"Katrina Turns the Poor Into the Destitute"

[GreenPartyVoter]

WASHINGTON (AP) - Before Hurricane Katrina, they were among the poorest of America's poor. In the hardest hit counties, some 305,000 people not only lived in poverty, their families' income fell below 50 percent of the poverty line - about $7,500 for a family of three. Now, many live in strange towns with only a few dollars in their pockets.

They've become a new class of poor, one that makes the old class look well off by comparison. They have not only lost their jobs and their homes; they're also isolated from family and friends, putting them at great risk for depression and substance abuse.

"When you have no assets to start out with and no savings to rely on, and then your income stream is disrupted, something that might have been poverty with extreme hardship shifts into desperation," said Isaac Shapiro, a research analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal think tank.

For some evacuees, however, Katrina and the attention it brought to America's urban poor may give them the opportunity to break free from the cycle of poverty, other officials said.

http://apnews1.iwon.com/article/20050923/D8CPTACO0.html