I'm sorry, but the poverty guidelines are a joke. You can't actually support yourself on those. Twelve people sharing a house and absolute bare-minimum food and clothing, maybe, but it's life on the edge at best. That seems to be assuming you and your dependents never get sick or injured, nothing you own ever breaks or wears out, you can live somewhere where everything is within walking distance, your portion of the rent doesn't go up, and you are able to work until the day you drop dead so you won't need to plan for retirement or old-age care.