New poverty hotspot? The suburbs

[Liberal_in_LA]

New poverty hotspot? The suburbs

When most people think about poverty in America, they likely see a blighted inner-city neighborhood, someplace that the middle class abandoned decades ago.

But that image may no longer be apt: As several recent reports have stressed, more Americans are now living below the poverty line in suburbs than in cities. And thanks in part to the Great Recession, suburban poverty continues to rise sharply. What's more, many suburbs may not be as well set up as urban areas are to provide much-needed social services. Researchers fear that porous suburban safety nets are leaving a growing number of struggling Americans without access to the basic assistance they need to get them through hard times.

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Some ground-level reporting has helped flesh out the picture of growing suburban poverty. The proprietor of a food pantry in Northern California's suburban San Mateo County recently told CBS News that in 1999, her charity had given out 4,000 food bags. This year, she said, it'll be between 32,000 and 35,000 bags.

Why is suburban poverty disproportionately on the rise? One reason, say experts, is that the recession was triggered by a slowdown in the housing market, as foreclosures mounted particularly in suburban and exurban developments. That meant that industries dependent on that market — which also tend to be based in suburbs — were among the most severe casualties. "Construction, real estate, manufacturing — these are more suburbanized industries, and they were hit first and hardest," says Kneebone.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20101026/us_yblog_upshot/new-poverty-hotspot-the-suburbs

[ixion]

1. How many years does the economy havve to suck before they call it what it is: A Depression

It's that pattern of denial that got us into this mess.

[bobbolink]

2. Rural poverty has been ignored since Johnson left.

What will it take for people to wake up to poverty?

[HuckleB]

5. Yes, it has.

[tularetom]

3. It's been coming on for years in the inner burbs

Blighted housing, deserted '50's shopping malls, declining schools all have been appearing more and more frequently over the past 20 years as roads were constructed further out into the country enabling more affluent citizens to flee the ring of suburbs closest to the city center, tear up cropland, pastures and orchards and build McMansions on 5 acre lots 50 miles from their place of employment.

[starroute]

4. And it was predictable even longer

I know of at least one 1950's science fiction novel that was set in the suburban slums of the near future. Those houses are generally not well built, they are appealing only when they're brand new, and they haven't aged well.

The Great Recession may have accelerated the decay, but it was already in the cards.

[HuckleB]

6. This is old news.

It's like a regurgitated story from the last recession.

[bobbolink]

7. I tend to agree with you.

In the mid-80s, I wrote a book of stories about homeless people which was published by a church organization. I was asked to speak at many churches, in all different areas of the city, from inner city to wealthy, and VERY wealthy burbs.

Without exception, there was always at least one person who stayed afterward and said, "Thank you for telling my story."

No exceptions.

So, in the mid-80s, there was homelessness in all areas, and that reflects poverty.