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Sister Mary Scullion, a Catholic nun who has worked with homeless people in Philadelphia for more than 30 years, said the city's shelters are now operating at 115 percent of capacity. She blamed the rise in poverty on a range of factors including the loss of manufacturing jobs, low wages, rising housing costs, and an influx of ex-offenders from overpopulated prisons.
But she said deteriorating public education is the most important cause of poverty in a city where 24 percent of high school students leave before graduating, and whose schools were taken over by the state in 2001 because of their widespread failure to meet required standards.
"When I was in high school, education was pretty much available to every child," she said. "Today, there is such an increase in resources going into private education."
Boosting public schools is a key plank in platform of Democratic presidential contender John Edwards, the only candidate in this year's election with a comprehensive plan to address poverty, which he aims to end within 30 years.
But opinion polls suggest that either Sen. Hillary Clinton or Sen. Barack Obama will have secured the Democratic Party nomination before Pennsylvania's primary elections on April 22.
In West Philadelphia, Shaheed Moseley and his seven children aged from seven to 15 moved into a renovated row home in mid-December after six weeks living in one room at his sister's house.
Moseley, a single parent since his wife was killed by a stray bullet while sweeping their front step three years ago, previously spent nine months renting what he described as a "slum" where the roof caved in, ruining much of his furniture and possessions.
Standing in the unfurnished front room of his new rental home - obtained for him by SafeHome Philadelphia, a private nonprofit for homeless families - the 33-year-old Moseley said he hopes to find a job in the construction industry where he worked before quitting to take care of his kids.
The family lives on $2,500 a month in welfare payments plus food stamps. They depend on state assistance to pay utility bills and get health insurance from the City of Philadelphia. Moseley said he had a car but sold it to pay bills when he quit his job three years ago.
Despite the help from various agencies, it's not easy getting by, Moseley said. "We're just barely making it."
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