This is the correct goal. But work on reducing the existing underclass is frequently undercut by importing another. Seeking not to make the problem larger, and assessing realistically how fast your solutions are working, seems like a rational course of action.

For example, the best thing that could happen to the US underclass is for unskilled labour to become expensive. If slaughterhouses and gardening firms and nail salons had to all bid for the same supply of local labour, they would bid the price up. But instead these industries are heavily reliant on imported labour. (Their owners will speak of a shortage but, as HN well knows when it's programming jobs, they mean a shortage at the price and docility to which they are accustomed.)