The need among low-income families to build assets is acute:
• The rising cost of living makes
it increasingly difficult for many working people to remain self-sufficient.
One-quarter of people in the Austin area are living 200% below the
federal poverty level.
• Racial inequity in attaining
higher education, purchasing homes, and business ownership leaves
many Hispanics and African- Americans out of the economic mainstream.
While the success rate of home loan applications for Whites is 70%,
applications by prospective Hispanic or African-American home buyers
have a 40% approval rate.
• The nation's largest anti-poverty
program, the Earned Income Tax Credit, is not reaching thousands
of working Austinites with children who desperately need it. In
2004, $31,511,319 in EITC was left unclaimed by low-income working
families in Central Texas.
• Those who did claim the average
$2,000 tax credit paid a high price to receive it. More than 60%
of EITC filers used commercial tax filing services, which charge
up to $200 to prepare a simple tax return.
• Texas earned an overall grade
of “F” on the Corporation for Enterprise Development's
2005 Assets and Opportunity Scorecard. Texas ranks 48th in net worth
of households, 45th in households with zero net worth, and 42nd
in households with savings accounts, revealing the difficulty Texas
families have in build assets.
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