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Poverty
APRIL 2020
What is poverty? 2

 No one agreed upon definition

 Different definitions abound
Thatresults in different population
groups being deemed as poor
 Definition largely subjective
 tending to be influenced by prevailing
culture
What is Poverty? 3
 But poverty is traditionally defined as a
discrete characteristic:
 Poor
 Non-poor
 No disagreement over its unacceptable
nature
 Basis for action (policy) - Alcock, 1997
Meaning of Poverty 4

 Inability to satisfy basic needs (food, clothing,

shelter, health, education)
 Inability to attain a level of real consumption
expenditure above an appropriate poverty
line (PIOJ).
 Absence of resources necessary to
participate and to enjoy a culturally
acceptable standard of living
 “pronounced deprivation in well-being” (WB,
2000)

Population trends have important

impact on economic and social
development
The consequences……
• Urban bias and pressure are evident in
the consequences seen:
– Poverty:
• disparities in service levels which fuel internal
migration
• inequality in access to improved water and
sanitation
• inequality in the size, quality of dwellings, electricity,
health facilities and education

Yet alongside this is the demand for telephones

and (cell phones), motor vehicles and personal
computers
Water and Toilet Facilities – JA, 2000

Total Urban Rural

Piped water inside 39.1 53.8 17.1
Piped water outside, 200m 40.7 39.8 42.2

Without piped water 19.4 5.8 39.9

No. of housing units 588,340 353,195 235,145

Flush toilet inside 42.0 60.4 14.3

Non-flush toilet inside - - -
With toilet outside 50.8 33.2 77.2
Other 2.6 4.4 4.8
Access to Improved Services (%), 2000
Water Sanitation
Urban Rural Urban Rural
Antigua & Barbuda 95 88 99 99
Barbados 100 100 100 100
Belize 83 69 59 21
Dominica 100 90 - -
Dominican Republic 100 90 75 64
Grenada 97 93 96 97
Guyana 98 91 97 81
Haiti 49 45 50 16
Jamaica 81 59 98 66
Suriname - - 100 34
Terms
 Urban slums – cities or urban areas
characterized by poverty, poor
living conditions, lack of basic
services
 Urban renewal
 Gentrification
 Squatter settlements/ shanty towns
 TYPES OF SQUATTERS
 Residential
 Speculator squatter
 Squatter landlord
 Owner squatter
 Squatter holdover
 Semi-squatter
 Squatter tenant

 Commercial
 Store squatter or occupational squatter

 Agricultural

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SQUATTER SETTLEMENTS: ORIGIN

 The development of squatter

settlements in Jamaica began in the
early C19th after the abolition of
slavery.

 After
their ‘so-called’ freedom, slaves
were faced with two options:
 remain on the plantations and work for the plantation owners
 settle illegally on private or state-owned land and live as squatters

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THE SQUATTER POPULATION
A preliminary survey by the
Ministry of Housing has found that
a quarter of Jamaica's population
(675 000) live in squatter
settlements.

Estimates also indicate that one of

every three urban dwellers live in
squatter settlements. 12
SQUATTER SETTLEMENTS: CHARACTERISTICS

 Most squatter settlements are characterized by:

 Lack of or poor sanitation

 Inadequate physical infrastructure
 Poor quality housing
 Improvised dwellings
 High housing density
 High levels of unemployment and
underemployment
 Impoverished people
 Absence of social infrastructure

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THE HOUSING CRISIS
 The housing situation in Jamaica is desperate. A range of issues are
responsible for this situation.

 Urbanisation

 An acute shortage of adequate housing

 Poverty

 Unemployment

 Housing cost and affordability

 Poor housing quality & condition

 Lack of access to finance for housing

 Low housing production levels

 Obsolescence in the housing stock 14

THE HOUSING CRISIS
 The nature of the housing crisis has reflected
itself in:

 Overcrowding
 Insanitary conditions
 Land capturing
 Mushrooming of squatter settlements without
the basic services and amenities

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HOUSING POVERTY
 Nearly 10.0 per cent of the Jamaican population
were classified as poor in 2007
 [Poverty line $282,000.93 for the reference family of five (two adults
and three children) and at $74,349.17 for the individual].

 Poor people face two kinds of housing problems

 Their small income is eaten up by housing expenses
 They always live beside someone else who is poor

 20.0 per cent of Jamaican households pay more than

they can afford for housing.

 A large portion of the homeowners are in arrears in

their mortgage 16
SQUATTER SURVEY 2004: FINDINGS
 595 squatter settlements were identified across
the country

 488 or 82% of these settlements are located in

the urban areas

 76% of the settlements are on government lands

 16% of settlements are on private lands including

lands belonging to the church

 Land ownership of 8% of settlements could not

be determined
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SQUATTER SURVEY 2004: FINDINGS
 11% of the settlements originally had formal
lease agreements with government, however,
this was abandoned over time

 36% of the settlements have been in existence

for more than 25 years

 Hanover is the only parish in which no new

settlement emerged within the last decade

 Clarendon,St. Catherine and St. James have

seen accelerated growth of squatter
settlements within the last five years
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SQUATTER SURVEY 2004: FINDINGS
 When respondents were questioned on the
reasons for squatting they offered the following:
 Nowhere to live

 Unable to find accommodation

 Rental accommodation too high

 Know people in the settlement and followed them

 An appropriate place to set up commercial

establishment, e.g. workshop

 Political

 To save money for a specific venture 19

WHY DO SQUATTER SETTLEMENTS EXIST?

 Rapid urbanization and inadequate capability to

cope with the housing needs of people
 Inability of the housing sector to provide
affordable housing units
 Failed policies
 Bad governance
 Corruption
 Inappropriate regulations

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WHY DO SQUATTER SETTLEMENTS EXIST?

 Dysfunctional land markets

 Unresponsive financial systems
 A fundamental lack of political will
 Acute housing shortage
 Economic hardships
 Availability of idle lands

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SOCIAL IMPACTS OF SQUATTING
 The lack of social amenities, public
facilities and the idleness that
characterizes squatter settlements
encourage theft of public services and
often promote socially deviant
behaviour.

This is evident in the large incidence of

stolen electricity and water supply in
many squatter communities.
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SOCIAL IMPACTS OF SQUATTING
 Educational opportunities are very limited in squatter communities
because there are hardly any schools nearby.

 Children have to travel far to attend school, and to make matters

worse education is not a priority in these communities.

 Consequently, there are numerous school dropouts, with many

children not going beyond the elementary level (Ferguson B.,
1996).

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Types of Poverty 4

 Absolute
 Relative
 Subjective
 Public
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Absolute Poverty 5

 Absolute - one’s consumption or income level

is inadequate to meet the basic necessities of
life
 depends on quantitative calculations that
derive a poverty line (minimum std.)
objective, scientific
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Absolute Measure of Poverty 6

 Reflects some standard below which it is

believed, basic needs cannot be met -
Poverty Line
 based on nutritional and non-food
requirements essential to normal and
healthy existence (Cost of Living Basket)
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Relative Poverty 7
 Imposes a social standard
 Based on the relative position of households or
individuals within a distribution (usually income or
consumption)
 Involves some measure of the mean/average
standard of the entire society
 Indicates inequality

 One type is subjective poverty

 It is based on the notion that opinions of people about
their own situations should ultimately be the decisive
factor in defining their economic status
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Determinants of Poverty 9

 Absence of social & economic policies that

ensure & protect:
 Access
 Quality regarding social goods (health, education
in particular)
 Poor choices and decisions
 Ascriptive factors
 race, ethnicity, gender
 Geographical location
 rural, inner-city - physical assets, social capital
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Determinants of Poverty 0

 Exogenous shocks
 Unemployment; Underemployment
 Limited human capital
 Weak social capital
 Region’s lack of competitiveness
 Deteriorating economic conditions
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Poverty Producing Agents - Oyen
 Poverty Producing Agents (perpetrators &
institutions) must be known
 Intentional
 Unintentional
 Poverty Reduction futile if poverty production
process continues
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2

Poverty Producing Agents - Oyen

 Strong poverty producing agents/forces must be
challenged; mitigated
 [We could argue that in the context of the
Caribbean region, poverty producing agents
could mean …
 WTO,

 Globalization efforts,
 Unsafe environmental practices
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Effects of Poverty 3

 “Takesaway the tools to build the

blocks for the future - ‘life chances’”
(Oppenheim and Harket, 1996)
Voicelessness and Powerlessness
Social exclusion, marginalization
vicious cycle; intergenerational
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Challenges to Poverty Reduction 4
Efforts
 HIV/AIDS (not just stigma and discrimination)
 Increasing prevalence of NCDs
 Low economic growth rates
 Vulnerability to economic & natural hazards
 Declining International Competitiveness
 Trade Liberalization, Globalization & the WTO
 Loss
of trade preferences & implications for
employment
 Loss
of highly skilled professional & technical
personnel
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Challenges to Poverty 5
Reduction Efforts
• High adolescent fertility rates
– Limited career prospects
– Lack of youth-friendly sexual and reproductive
health services
– Transactional sex
– Stigma and discrimination
– Lack of supportive services
• Single parenthood
– (these all impact on the lives of women and
children who are the most vulnerable)
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The Poverty Line 6

 Cost of living basket of goods comprising necessary

food & non-food items
 MOH, STATIN, PIOJ - Jamaica
 Food portion of the basket – calculation and
costing of daily nutritional requirements or
caloric intake
 Derivationof the proportion this represents of
h/hs consumption expenditure
 Reciprocal of food share is poverty multiplier
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Prevalence of Poverty in 7
Jamaica
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Spatial Dimension of 8

Poverty
 Poverty is generally more severe in rural
areas
 Working poor in rural areas generally
comprise small farmers and fisherfolk
 Low productivity
 Sporadic wages
 Subsistence existence
 Livelihoods easily disrupted by natural
disasters
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Spatial Dimension of 9

Poverty
 In urban areas, working poor are paid
higher wages than those in rural areas
 Employment may be insecure
 Large informal sector
 Higglers

 Hustlers

 Other small traders

 Activities barely provide liveable income
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Poverty & Inequality in the Caribbean
0

Country Year CPA % below Gini

conducted Poverty Coefficient
Line
Anguilla 2002 23.0 .31
Barbados 1997 13.9 .39
Belize 2002 33.5 .40
BVI 2002 22.0 .23
Dominica 2002 39.0 .35
Grenada 1999 32.1 .45
Guyana 1999 35.0 N/A
Jamaica 2003 19.1 .38
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The Gini coefficient 1
 When Italian statistician - and former fascist - Corrado Gini
died in Rome on 13 March 1965, he could not have known
that 50 years on, the UN would still use his name in their annual
rankings of nations.
 "The Gini coefficient provides an index to measure inequality,"
says Antonio Cabrales, a professor of economics at University
College London.
 It is a way of comparing how distribution of income in a society
compares with a similar society in which everyone earned
exactly the same amount. Inequality on the Gini scale is
measured between 0, where everybody is equal, and 1, where
all the country's income is earned by a single person.
 Gini developed his coefficient in 1912, building on the work of
American economist Max Lorenz, who published a
hypothetical way to depict total equality - a straight diagonal
line on a graph - in 1905. The difference between this
hypothetical line and the actual line produced of people's
incomes is the Gini ratio.

https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-
magazine-monitor-31847943
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Poverty in the Caribbean 2
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Poverty in the Caribbean 3
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Strategies to alleviate 4

poverty
 Employment policy
 Functioning labour market information
system
 Role of private sector as an engine of
growth and employment
 Incentives such as tax breaks
 Duty free concessions, etc.
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Strategies to alleviate 5

poverty
 Foreign Direct investment
 Small and medium sized enterprises
(SMEs)
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Strategies to alleviate 6

poverty
 4
Strategies to alleviate 7

poverty
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Other critical measures 8

 Strengthening investment in human capital

 Boosting entrepreneurship and self-
employment
 Tackling spatial dimension of poverty and
inequality
 Break intergenerational transmission of poverty
 Minimum Social Protection Floor
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From MDGs to SDGs 9

 Goal 1 - Eradicate
Extreme Poverty and
Hunger
 Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme
Poverty and Hunger

1. Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion

of people whose income is less than $1 a day.
2. Halve between 1990 and 2015, the proportion
of people who suffer from hunger
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SDG on Poverty 1
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SDG Targets on Poverty 2