Public Housing programs, such as Section 8, uses the area median income to determine eligibility. Critiques of the Official Poverty Measure Over the years there have been a number of critiques of the way the government measures poverty. If the value of food stamps, publicly provided health insurance benefits, and cash welfare payments were counted as income in the poverty calculation, many people would no longer be considered poor. Another important critique of the official poverty measure is that it is seriously flawed in continuing to assume that families spend one-third of their income on food. This may have been true when the measure was devised 30 years ago, but it is not an accurate reflection of current realities.
Food now accounts for something closer to one-sixth of the family budget.
Housing, transportation and utilities are much larger components of family spending. Furthermore, expenses most families now regard as crucial elements of their household budget are simply excluded from consideration in the poverty calculation. Commuting and other travel and work-related expenses that are a part of modern life have a huge impact on family budgets. Expenses associated with today's living have grown. Additional basic expenses mean that more money is required to maintain the same standard of living in today's world.