
This report summarizes recent economic research on children and families, including evidence on cash transfers, child maltreatment, education, and household stability.
Annual Evaluation Plan Fiscal Year 2025
| U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development | HUD User | June 25, 2024
This HUD plan outlines evaluation priorities for housing programs, helping identify where federal research is focused on homelessness, housing assistance, and community development.
The Building Blocks of Equitable Local Economies
| Christina Plerhoples Stacy and Emma Fernandez | Urban Institute | April 2024
This report explains how local economic development decisions can reduce inequity by supporting housing, jobs, public investment, and community wealth-building.
How Generous Are Each State’s Safety Net Programs?
| Brookings Institution | Brookings | November 28, 2023
This article compares state safety net generosity and shows how program design affects poverty reduction, food security, and household income support.
Cash Transfer Programs Are Growing More Common in the U.S.
| Penn Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics | Penn LDI | August 30, 2023
This article reviews growing U.S. cash transfer pilots and discusses evidence that predictable income can improve health, reduce stress, and ease poverty-related hardship.
Debt Ceiling Agreement’s SNAP Changes Would Increase Hunger and Poverty
| Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | CBPP | 2023
This article analyzes SNAP work-reporting rules and explains how benefit loss can increase hunger among older low-income adults.
SNAP Is Linked With Improved Health Outcomes and Lower Health Care Costs
| Brynne Keith-Jennings, Joseph Llobrera, and Stacy Dean | Health Affairs / PMC | 2019
This article reviews evidence that SNAP reduces food insecurity and is associated with better health outcomes and lower health care costs.
Permanent Supportive Housing With Housing First to Reduce Homelessness
| Yinan Peng and coauthors | PMC | 2020
This review summarizes evidence that Housing First and permanent supportive housing reduce homelessness and improve housing stability for people with complex needs.
Effects of Housing First Approaches on Health and Well-Being
| A. J. Baxter and coauthors | Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health | 2019
This systematic review examines randomized trials of Housing First and evaluates effects on housing, health, quality of life, and service use.
The Evidence Is Clear: Housing First Works
| National Low Income Housing Coalition | NLIHC | 2023
This evidence summary explains why Housing First is effective at reducing homelessness and improving housing stability without requiring treatment or sobriety first.
Long-Term Housing Solutions: Housing-Led and Housing First
| Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development | OECD | December 13, 2024
This toolkit chapter reviews international Housing First evidence and explains how long-term housing with supports can reduce chronic homelessness.
Policy and Practice: Housing First and Homelessness
| U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development | HUD User | Autumn 2024
This publication discusses Housing First as an evidence-based alternative to punitive responses to homelessness and encampments.
Federal Fair Market Rents
| U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development | HUD User | 2025
This data page explains Fair Market Rents, which are used to set voucher payment standards and determine whether rental assistance keeps pace with local housing costs.
HUD Income Limits Data
| U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development | HUD User | 2025
This dataset explains income limits used to determine eligibility for HUD housing programs, helping researchers understand how assistance is targeted.
Neighborhood Stabilization Program Data
| U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development | HUD User | 2025
This dataset describes neighborhood stabilization grants used to address foreclosed and abandoned properties, which can affect housing markets and community poverty.
Housing Research, Data and Event Announcements
| U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development | HUD User | 2026
This page tracks new HUD research, data tools, and policy publications related to housing affordability, homelessness, neighborhood change, and federal housing programs.
Investing in Housing Vouchers Critical to Protecting Children From Hardship
| Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | CBPP | November 16, 2021
This article summarizes evidence that rental vouchers reduce homelessness, instability, overcrowding, and other hardships that affect children’s development.
Child Tax Credit Has a Critical Role in Helping Families Maintain Economic Stability
| Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | CBPP | April 14, 2022
This article explains how a fully refundable Child Tax Credit can reduce poverty, stabilize family finances, and support children’s long-term outcomes.
House Relief Package Would Help Millions and Bolster the Economy
| Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | CBPP | February 17, 2021
This article explains how relief payments, food assistance, housing aid, unemployment insurance, and child supports can reduce hardship during economic crises.
Policy Basics
| Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | CBPP | 2025
This resource library provides plain-language background on federal budget, tax, food assistance, housing, income security, and poverty programs.
The Impact of Tech Training and Job Referrals for Youth in Kenya
| Innovations for Poverty Action | IPA | 2025
This randomized evaluation studies whether technology training and job referrals improve employment, earnings, happiness, and financial security among young people in Nairobi.
Evaluating Sama’s Training and Job Programs in Nairobi
| J-PAL affiliated researchers | Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab | 2021
This randomized evaluation finds that combining training with job referrals can improve earnings and reduce unemployment for youth seeking digital work.
Generation Evaluation in India and Kenya: Phase II Report
| Mathematica | Generation | 2024
This evaluation studies job training programs in India and Kenya and reviews broader evidence on when vocational training improves employment and earnings.
Displaced Livelihoods Initiative Funded Projects
| Innovations for Poverty Action | IPA | 2024
This project page describes evaluations of cash grants, mentorship, livelihoods support, and social cohesion programs for refugees and host communities.
Cash-Only and Cash-Plus Programs in the Nakivale Refugee Settlement
| Mathematica | Mathematica | 2026
This report studies cash-only and cash-plus support for refugee households, including food security, livelihoods, household characteristics, and implementation design.
Our Research
| GiveDirectly | GiveDirectly | 2025
This research page summarizes randomized studies and pilots on direct cash transfers, including large U.S. guaranteed income trials and international poverty programs.
Kenya Ultra-Poor Graduation Strategy 2025
| Government of Kenya | State Department for Social Protection | 2025
This strategy outlines graduation approaches that combine cash or food support with livelihoods, coaching, and social protection for households in extreme poverty.
Social Assistance a Lifeline for Households During COVID-19 Crisis
| Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis | KIPPRA | July 20, 2021
This article explains how cash transfers and social assistance helped cushion Kenyan households during the COVID-19 economic shock.
Policy Brief on Food and Nutrition Security
| Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis | KIPPRA | 2025
This policy brief analyzes food and nutrition security using multiple pillars, including health, agriculture, water, education, environment, and social protection.
Goal 1: End Poverty in All Its Forms Everywhere
| United Nations | United Nations Sustainable Development Goals | 2025
This page summarizes the global goal of ending poverty, including extreme poverty, social protection coverage, and vulnerability to economic and climate shocks.
Addressing Social Determinants of Health
| Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation | ASPE | 2022
This evidence review shows how poverty, employment, housing, food access, transportation, and education shape health outcomes and can be addressed through policy.
Recommendations for Improving the Core Sets of Health Care Quality Measures
| Mathematica | Mathematica | May 3, 2024
This report discusses Medicaid and CHIP quality measurement, including the importance of screening for housing, food, transportation, and other social needs.
Core Set Review Draft Report
| Mathematica | Mathematica | 2024
This draft report discusses measure gaps related to housing, food insecurity, transportation, and other health-related social needs among Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries.
Core Set Review Removals and Additions
| Mathematica | Mathematica | 2024
This document lists proposed quality measure changes, including screening tools that assess food insecurity, housing insecurity, transportation needs, and related hardship.
Accelerating Innovative and Effective Pediatric Health Care Delivery Systems
| Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation | ASPE | 2026
This report connects children’s health outcomes to food, housing, child care, education, and family well-being, reinforcing the role of social supports in poverty reduction.
SDOH Highlights
| Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation | ASPE | 2025
This brief highlights federal work to increase housing and food security, improve benefit enrollment, and address social determinants of health.
Welfare Indicators and Risk Factors: 25th Report to Congress
| Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation | ASPE | 2025
This report tracks welfare dependence, poverty, cash assistance, food insecurity, labor force participation, and risk factors affecting family economic security.
Welfare Indicators and Risk Factors: 24th Report to Congress
| Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation | ASPE | 2024
This annual report provides data on poverty, TANF, SNAP, family structure, work, food insecurity, and other indicators used to evaluate social safety net trends.
Child and Adult Core Sets Annual Review Workgroup
| Mathematica | Mathematica | 2024
This review workgroup document shows how health systems increasingly track food, housing, and transportation insecurity as part of measuring care quality for low-income populations.
Food Security in the United States
| USDA Economic Research Service | USDA ERS | 2026
This USDA topic page explains food security definitions, trends, measurement methods, and links to national reports used in hunger and poverty research.
Food and Nutrition Assistance
| USDA Economic Research Service | USDA ERS | 2026
This USDA page collects research on SNAP, WIC, child nutrition, food security, and food assistance data used to study poverty and hunger.
Chart Gallery: Food Security and Nutrition Assistance
| USDA Economic Research Service | USDA ERS | 2026
This chart gallery provides visual data on food insecurity and nutrition assistance trends, useful for tracking hardship and program reach.
LIHEAP Eligibility Tool
| Administration for Children and Families | ACF | February 5, 2026
This eligibility tool helps households determine whether they may qualify for energy bill assistance, a key support for low-income families facing high utility costs.
Massachusetts LIHEAP Profile
| Administration for Children and Families | ACF | 2026
This state profile describes energy assistance and related supports, including short-term financial help for low-income families facing homelessness or utility hardship.
How to Apply for Head Start
| Office of Head Start | HeadStart.gov | February 13, 2026
This guide explains Head Start application steps for families, showing how early childhood education and family support programs connect low-income children to services.
To Thrive, American Children Need a Stronger Safety Net
| Brookings Institution | Brookings | June 7, 2019
This article explains why children need stronger supports such as child care assistance, housing help, nutrition programs, and income supports to thrive.
Trump Administration Budgets and Programs for People of Limited Means
| Brookings Institution | Brookings | September 3, 2024
This article reviews proposed changes to cash assistance, disability benefits, TANF, SNAP, and other programs serving people with limited incomes.
| Brookings Institution | Brookings | December 16, 2024
This article discusses women’s economic autonomy, local support systems, care work, and poverty reduction strategies in marginalized communities.
What Is Poverty: Understanding the Global Challenge
| TechnoServe | TechnoServe | October 16, 2024
This explainer reviews poverty causes and consequences, including unemployment, exclusion, climate shocks, and limited access to basic needs.
Handing Money to the Poor Is Never Enough
This article discusses cash transfers and argues that poverty reduction requires both income support and structural reforms that address unequal opportunity.
The Social Consequences of Poverty
| Carina Mood and Jan O. Jonsson | PMC | 2015
This study examines how poverty and economic deprivation affect social relationships, participation, and broader well-being.
Welfare Reform Reauthorization: Problems and Issues
| Brookings Institution | Brookings | 2001
This older policy brief remains useful background on welfare reform debates, TANF design, work requirements, family supports, and poverty policy tradeoffs.
Household Food Security Data Product
| USDA Economic Research Service | USDA ERS | 2026
This data product provides national food security statistics and historical trends, supporting research on hunger, poverty, and nutrition assistance.
Food Environment Atlas
| USDA Economic Research Service | USDA ERS | 2026
This dataset helps researchers study food access, income, store availability, health, and community conditions that influence food security and poverty.
Child Nutrition Programs
| USDA Economic Research Service | USDA ERS | 2026
This page compiles data and research on school meals and other child nutrition programs that reduce food hardship among children.
SNAP Participation and Spending Data
| USDA Food and Nutrition Service | USDA FNS | 2026
This data page tracks SNAP participation and costs, helping researchers evaluate how food assistance responds to poverty, unemployment, and policy changes.
WIC Data Tables
| USDA Food and Nutrition Service | USDA FNS | 2026
This data page tracks WIC participation and spending, showing how nutrition assistance reaches pregnant women, infants, and young children.
School Meals Data Tables
| USDA Food and Nutrition Service | USDA FNS | 2026
This data page tracks school meal participation and spending, which are central to child food security and family budget relief.
Characteristics of SNAP Households
| USDA Food and Nutrition Service | USDA FNS | 2025
This report describes SNAP household characteristics, including income, children, older adults, disability, and work status, helping explain who food assistance serves.
SNAP Employment and Training
| USDA Food and Nutrition Service | USDA FNS | 2026
This page explains SNAP Employment and Training, a program designed to connect food assistance participants with job skills, training, and employment pathways.
Child Care and Development Fund
| Administration for Children and Families | ACF | 2026
This page explains the major federal child care subsidy program, which helps low-income parents work, train, or attend school while children receive care.
Child Care Technical Assistance Network
| Administration for Children and Families | ACF | 2026
This resource hub provides child care policy, subsidy, quality, and implementation information for states and communities working to support families.
National Database of Child Care Prices
| U.S. Department of Labor Women’s Bureau | Department of Labor | 2025
This dataset shows how child care prices vary by age, care setting, and location, helping researchers measure one of the largest costs facing working families.
Child Care Prices Are Out of Reach for Many Families
| U.S. Department of Labor Women’s Bureau | Department of Labor | 2025
This resource explains how high child care costs affect work, family income, and economic security, especially for parents with low and moderate wages.
Benefits Data Trust: Benefits Access and Poverty Reduction
| Benefits Data Trust | Benefits Data Trust | 2025
This organization’s work focuses on improving access to SNAP, Medicaid, and other benefits, showing how enrollment barriers can prevent eligible households from receiving help.
Code for America: Safety Net Innovation
| Code for America | Code for America | 2025
This program page describes technology and service design work to make food, health, tax, and safety net benefits easier for eligible households to access.
Guaranteed Income Pilots Dashboard
| Mayors for a Guaranteed Income | Guaranteed Income Community of Practice | 2025
This dashboard tracks guaranteed income pilots, providing evidence and examples of direct cash programs tested in cities and communities.
Basic Income Pilot Research
| Stanford Basic Income Lab | Stanford University | 2025
This research hub compiles studies on basic income, guaranteed income, and cash transfer programs, including effects on work, health, poverty, and family stability.
J-PAL Social Protection Research
| Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab | J-PAL | 2025
This research page summarizes randomized evaluations of cash transfers, social protection, graduation programs, and welfare policies around the world.
J-PAL Jobs and Opportunity Research
| Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab | J-PAL | 2025
This research page reviews evidence on job training, wage subsidies, entrepreneurship, labor markets, and programs designed to increase earnings.
IPA Social Protection Research
| Innovations for Poverty Action | IPA | 2025
This page gathers evidence from social protection evaluations, including cash transfers, food security programs, and safety net delivery in low-income settings.
IPA Entrepreneurship and Private Sector Development
| Innovations for Poverty Action | IPA | 2025
This page reviews studies on entrepreneurship, grants, business training, credit, and livelihoods programs aimed at raising incomes.
MDRC Economic Mobility, Housing, and Communities
This research hub collects evaluations of programs related to employment, housing, income support, community colleges, and economic mobility.
MDRC Family Well-Being and Children’s Development
This page collects research on child care, family support, early childhood programs, and policies that improve outcomes for children in low-income families.
Urban Institute Poverty, Vulnerability, and the Safety Net
| Urban Institute | Urban Institute | 2025
This research hub studies how public benefits, income supports, and safety net programs reduce poverty and protect households from hardship.
Urban Institute Housing Stability
| Urban Institute | Urban Institute | 2025
This topic page gathers research on eviction, rental assistance, homelessness prevention, and housing stability as anti-poverty tools.
Urban Institute Guaranteed Income
| Urban Institute | Urban Institute | 2025
This topic page collects research and commentary on guaranteed income, cash assistance, household budgets, and poverty reduction.
Urban Institute Child Care and Early Education
| Urban Institute | Urban Institute | 2025
This page collects research on child care affordability, subsidies, early education access, and the role of child care in family economic security.
Brookings Center on Children and Families
| Brookings Institution | Brookings | 2025
This research center studies child poverty, mobility, family policy, tax credits, work supports, and education as pathways to opportunity.
Institute for Research on Poverty
| Institute for Research on Poverty | University of Wisconsin–Madison | 2025
This research center provides poverty policy studies, webinars, data, and expert analysis on income support, food security, child poverty, and labor markets.
Center for Guaranteed Income Research
| Center for Guaranteed Income Research | University of Pennsylvania | 2025
This research center studies guaranteed income pilots and direct cash programs, focusing on health, employment, family stability, and financial well-being.
Center on Poverty and Social Policy
| Center on Poverty and Social Policy | Columbia University | 2025
This center produces research on child poverty, tax credits, income supports, and social policy, including analysis of how public benefits affect poverty rates.
Supplemental Poverty Measure Research
| U.S. Census Bureau | Census Bureau | 2025
This page explains the Supplemental Poverty Measure, which counts taxes, transfers, food assistance, housing costs, and medical expenses to better assess anti-poverty policy.
Income and Poverty in the United States
| U.S. Census Bureau | Census Bureau | 2025
This Census page provides official poverty data, reports, and tables used to track whether income growth and public policy are reducing poverty.
Opportunity Insights Economic Mobility Research
| Opportunity Insights | Harvard University | 2025
This research hub uses large-scale data to study economic mobility, neighborhoods, education, housing, and policies that help children from low-income families move up.
Eviction Lab
| Eviction Lab | Princeton University | 2025
This data and research project tracks eviction patterns and housing instability, showing how eviction contributes to poverty, health problems, and family disruption.
National Low Income Housing Coalition Research
| National Low Income Housing Coalition | NLIHC | 2025
This research page provides data on rental affordability, housing shortages, homelessness, and policy solutions for extremely low-income renters.
Out of Reach
| National Low Income Housing Coalition | NLIHC | 2025
This annual report compares wages and rents across the United States, showing how housing costs drive poverty and housing insecurity for low-wage workers.
The Gap
| National Low Income Housing Coalition | NLIHC | 2025
This annual report measures the shortage of affordable and available rental homes for extremely low-income renters, a key driver of housing poverty.
Feeding America Map the Meal Gap
| Feeding America | Feeding America | 2025
This research project maps food insecurity by county and demographic group, helping identify where anti-hunger programs and policy interventions are most needed.
Food Research and Action Center SNAP Research
| Food Research and Action Center | FRAC | 2025
This page summarizes SNAP research, policy, and advocacy showing how food assistance reduces hunger and supports family economic security.
Food Research and Action Center WIC Research
| Food Research and Action Center | FRAC | 2025
This page explains WIC’s role in improving nutrition and reducing hardship for pregnant women, infants, and young children in low-income families.
No Kid Hungry School Meals Research
| No Kid Hungry | Share Our Strength | 2025
This page explains how school breakfast and lunch programs reduce child hunger, improve learning conditions, and relieve pressure on family food budgets.
