If you think poverty is just an urban problem, you’re wrong. Suburbia: poverty’s new frontier

Photo by David McNew/Getty Images

It’s time policy-makers let go of the stereotype of poverty as an “inner city” issue. The 2000s marked a tipping point in America. After decades in which suburbs added poor residents at a faster pace than cities, suburbia is now home to the largest and fastest growing poor population in the country and more than half of the metropolitan poor.  Between 2000 and 2011, the number of people living in poverty in the U.S. grew from 33.9 million to a record 46.2 million. Today, one in three poor Americans – about 16.4 million people – lives in the suburbs.

Unfortunately, the anti-poverty infrastructure assembled largely during the 1960s and the War on Poverty, is simply unable to address the unique challenges presented by suburban poverty. Even more troubling, municipal leaders and policy makers have been slow to adjust to the shifting reality of poverty’s geography.

Suburban communities with growing poverty are often more geographically isolated from jobs, and lack the transit connections that can help link residents to employment opportunities. Social services are often less prevalent due to a lack of local public, nonprofit, and philanthropic capacity. Their schools may confront a host of challenges associated with providing the academic and wrap-around supports necessary to help low-income children succeed. Despite these challenges, the majority of government, nonprofit, and philanthropic dollars devoted to anti-poverty efforts have been traditionally focused on cities. As a result, the suburbs are home to thin and patchy safety nets of job training, foreclosure counseling, food assistance, and other services to help low-income people.

Confronting Suburban Poverty in America by Elizabeth Kneebone and Alan Berube

This issue is explored in a new book by Elizabeth Kneebone and Alan Berube called Confronting Suburban Poverty in America.  They examine the driving factors that led to the increase in suburban poverty as well as practical recommendations for policy-makers to ensure that sufficient interventions and institutions are established to meet the needs of suburban poor.

In coming posts, we’ll explore case studies from Chicago to California and how some areas are coping with this reality. But for now, here’s a list of facts on suburban poverty that may surprise you (taken from the Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program study):

1. For decades, the poor population in America’s suburbs has grown faster than anywhere else in the country. During the 2000s, the number of poor people living in the suburbs grew by 64 percent – more than twice the growth rate in cities (29 percent).

2. Today, more poor people live in the suburbs than in America’s big cities or rural areas. Suburbia is home to almost 16.4 million poor people, compared to 13.4 million in big cities and 7.3 million in rural areas.

3. Throughout the 2000s, the suburban poor population grew significantly in 85 of the nation’s 95 largest metropolitan areas. Rising poverty has touched all kinds of suburbs – even places that once seemed immune to these challenges.

4. By the end of the 2000s, one-third of the suburban poor lived in distressed neighborhoods, where at least one in five residents was poor.

5. The urban and suburban poor have similar characteristics. Similar shares of suburban and urban poor residents live in deep poverty (with incomes below half the federal poverty line); are working age; work; have a disability; finished college; or are foreign-born.

6. As jobs moved into suburbs—particularly lower-paying jobs in sectors like retail and hospitality—poverty did, too. And job losses triggered by the Great Recession in industries like construction, manufacturing, and retail hit hardest in suburban communities and contributed to rising suburban unemployment and poverty.

7. Immigration accounted for only a fraction of the growth of poverty in suburbs. Although foreign-born residents accounted for 30 percent of the overall population growth in suburban areas, they contributed just 17 percent to the increase in overall suburban poor during the 2000s.

8. The changing location of affordable housing contributed to suburban poverty throughout the 2000s. By the end of 2010, roughly half of residents in voucher households lived in suburbs. In addition, three-quarters of foreclosures occurred in suburbia.

9. There is no good place to be poor but being poor in the suburbs means facing a unique set of challenges. Poor suburban residents have fewer transit options available that can affect their ability to get to work. In the nation’s largest metropolitan areas, 700,000 households—nearly all of which are in the suburbs—do not have a vehicle and are not served by public transit of any kind.

10. The federal government spends $82 billion dollars a year across more than 80 programs to address poverty in place. But the spread-out nature of suburban poverty, and the lack of expert public and non-profit service providers in suburbs, mean that most of those dollars remain focused on urban communities.