This study was conducted in Hawassa City and it was triggered by problems like scant literaturesrnin the issue of urban poverty in the country, spatially biased nature of these scant literatures andrnneglect paid to the urban centers and the urban poor of the country. Hence, in this study attemptsrnwere made to address these problems by meeting objectives of the study. The main objective ofrnthe study was to uncover the realities of the urban poor's and the environment they reside in. Thernspecific objectives derived from this include identify the prime cause of urban poverty in thernstudy area, explain the living conditions of the urban poor, address the impacts of urban poverty,rnexplain environmental impacts in the study area and assess the role of concerned agencies inrnaddressing the problem.rnTo achieve this end, both primary and secondary data sources were used. The primary datarncollection methods used includes survey questionnaire, interview and observation. The datarngathered through these methods were analyzed and interpreted thoroughly; producing majorrnfindings of the sn1dy. The major findings of the study were substantiated by secondary datarnsources from different literatures; to increase credibility of the findings.rnThe major findings of the study include very high illiteracy and related low paying dead endrnjobs, extremel y high population density, problems in meeting educational qualifications amongrnchildren of the poor, very high rent tenancy primarily attracted by low rent fee s, exploitation ofrn. ~ .rnthe poor and neglect by government agencies. And it was concluded that most of these problems,rnprimarily, emanates from the high illiteracy and its consequent low paying jobs; while notrn.rnforgetting the neglect by government agencies have also . con!ribuHon. To address the problemsrnidentified recommendations were made: promoting adult functional literacy, building low costrnhouses , ensure quality of education at the public schools and the likes.