Its latest “Families on the Edge” report, produced in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund, involved surveys of 500 households from 16 low-cost flats in Kuala Lumpur, and investigated the effects of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic on the economic and emotional well-being of the families.

Economist Muhammed Abdul Khalid of DM Analytics, one of the writers of the report, said the group’s visits and discussions with the families found that many negative perceptions about the urban poor were unfounded.

“These studies have dispelled many myths about how families use benefits or assistance. For instance, in our first and second reports we found they work longer hours than average. The idea that they are lazy, just waiting for assistance, isn’t true at all,” he said in presenting the findings via a webinar.

“Some people think it is best not to give cash assistance because they (the poor) don’t know how to use it. Again, this is not true.

“When we ask them how they use the money, we do not find any major abuse. We find they spend money on household expenses, and a lot on their children.”

Instead, these communities routinely showed an ability to maximise their resources, helping each other with caregiving tasks and by sharing provisions, and have good financial literacy when it comes to using their money wisely.

The report also found that across the board, the impact of the pandemic was more pronounced among female or disabled heads of households, largely due to working conditions.

A higher proportion of informal work and self-employment meant these groups were less able to access government financial aid, and were underemployed (working less than 30 hours a week) more often than the national average.

In addition, the average total household income was just RM1,300 for female-led households and RM1,200 for those led by people with disabilities, hovering at minimum wage levels, while the overall average was RM2,117.