Poverty

New York City is changing the way poverty in the city is defined, while the Federal government is considering a bill to do the same. Planetizen Assistant Editor Nate Berg reports in The Christian Science Monitor.

In an effort to tackle poverty, 15 states have set up commissions to explore the issues. Neal Peirce says they need to focus foremost on getting more money into the hands of the impoverished and reducing the burden of taxes on them.

The cost of home heating is expected to rise considerably this winter, but with utilities unable to obtain credit, Washington deadlocked on how to deal with it, and LIHEAP underfunded American households are in for a tough winter.

A new study by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health shows that living in poor and violent neighborhoods can significantly increase your risk of heart attack or stroke.

Downtown Cairo has undergone a steady decline in recent years, with more slums developing and more beggars filling the streets. This article from Bloomberg says there are many reasons for the decline.

New York City plans to revise the way it assesses poverty levels in the city, bringing in more variables and cost-of-living considerations. Officials expect the new measurement to be more accurate, and are calling on other cities to follow suit.

Protests both peaceful and violent are breaking out across Europe and Asia as people's livelihoods begin to suffer from soaring fuel costs, and some stores are running out of food as truck drivers go on strike.

With their high concentrations of marginalized Aboriginal residents, the Canadian prairie cities of Saskatoon, Regina and Winnipeg are ranked the top 3 most "dangerous" cities in the country in the latest Macleans Magazine survey.

This article from the Albany Times Union looks at the importance of using a regional approach to addressing poverty, crime and inner city blight.

"Slum tourism" is on the rise in developing countries around the world. Some say the tours help the affluent understand the dire situations faced by the world's poor, but others say it's just a way to help Westerners feel good about themselves.