Debts, housing poverty, poverty trap and social services in the most disadvantaged areas of Hungary

Abstract

The main factors in understanding the nature of extreme poverty in Hungary are employability, education level, ethnicity, number of children and the place of residence. Another determinant of impoverishment is the disturbed equilibrium between incomes and prices, and the increased housing expenditures. The latest household survey in Hungary, carried out by TARKI in 2010 shows that 18% of the Hungarian households are in arrears, and the majority of them are in arrears with housing costs. A high ratio of these arrears exceeds 90 days. Public debt management services, though they have undergone important developments in recent years, are still unable to meet the needs of the population that they targeted. In many ghettoized regions, where the majority of multi- disadvantaged families and households live these social care services, provided by local municipalities are limited, due to a structural problem: minor towns and villages are not required to support debt advisory services and most of them have not set up any, for lack of both resources and personnel; and for lack of solidarity concerning the problem of indebtedness.