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Full Report: The 2008 Rhode Island Standard of Need
Executive Summary
Press Release
Chart: Yearly costs compared to federal poverty level
Chart: The costs of meeting basic needs for families and individuals
Chart: Subsidies help families with lower wages make ends meet

Every two years, The Poverty Institute publishes The Rhode Island Standard of Need (RISN) to provide a realistic standard for measuring the economic well-being of families and single adults. The RISN answers two fundamental questions:
• What is the cost of meeting basic needs for a single parent family, two-parent family, and a single adult in Rhode Island
• How do state and federal work supports help individuals and families meet the cost of basic needs?

The RISN uses the costs of housing, food, transportation, health care, child care and other basic necessities to calculate a no-frills budget for families with two young children and for single adults. The RISN also demonstrates how Food Stamps, tax credits and subsidies for child care and health care (RIte Care) help close the gap between income and basic need expenses.

Key findings from this year’s report include:

• The 2008 RISN shows what it costs to live in the Ocean State:
Single Parent Family: It costs $47,352 for a single parent with two children to meet basic needs. The parent needs earnings of over $52,800 (three times the federal poverty level) to meet this budget without government subsidies.
Two-Parent Family: It costs $52,188 for a two-parent household with two children to meet basic needs. The family needs earnings of over $58,300 (2.75 times the federal poverty level) to meet this budget without government subsidies.
Single Adult: It costs $20,280 for a single adult to meet basic needs with earnings of $22,800 (2.5 times the federal poverty level) to meet this budget.

• Work support programs continue to help narrow the gap between earnings and expenses for families at the lower end of the wage scale.

• The shrinking safety net has caused the basic needs budget for low and modest-income families to go from black to red. 

RISN PRESS:
• Protect the shrinking safety net (Op-ed by Kate Brewster, appeared in Narraganset Times, South County Independent and Kenty County Daily News)
• A Standard of Need (Rhode Island Policy Reporter 12.27.08)
• Many find it harder to make ends meet (Providence Journal 12.17.08)
• Budget gap widens for R.I. families (Providence Business News 12.17.08)
• What is the Rhode Island Standard of Need? (Rifuture.org blog) includes video interview with executive director Kate Brewster
• WPRO-AM 630/99.7 FM
• WRNI 102.7 FM/1290 AM


 

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