Asset-Building:
Getting Out of Poverty and Staying Out of Poverty

The United States needs a safety net to protect people in poverty, but it also needs a ladder of opportunity. One is there to catch people when they fall, the other to allow them to reach higher levels. Asset-building is about making sure there is opportunity for all.

Bread for the World Institute is doing research on asset-building and how assets can help struggling families achieve financial security. Our research in this area began in the 2008 Hunger Report, Working Harder for Working Families.

These are the areas of asset-building we concentrate on:

• Homeownership
• Post-secondary education
• Entrepreneurship
• Savings Accounts

The Institute publishes other asset-building related materials.

• Home Ownership Subprime Loans, and Poverty
• What is Asset Poverty?
• Asset Building at Tax Time: Scaling Up Volunteer Income Tax Assistance

Why asset-building?

Our dreams and aspirations begin to take shape when we are young. But opportunity is not equally distributed. Some people are born into poverty and never receive the opportunity they need to begin reaching for their dreams. All their lives they struggle against the forces of poverty and hunger.

Owning assets is associated with increased economic security and well-being. Several studies have documented the positive effects of assets on poor families. Children in poor families that acquire assets do better in school and stay in school longer than children in families without. Teenagers in families with assets are less likely to have children than teenagers in families without. Other studies show positive correlations between asset ownership and physical and mental health, both in adults and children.

Government budgets provide scarce resources to help poor families build assets, scarce compared to resources available through traditional poverty-reduction programs such as Temporary Aid for Needy Families (TANF) or Section 8 housing vouchers. The irony is that assets can help families reduce their reliance on these programs.

Asset-building is not intended to replace the traditional anti-poverty safety net. The best way to think of asset-building is as a complement to traditional safety net programs, helping families to achieve financial security.