The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for the average adult. The cost of housing, such as the rent for an apartment, usually makes up the largest proportion of this estimate, so economists track the real estate market and other housing cost indicators as a major influence on the poverty line. Individual factors are often used to account for various circumstances, such as whether one is a parent, elderly, a child, married, etc. The poverty threshold may be adjusted annually. In practice, like the definition of poverty, the official or common understanding of the poverty line is significantly higher in developed countries than in developing countries.
Poverty in Australia deals with the incidence of relative poverty in Australia and its measurement. Relative income poverty is measured as a percentage of the population that earns less in comparison to the median wage of the working population.
Housing Benefit is a means-tested social security benefit in the United Kingdom that is intended to help meet housing costs for rented accommodation. It is the second biggest item in the Department for Work and Pensions' budget after the state pension, totalling £23.8 billion in 2013–14.
Affordable housing is housing which is deemed affordable to those with a household income at or below the median as rated by the national government or a local government by a recognized housing affordability index. Most of the literature on affordable housing refers to mortgages and a number of forms that exist along a continuum – from emergency homeless shelters, to transitional housing, to non-market rental, to formal and informal rental, indigenous housing, and ending with affordable home ownership.
The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program is a United States federal social services program first established in 1981 and funded annually through Congressional appropriations. The mission of LIHEAP is to assist low income households, particularly those with the lowest incomes that pay a high proportion of household income for home energy, primarily in meeting their immediate home energy needs. The program, part of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is funded by grants appropriated from the federal government.
A household is said to be in fuel poverty when its members cannot afford to keep adequately warm at a reasonable cost, given their income. The term is mainly used in the UK, Ireland and New Zealand, although discussions on fuel poverty are increasing across Europe, and the concept also applies everywhere in the world where poverty and cold may be present.
Poverty in the United Kingdom refers to the portion of the population of the United Kingdom that is considered to be in poverty under some measures of poverty.
Energy poverty is lack of access to modern energy services. It refers to the situation of large numbers of people in developing countries and some people in developed countries whose well-being is negatively affected by very low consumption of energy, use of dirty or polluting fuels, and excessive time spent collecting fuel to meet basic needs. Today, 759 million people lack access to consistent electricity and 2.6 billion people use dangerous and inefficient cooking systems. It is inversely related to access to modern energy services, although improving access is only one factor in efforts to reduce energy poverty. Energy poverty is distinct from fuel poverty, which primarily focuses solely on the issue of affordability.
Poverty is measured in different ways by different bodies, both governmental and nongovernmental. Measurements can be absolute, which references a single standard, or relative, which is dependent on context. Poverty is widely understood to be multidimensional, comprising social, natural and economic factors situated within wider socio-political processes. The capabilities approach argues that capturing the perceptions of poor people is fundamental to understanding poverty.
Energy Saving Trust is a British organization devoted to promoting energy efficiency, energy conservation, and the sustainable use of energy, thereby reducing carbon dioxide emissions and helping to prevent man-made climate change. It was founded in the United Kingdom as a government-sponsored initiative in 1992, following the global Earth Summit.
The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) is an office within the United States Department of Energy. Formed from other energy agencies after the 1973 energy crisis, EERE is led by the Assistant Secretary of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, who is appointed by the president of the United States and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Alejandro Moreno currently leads the office as the Acting Assistant Secretary.
Homelessness in the United Kingdom is measured and responded to in differing ways in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, but affects people living in every part of the UK's constituent countries.
The Building and Construction Improvement Program(BACIP) is a program of the Aga Khan Planning and Building Service, Pakistan (AKPBS,P) that is engaged in developing and promoting solutions to housing and built environment-related issues of rural communities living in Gilgit-Baltistan and the province of Sindh.
In the United Kingdom, there are different definitions of fuel poverty. In England, a household is considered to be in fuel poverty if they are living in a property with an energy efficiency rating of band D or below, and if after heating their home to an adequate level, they fall below the official poverty line. In Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, the definition of fuel poverty is whether a household needs to spend more than 10% of their income on energy bills to heat their home to an adequate level of warmth.To be considered adequate, the main living room needs to be 21 °C (70 °F), and other occupied rooms 18 °C (64 °F) during the daytime, with lower temperatures allowed at night.
Green affordable housing is reasonably priced housing that incorporates sustainable features. The phenomenon has become increasingly common in the United States with the adoption of state and local policies that favor or require green building practices for publicly owned or funded buildings. Potential benefits of green affordable housing include lower energy cost burden and improved health. One challenge to green affordable housing is the tendency to overlook long-term benefits in the face of higher upfront cost. The challenge for green housing advocates is to see to the life cycle cost of the building. Many affordable housing projects already find it a challenge to raise capital to finance basic affordable housing. Green affordable housing has taken form in traditionally wooden homes and most recently with 'upcycling' shipping containers
The Green Deal was a UK government policy initiative that gave homeowners, landlords and tenants the opportunity to pay for energy efficient home improvements through the savings on their energy bills from 2012 to 2015. At the heart of the Green Deal was the rule that savings on bills would exceed the cost of the work. By meeting this 'Golden Rule', consumers were able to receive energy savings without direct cost. Consumers then paid back the cost of such improvements through the expected savings in their energy bills. However, there is no guarantee that the eventual savings made by consumers will match the cost of the loans they take out to make the improvements and industry bodies recognised there was a risk consumers could end up out of pocket.
The Energy Company Obligation (ECO) is a British Government programme. It is designed to offset emissions created by energy company power stations. The first obligation period ran from January 2013 to 31 March 2015. The second obligation period, known as ECO2, ran from 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2017. The third obligation period, known as ECO3, ran from 3 December 2018 until 31 March 2022. The fourth iteration, ECO4, commenced on 1 April 2022 and will run until 31 March 2026.
Energy poverty is defined as lacking access to the affordable sustainable energy service. Geographically, it is unevenly distributed in developing and developed countries. In 2019, there were an estimated 770 million people who have no access to electricity, with approximately 95% distributed in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
Brenda Boardman MBE is a research fellow at University of Oxford and a campaigner against fuel poverty. She provided the evidence and theory base for measuring the energy inefficiency of houses, coined the term 'affordable warmth' and has influenced UK government policy in this area.
Household energy insecurity refers to a household's inability to meet its energy needs. Energy insecurity is a broad framework that includes energy burden as one of several factors in a household's ability to meet energy needs. Household energy insecurity is influenced by both internal and external factors such as energy cost, household income, housing conditions, and personal behavior. The relevance of these factors may vary by geographic region, such as country or community, and the level of development of energy infrastructure.
