It's interesting how many arguments basically come down to a variant of Nature vs. Nurture. On the one side, there's the argument that "they are this way. They choose to be this way." On the other hand, it's argued that "they are in this because of situation. Their surroundings caused their condition."
And in so many of these arguments, it's almost certainly a blend of the two.
Here's my anecdote: I was born in relative poverty. Family of six with a single, small income. My parents are very different from each other. One was a consistently hard worker who made purchases based on logic, need and common sense. The other was mostly concerned with wants. I developed habits from each of them, and still struggle because I see myself behaving in ways that I know, logically, to be bad. But I am doing well, overall, because of good logical decisions (and a lot of fortunate opportunities!) I like to quote The Mexican and say that I "Forrest Gump'd my way through it" to get where I am, stumbling across little lucky events that led me to my talents and profession, my education and my career.
Given my belief that individuals in poverty are partially a product of their environment and partially in their situations because of choices they've made (and that much of their behavior is the logical extension of the situations they've been exposed to throughout their lives), the question is what those that may (or may not) have the ability to change their situation can and should do. I do not believe that everything is already in place and that each of those individuals should (and can) just abruptly change all of their decision-making so that it leads to a successful life, free from poverty. So I think there may be things the rest of our society, our community, really, can do that will give them a step up and possibly start them on an alternate path. Of course I realize that many of these behaviors will be difficult (and in some cases impossible) to change, but that doesn't mean that any and all efforts should be immediately abandoned.