Matt Unrath
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mattunrath.bsky.social
Matt Unrath
@mattunrath.bsky.social
1.1K followers 490 following 38 posts
Assistant Professor at USC Price School of Public Policy.
www.mattunrath.com
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mattunrath.bsky.social
Marc Vukcevich, a policy director for the LA-based transit and pedestrian advocacy group Streets For All, a co-sponsor of the bill, said he didn’t think the city of Los Angeles’ opposition to the measure carried much weight. “The Legislature knows that LA is a deeply unserious actor when it comes to housing,” he said.
September 18, 2025 at 3:21 AM
mattunrath.bsky.social
Do you remember when child poverty fell to a record low in 2021 thanks to the expanded CTC?

It turns out that the SPM for kids was just as low in 2020 thanks to historically generous unemployment benefits. We missed it because UI is so under-reported in the CPS ASEC.
The figure includes three charts showing alternative estimates of the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM). The first figure shows the rate for everyone, the second for kids and the third for seniors. The estimates from a blend of survey and administrative data find lower poverty rates than those just based on survey data.
July 15, 2025 at 5:19 AM
mattunrath.bsky.social
kffhealthnews.org/news/article...
Screenshot from an article describing staffing cuts in the HHS office responsible for calculating federal poverty guidelines.
April 11, 2025 at 8:44 PM
mattunrath.bsky.social
Except that nonresponse bias wasn't just a problem in 2020. We've seen a serious level shift since the pandemic.

www.census.gov/newsroom/blo...
A line graph that illustrates the level of nonresponse bias across the income distribution.
September 11, 2024 at 1:06 AM