Crises lead to huge increases in the cost of living: low earners and the poor can hardly afford the basic necessities. The government is needed. Not just from the opposition.
payment triage. Harsh words from Erich Fenninger about harsh reality. Which comes first: food, housing, heating? The last comes last. “We did not enter an apartment that was sufficiently heated,” says Volkshilfe’s general manager.
Rampant inflation
1,222 million, or 14 percent of the population, are at risk of poverty. According to the Economic Research Institute (Wifo): less than 60 percent net income than average households. The rampant inflation is raising fears for the worst.
Pamela Rendi-Wagner (SPÖ) demands action from the government. Particularly affected: children (24%; 300,000), single parents (47), families with three or more children (34), pensioners living alone. 289,000 are poor despite their work. Martin Schenk of the Poverty Conference: “230,000 children live in crowded, sometimes damp and moldy rooms.”
“Targeted help”
Fenninger argues for an energy price ceiling. You also have to put the watering can aside. “We need targeted help. Especially with food. The Treasury could pay grants directly to those in need. People put it right back into the economic cycle anyway.” According to Wifo, poorer households have significantly higher expenditures on food, housing and energy. Rising costs exacerbate the situation. “The government package is not enough.” Public aid, poverty conference and Wifo demand short-term help.
Minister of Social Affairs Johannes Rauch emphasizes the government’s goal of halving poverty. At this point, the effects of the pandemic must be intercepted. “The welfare state works well. Direct measures work.” In 2020, even fewer people depended on the social network than in 2019.
Source: Krone
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