Dimension of poverty

Visible causes or contributing factors

Policy-related causes

Impacts on other dimensions of poverty

Income

• Dependence on cash for purchases of essential goods and services

• Employment insecurity/casual work

• Unskilled wage labor/lack of qualifications to get well-paid jobs

• Inability to hold a job due to bad health

• Lack of access to job opportunities (urban poor often have to trade off between distances to jobs and costs of housing)
  

• Macroeconomic crises reduce real incomes

• Failure of public services such as education, health, infrastructure, transport to serve the urban poor

• Regulatory constraints on small enterprises perpetuate "informality" of work available to the poor, discourage asset accumulation and access to credits, and increase vulnerability of workers

• Inability to afford housing and land, thus, underdeveloped physical capital assets

• Inability to afford adequate quality and quantity of essential public services, e.g., water, thus unhygienic living conditions and depreciated health

• Poor human capital--bad health and educational outcomes due to stress, food insecurity, and inability to afford education and health services

• Depreciated social capital resulting in domestic violence and crime

Health

• Overcrowded and unhygienic living conditions

• Residential environments are prone to industrial and traffic pollution due to juxtaposition of residential and industrial functions in cities

• The poor in cities settle on marginal lands, which are prone to environmental hazards, such as landslides and floods

• Exposure to diseases due to poor quality air, water, and lack of sanitation

• Injury and deaths rising from traffic

• Industrial occupational risks -- unsafe working conditions, especially for those in informal sector jobs

• Land and housing regulations can make proper housing unaffordable and result in living in disaster-prone and polluted areas

• Bad policy frameworks and failure of public services such as environmental and health-related services (water and sewerage, solid waste disposal, drainage, vector control) to keep pace with population growth

• Lack of labor protection (worker safety)

• Poor traffic management and pedestrian facilities

• Lack of safety nets and social support systems for families and youth

• Inability to hold a job

• Inability to earn sufficient income

• Reduced ability of children to learn due to illness (e.g., lead poisoning)

• Risk of injury and associated income shocks

• Poor education outcomes

Education

• Constrained access to education due to insufficient school sizes in rapidly growing cities

• Inability to afford school expenses

• Personal safety/security risks deterring school attendance

• Incapacity of public authorities to provide for adequate classroom and school sizes

• Lack of safety nets to ensure ability to stay in school despite family economic hardships

• Insecure and unaffordable public transport

• Inability to get a job

• Lack of constructive activity for school age youth, contributing to delinquency

• Continued gender inequities

Security

Tenure insecurity

Land and housing in authorized areas are not affordable; therefore, the poor typically build or rent on public or private property. Houses lack proper construction and tend to be in unsafe areas prone to natural hazards.

• Land policies do not make sufficient developed land available for the poor

• Land policies do not permit regularization of tenure in most unauthorized settlements

• Inappropriate standards and codes make housing unaffordable

• Regulations impose costly and cumbersome procedures to get registered or to obtain occupancy permits

• Lack of access to credit

• Evictions that cause loss of physical capital, damage social and informal networks for jobs and safety nets, and reduce sense of security

• Inability to use one's home as a source of income--such as renting a room; creating extra space for income generating activities, etc.

Personal insecurity

• Drug/alcohol abuse and domestic violence

• Family breakdown and reduced support for children

• Social diversity and visible income inequality in cities, which increases tensions and can provide a temptation for crime

• Lack of employment opportunities, services, and assets (both communal and personal) stigmatize certain areas within cities as centers of crime and desolation

• Lack of safety net policies and programs

• Diminished physical and mental health and low earnings

• Damage/loss to property and increased costs for protection and health care

• Depreciated social capital such as loss of family cohesion and social isolation

Empowerment

• Illegitimacy of residence and work

• Isolation of communities that are disconnected from jobs and services

• Insufficient channels of information for obtaining jobs, knowing one's legal rights to services, etc.

• Not having the rights and responsibilities of citizens

• Regulatory and policy frameworks (for service provision, housing and land, and income-generating activities) make the settlements and/or occupations of the poor "informal" or "illegal"; this denies them the same rights as other urban citizens

• Oppressive bureaucracy and corruption

• Official or unofficial discrimination

• Lack of access to urban services

• Sense of isolation and powerlessness

• Violence

• Inefficient use of personal time and money to seek alternative forms of redress, e.g., payment of bribes