Based on the field survey conducted in Beijing, Henan and Shanxi, this paper analyzes the targeting efficiency, poverty reduction effect and the factors that affect the possibility of the poor households to obtain subsistence allowances. This paper finds that there is a large aiming deviation, the leakage rate and the wrong rate are high, and the low targeting efficiency restricts the poverty reduction effect. Many poor households still do not get out of poverty after accepting the subsistence allowances. The results of the empirical analysis show that the number of households with labor income, the gender of the head of household, the area of housing construction, the annual income per capita, and the expenditure on personal expenses will have significant impact on whether the poor households can obtain subsistence allowances. Based on the above conclusions, this paper proposes to increase the central financial transfer payments, promote the agency survey, improve the regulatory mechanism and other policy recommendations.