Beyond the Public Safety Net: The Role of Nonprofits in Addressing Material Hardship of Low- Income Households

Research on material hardship mostly takes the public policy perspective, whereas the role of nonprofits in addressing household material hardship is largely ignored. This study uses data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation to examine what sources (government or nonprofit) households facing material hardships turn to for material assistance. Contrary to the common assumption that nonprofits play an increasing role in service provision after welfare reform, the data do not show a significant growth in service areas related to household material hardship. In the areas of comparison, government outweighs nonprofits in providing material assistance to low-income households, even without counting major public assistance programs. However, several findings show that nonprofits play a supplementary role in social service provision. Limitations and implications of the study are discussed. Keywords material hardship, nonprofits, social service, material assistance, low-income households Research on material hardship shows that a high proportion of low-income households in the United States are not able to make ends meet (Beverly, 2001; Danziger, Corcoran, Danziger, & Heflin, 2000). For example, according to the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS, 2004) about one third of households under the poverty line were food insecure; 29 % did not pay gas, oil, or electricity bills; and 18 % did not pay rent or mortgage over a 12-month period. Closely related to but different from income-based measures of poverty, material hardship is a direct indicator of family well-being and is consistent with the fact that social assistance is increasingly delivered in forms of “in-kind ” benefits and services compared to cash transfers (DHHS, 2004). The multidimensional experiences of material hardship among low-income household