Raise the minimum wage for all jobs, not just specific ones, introduce a state run healthcare system, lower drug prices, ban college tuition, ban private schools, increase funding for public schools, end at-will employment, give workers actual protections against getting fired, make paid sick days mandatory, introduce better social security and support systems for people living below the poverty line, do not give them food stamps or other shit that brands them as poor, just give them money. Build more social housing, introduce maximum rents and limit how much rents can be raised, strengthen the rights of renters and limit the rights of landlords, end residential only suburbs, make everything mixed use to bring jobs closer to people who cannot afford cars also stop having single family homes as a category, all zones allowing for residential buildings should allow for apartment buildings. Build a proper public transportation system when possible (obviously not every 1,500 people town can have one) ...
There's so much that can be done to decrease poverty, throwing people into prison is not a solution, it does not fix the problem, it doesn't even address it. If stealing hygiene products is a massive problem then maybe the government should realize the entire fucking system is broken. That doesn't mean theft should be ignored but you're not going to stop crime by being tough on it without solving the underlying issues that make people turn to crime in the first place.
