Yes, whenever the government is responsible for supporting the poor, the number of "poor" people will be steadily increasing. If the church and community are the ones in charge of it, the number of poor might be going down, because it is not that easy to be living on welfare if you have to face your minister or neighbor every time you're applying for welfare benefits.
also, our church helps not only in our community outreach system, but we also take care of our own members to a greater degree.
That care includes a study of their financial situation, a committee decision on what financial aid they HAVE to have immediately, then training in financial responsibility... teaching them how to create and live within a budget, so that the problem doesn't continue repeating, month after month.
The goal is to bring them to financial independence. If they have to be helped financially for several months to achieve that, it happens.
Although I haven't seen it happen recently, if a person/family refuses to change their bad habits, the financial aid stops.
We believe in being good stewards of God's financial blessings...