Poverty

Throughout Anderson County families are forced to live in poverty conditions.  According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, more than 4,000 Anderson County households live below the poverty line.  Many of these households have poor – and often inoperable – plumbing that causes sewage to back up into their bathtubs or sinks.  Others are in danger of the floor or roof falling in, and so many others lack adequate heat in the winter months and unbearable mold and mildew in the summer.  To compound matters, children in these households are growing up with an excess of health problems because they are living in such unhealthy conditions.