Absolute poverty in Italy, “There is little or nothing in the budget law to combat it: the numbers double, but the beneficiaries of the measures adopted are halved

ROMA – The estimates concerning 2023, released on 10 October 2024 by Istat, confirm that around 5.7 million people live in conditions of absolute poverty in our country: 9.7% of residents in Italy, i.e. families and people who cannot afford minimum expenses to lead an acceptable and decent life. In short, the set of goods and services that, in the Italian context, are considered essential: for example, household expenses, health expenses, clothing.

Levels of poverty in Italy have never been so high. “The budget law must give an effective response to absolute poverty, which in our country has become structural and involves a higher percentage of people and families than ever before. Yet, so far, no resources are foreseen to meet this challenge in the bill under discussion.” This is what he reported Alliance against poverty during yesterday’s hearing at the joint Budget Commissions of the two houses of Parliament.

The alarming numbers. First of all, he recalled the alarming numbers, certified by Istat only a few weeks ago: 8.4% of Italian families are in absolute poverty (2.2 million), while individuals in this condition are 9.7% (5 .7 million). Relative poverty is not decreasing either, which today affects over 1 family in 10, or 8.5 million individuals.

Selective or categorical universalism? “In this context – said the spokesperson fromAlliance against poverty Antonio Russo – we are alarmed by the government’s choice already made to reduce the resources intended to combat the progressive impoverishment of the population. The inclusion allowance – he added – introduced this year no longer responds to the fundamental principle of selective universalism, which characterizes a minimum income measure. Instead, it is a categorical measure, as it is reserved only for families that include minors, disabled people and the elderly. We therefore consider it a priority to restore a universalistic measure, capable of supporting anyone in poverty.”

The beneficiaries are halved. L’ Alliance he then recalls that the ADI financing fund was reduced in 2024 first by 200 million, then by a further 100 million. “This seems to show on the one hand that the allocated resources will not be fully used because the ‘draught’ of the new measure is below what was expected, on the other hand that the saved resources will not be used to strengthen the measure itself, that is, they will have a different use from that of directly combating poverty,” Russo reported. In fact, the data from the INPS Observatory on the impact of the ADI in the first quarter are worrying: “If we take those who received at least one month’s payment of the benefit (695,127 families) and compare them with those who had received at least one month’s payment of the Citizen’s Income in same period of 2023 (1,324,104 nuclei), we see that they are just over half (52.5%)”, notes Russo.

The proposals. Broadening the number of beneficiaries of measures to combat poverty is therefore a priority objective, which the budget law cannot miss in such a context. For this reason, theAlliance during the hearing he relaunched the main proposals for modifying the measures, contained in the Alliance document. Welcoming them would mean an expense of around 1 billion euros for the state budget. “An investment that we must have the courage and determination to make, for the good of the country,” Russo specified. These, in summary, are the main proposals:

1) – Full indexation of the ADI to protect its value over time with respect to price growth, in an international context which presents many risks of inflationary shocks

2) – Modification of the equivalence scale, which valorises all adults, so as to facilitate support in particular for families with children

3) – Raising the threshold for access to the benefit for rented families

4) – Further reduction of residence limits in favor of foreign families

5) – Possibility to combine the benefit at least partially with income from work (or the extension of the 3,000 euro exemption currently foreseen for new jobs also to existing jobs)

6) – Equip the social services of the municipalities with the right resources to support the inclusion paths of the beneficiaries, respecting the essential levels of services

The other measures (which are not there). “In the bill in question there does not appear to be an intention to directly support families in poverty not even with other measures – observes the Alliance against Poverty – We remind you that in 2024, the lower investment in the fight against absolute poverty was measured in the order of 1.7 billion. In the three-year period, when fully operational in the three-year period, the lower investment will be 3-4 billion euros. An exception is the confirmation of financing of the “Dedicated to you” card, reserved for families with children with an ISEE of less than 15,000 euros. However, it is clearly a last resort and temporary subsidy, certainly not a structural measure, which perhaps would be better to be based in the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies, rather than in that of Agriculture”.

The birth bonus is independent of the economic conditions of those who receive it. Alliance against poverty is also critical of the new birth bonus: “It would have been possible to help poor families with minors by allocating part of the resources to support the family to strengthening the single and universal allowance (AUU); instead, it was preferred to channel them in favor of a new birth bonus, of an amount independent of the economic condition (excluding those who exceed 40,000 euros in ISEE) and usable only for newborns. A measure therefore based exclusively on the birth rate.”