Today's Census Poverty Numbers

The new Census numbers today show that poverty levels in New York state are up 14.8% (2004-2005) compared to 14.6% (2003-2004), this compared to the national average of 12.7 (04-05) and 12.6% (03-04).

Today the NY Times covers the food stamp usage increases in the state which directly related to these increased poverty numbers;

In contrast, the number of people using food stamps also peaked in March 1995, at 1,458,300, and then fell to a low of 798,396 in January 2002, the same month Mr. Bloomberg took office. Since then, with the exception of a few months, the number has risen rather consistently. The current number, just shy of 1.1 million, is about the same as it was in 1998.

In a city of just over 8 million residents, it is an absolute failure of our government that 1.1 million (13.6%) of those residents use food stamps, a number far short of those struggling to make ends meet.

We have covered Rep. Vito Fossella's failure on the issue on Staten Island here and here.