Poverty in Rensselaer County

A glimpse into poverty in Rensselaer County:

· 25.5 percent of African-Americans and 43 percent of Latinos in Rensselaer County are living in poverty;

· 11 percent of non-elderly residents in Rensselaer County lack health insurance;

· 252 housing units in Rensselaer County lack plumbing; and

· more than a third of all households in Rensselaer County pay more than 35 percent of their income for rent, which is considered unaffordable by the federal government.

Catholic Charities encourages parishioners to call on legislators to address the needs of struggling constituents.

This blog is participating in Blog Action Day, an annual nonprofit event that aims to unite the world’s bloggers, podcasters and videocasters, to post about the same issue on the same day. The aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion: this year the issue is poverty. Between now and October 15, we will be posting about poverty in our diocese, with material provided by Catholic Charities in its report Poverty in the Diocese of Albany: A Threat to the Common Good. The report, and additional information, is available here.