Like poor people in penury on the fourth of July (5)
I believe the answer is:
needy
'like poor people in' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adjectives. Maybe you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'penury on the fourth of july' is the wordplay.
'penury' becomes 'need' (synonyms).
'on' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'the fourth of july' becomes 'y' (4th letter of 'july').
'need'+'y'='NEEDY'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for needy that I've seen before include "Insecure; very poor" , "Poverty-stricken" , "Poor - destitute" , "Poor; wanting affection" , "lacking resources" .)