As home ownership becomes more inaccessible for families at the lower-end of the socio-economic distribution, housing policy interventions should focus on outcomes that protect low-income tenants from rent increases. Targeting housing benefits towards low-income families, increasing social housing stock and prioritising placement of families with the greatest needs are options that can better help meet the housing needs of poor families. The reduction of child poverty could be identified as a specific objective of the recently launched poverty reduction strategy. The development of measures of children’s exposure to income poverty and of unmet needs in terms of food, health, education and housing would make it possible to set targets for children and monitor progress for this particular population group. The number of childcare places created, access for low-income children, and the quality of services provided will be important metrics to monitor in order to measure the results of public spending on poverty reduction. In this case, getting out of poverty and its consequences presupposes that barriers to employment are addressed, and that obstacles that limit access to care, quality housing can be eliminated, and that financial aid can be granted.