According to the Houston Department of Health and Human Services the greatest need of households affected was obtaining needed food.

The West was the most crime-prone region, with 27.9 percent of households affected, while the Northeast had the best rate, 19.8 percent, the report said.

While compensation was provided in kind and paid to the few hundred households affected by the dams, there is criticism that it was insufficient.

Under the Pataki administration's plan, those households affected by this change would lose $90 per month on average, according to an estimate provided in the proposal.

Older people are the group most at risk of fuel poverty and account for over half of households affected.

Less well understood is that, according to homelessness charity Crisis, only 2% of households affected by the cuts to housing benefit are affected by the cap.

They were selected to provide a cross section of contemporary teen-age life styles; for instance, about a third come from one-parent households or families affected by divorce.

By the evening of September 2, electricity had been restored to 98% of the households affected.

The study found that of 99,500 households affected by the discrepancy, 71 percent were headed by single parents.

The Bill goes beyond compensation, it mandates guaranteed series of entitlements to rural households affected.