FOOD STAMPS help A LOT in bringing down Poverty Rates: New Study

http://www.vox.com/2015/10/27/9618332/meyer-snap-housing-underreporting

from 2008 to 2011 in New York, the average poverty rate before taking these programs into account was 13.6 percent. According to the survey data, food stamps/welfare/housing assistance dropped that down to 10.8 percent. But according to the more accurate administrative data, those programs actually cut the rate to 8.3 percent. Using the right numbers, in other words, nearly doubles the poverty-fighting power of these programs. The differences for "deep poverty" — that is, the share of households living on 50 percent of the poverty line or less — are a bit smaller, but for "near poverty" (the share of households living on 150 percent of the poverty line or less) they're even bigger, as the above chart suggests.

The survey's shortcomings are even greater when you look at households headed by a single mother, a particularly vulnerable group with a poverty rate of 37.5 percent before these programs are taken into account. The survey data suggests that welfare/food stamps/housing assistance cut that down to 30.2 percent. The administrative data suggests they actually cut it to 19.2 percent.