Race and Poverty in America: What Hurricane Katrina Has Revealed

1
Race and Poverty in America What Hurricane
Katrina Has Revealed

• john a. powell
• Williams Chair in Civil Rights Civil Liberties,
  Moritz College of Law. Director, Kirwan Institute
• January 27, 2006

2
The Challenge

• What did Katrina illustrate? What problems are we
  trying to address in our communities, regions and
  society?
• Two related problems
• Extreme racial segregation and extensive racial
  disparity
• Declining opportunities for everyone, declining
  regions, stagnation and decline of the middle
  class
• These problems reinforce each other

3
Lessons From Katrina

• What has Katrina illustrated?
• The Profound Connection Between Poverty and Race
• Growing Economic Insecurity for Middle and Low
  Income Americans
• Regional Inequity
• Result of Policies and Structures that Produce
  Poverty and Segregation
• Sprawl, School Conditions, Subsidized Housing,
  Investment Disparities
• Segregation from Opportunity
• Moving Forward and Proposed Solutions

Storm Survivors in New Orleans Photo from
Katrinahelp.com
Storm Survivors in New Orleans Photo from
Combined Federal Campaign of the National Capital
Area
4
Race and Poverty

• Hurricane Katrina illustrated the profound
  connection between race and poverty in the US
• Public awareness was collectively focused on the
  abandonment in New Orleans along lines of race
  and poverty, and images reinforced disparities in
  a way that numbers could not
• New Orleans, and the nation are now experiencing
  a second disaster with declining public support
  and retrenchment

5
The Link Between Race and Poverty

• What is the link between race and poverty?
• Racialized structures and policies have created
  the extreme correlation of race and poverty in
  our urban areas
• People then assume that only those harmed or
  isolated are people of color
• In reality, these effects are far reaching and
  impact everyone (shared fate)
• Also harming Whites living in opportunity poor
  communities
• Causing regional distress, harming everyone in
  the region, even the elite

6
Growing Economic Insecurity

• Conditions of economic insecurity were
  highlighted by Katrina
• Poverty is increasing
• Decline of the middle class
• Continuing conditions of economic insecurity,
  lack of health insurance, increased bankruptcy
  and housing cost increases will continue to
  propel these trends
• Historically, the decline of the middle class has
  triggered a misplaced racialized response
• We can not repeat this mistake

7
Is the Safety Net Being Pulled Away?

• While general conditions of economic stability
  are growing worse for many Americans, many of the
  safety net programs in the United States have
  been diminished
• Social safety net cuts in the most recently
  proposed Congressional Budget
• Medicaid cut by 16 billion over next 10 years
• More burden for Temporary Assistance to Needy
  Families shifted to states (estimated to cost
  more than 8 billion)
• 343 million cut for foster care
• 11 cut in Community Development Block Grant
  funding to cities
• Annual housing cuts for 2006
• 134 million cut to public housing funding in
  2006
• Elimination of 35,000 section 8 vouchers

Source National Low Income Housing Coalition and
Center on Budget Policies and Priorities
8
Will the Safety Net for New Orleans be Withdrawn?

• Despite numerous pledges to rebuild New Orleans
  and help Katrina survivors, little redevelopment
  is occurring and federal/public support is
  withering
• The Citys plan for redevelopment offers little
  guidance, support and assistance for displaced
  residents those who want to return
• A Laissez-faire approach to bringing back New
  Orleans?

Months after Katrina, the Ninth Ward Remains
Devastated
9
Regional Inequity

• Katrina indicated the vulnerability of many inner
  city neighborhoods that have been segregated and
  isolated
• Both New Orleans and Milwaukee experience
  dramatic disparities between city and suburban
  communities
• Out of 326 metropolitan areas Milwaukee has the
  19th highest degree of city/suburban disparity in
  the nation
• In 2000, Milwaukees Suburbs had
• Household income that was 56 higher than the
  City
• Less than 1/5 the poverty rate of the City
• Vacancy rates that were nearly twice as high as
  the City
• Unemployment rates that were 1/3 the rate of the
  City

Source Lewis Mumford Center
10
Racial Inequity

• These regional inequities also correlate with
  extensive racial inequities
• People (and neighborhoods) most impacted from
  Katrina were more likely to be African American
  and impoverished
• In New Orleans, nearly 80 of the population in
  flooded areas were African American
• Incomes were nearly 1/3 lower in flooded areas
• 1 out of 3 displaced African Americans were in
  poverty

Source Brookings Institute
11
African American-WhiteRacial Inequity

• Research conducted by the Kirwan Institute has
  analyzed the extent of racial disparity (based on
  25 socio-economic indicators) in the 21 largest
  regions in the nation
• Both New Orleans and Milwaukee indicate high
  degrees of racial disparity
• New Orleans has the 12th highest racial disparity
  of the 21 regions
• Milwaukee has the highest level of racial
  disparity of all 21 regions

12
More on Disparities

• Disparities are important, but not a sufficient
  lens to understand the problems we face
• Disparities can be a divisive frame to address
  these issues
• What is your point of reference?
• Disparities do not address the decline in
  regional health and the economic insecurity that
  impacts everyone
• We need to not only address disparities but grow
  opportunities for everyone
• We need to not just set goals of racial parity
  with Whites but improve conditions for everyone
• You can have less racial disparity if everyone is
  doing poor (The Great Depression)

13
Milwaukee Regional Distress

• Racial disparity in Milwaukee must be understood
  in the context of the overall regional distress
  impacting the region
• Between 2000 and 2004 the Milwaukee region lost
  10,000 jobs
• Since 2000, the Milwaukee region was the 16th
  slowest growing metropolitan region in the
  nation, with a regional population growth of 0.9
• Whites are also being impacted by the overall
  decline of the region
• Out of the 21 largest Midwestern regions, Whites
  in Milwaukee recorded the 3rd lowest improvement
  in socioeconomic health in the 1990s

14
Racial/Regional Inequities Impact Everyone

• How do racial and social inequities impact
  overall regional health?
• Racial and regional inequities impact the health
  of the entire region, and impact everyone in the
  region
• The segregation tax (excessive housing costs)
  paid by Whites to distance themselves from low
  opportunity communities
• The region loses its competitive edge in the
  global economy
• Inequitable schools that produce an unprepared
  (undereducated) labor force
• Interregional economic competition that erodes
  the regions collective economic voice and power
• Fragmented and redundant governments, underused
  and redundant infrastructure in suburban areas
• An undercapitalized central city with declining
  infrastructure and resources

15
A Failure to Invest in Ourselves

• Both at the federal, regional and local level,
  inequities represent a failure to be good social
  citizens
• A failure to invest in the social capital of our
  citizens so that they can grow to be contributing
  members of our society
• This parallels failure to invest in our
  neighborhoods and communities
• You can not expect returns without a willingness
  to invest capital

16
Racial Segregation and Concentrated Poverty

• Why were African American and poor neighborhoods
  impacted the most from Katrina?
• The dynamics of spatial inequity, combined with
  patterns of racial segregation
• Flood risk in New Orleans was not equitably
  distributed and followed historical patterns of
  segregation in the City

After levee breaks, the Ninth ward rapidly floods
in New Orleans. Photo by Ted Jackson/NEWHOUSE
NEWS SERVICE)
Evacuees sit stranded in the streets outside the
Convention Center of New Orleans in the aftermath
of Hurricane Katrina September 3, 2005.
REUTERS/SHANNON STAPLETON
17
Residential and School Segregation Milwaukee and
New Orleans
African American-White Dissimilarity for the
Milwaukee and New Orleans Regions
Source Lewis Mumford Center, University of
Albany, SUNY
18
African American Population in New Orleans
19
African American Population in the Milwaukee
Region
20
Concentrated Poverty

• Why were most areas impacted by Katrina poor?
• New Orleans has some of the most severe levels of
  concentrated poverty in the nation
• In respect to concentrated poverty, Milwaukee is
  not far behind New Orleans (ranking 9th
  nationally)

21
Effects of Policies and Structures

• These conditions of inequity and segregation are
  a result of racialized policies and structures
  that have also
• Promoted sprawl
• Led to disparities between schools
• Concentrated subsidized housing
• Exacerbated disinvestment in critical
  infrastructure for urban and inner-city areas
• As a result of these structures and policies,
  many people are segregated from opportunity in
  New Orleans (and most metropolitan areas)
• Opportunity Segregation

22
Policies that Favor Sprawl

• Policies that promote sprawling suburban and
  exurban development exacerbate the isolation of
  inner city communities
• Pulling resources and people away
• Driving segregation and regional inequities
• Urban sprawl is an example of a phenomena that
  impacts both regional health and heightens racial
  disparity/segregation
• Diminishes opportunity for everyone

23
Sprawl In Milwaukee and New Orleans

• Sprawling development (and suburban flight) are
  evident in both Milwaukee and New Orleans
• Between 1982 and 1997
• The New Orleans region lost 1.5 of its
  population, but its urban land increased by 25
• In Milwaukee, population increased by 6 and
  urban land increased by 25
• In both cases, this development has destabilized
  inner city communities, furthering their isolation

Source Brookings Institute
24
School Disparities

• Schools are becoming increasingly racially
  segregated
• The dissimilarity index score in New Orleans
  between white and black students was 71.3 in
  2000, up from 66.5 in 1990
• The dissimilarity index score in Milwaukee was
  78.2 in 2000, up from 70.1 in 19901
• this is not just a black/white, urban/suburban
  issue
• We are abandoning ALL of the student body in
  these failing, low income, urban schools
• Integration (racially and economically) have been
  shown to have numerous, life-long benefits for
  ALL students, urban and suburban

Source http//mumford1.dyndns.org/cen2000/SchoolP
op/SchoolSegdata.htm
25
School Disparities

• One of the causes of inequity in inner-city
  schools is the spending disparities that exist
  between urban and suburban districts
• During the 1998-99 school year, Milwaukee Public
  Schools had 1,254 per student less to spend than
  the suburban average1
• If the Milwaukee Public
  School District would have received
  the suburban
  average in
  1998-1999, they would
  have received 125 million dollars more

Source Barndt, Michael The Return to Separate
and Unequal. Rethinking Schools. Vol 15 No3,
Spring 2001.
26
Concentrated Subsidized Housing

• Affordable housing policies also work to create
  social/racial isolation and promote concentrated
  poverty
• Policies which have concentrated subsidized
  housing in impoverished, racially concentrated
  inner city areas
• Exclusionary zoning that keeps out most
  affordable housing in growing affluent suburbs
• These trends are evident in both New Orleans and
  Milwaukee

27
The Correlation of Poverty and Subsidized
Housing in New Orleans
28

• Subsidized Housing and Poverty in the Milwaukee
  Region 1998
• Like New Orleans, Milwaukees subsidized housing
  is concentrated in higher poverty areas

29
Disinvestment in Critical Infrastructure for
Urban Areas

• Katrina highlighted the national trend of
  disinvestment in critical infrastructure for
  urban areas
• Poorly maintained levy systems
• Insufficient public transportation

30
Disinvestment in Critical Infrastructure for
Urban Areas

• These trends are not unique to New Orleans and
  occur in many communities in a variety of ways
• Disinvestment in public transit, in favor of
  expenditures on highways and roads
• Sprawling development that pulls resources away
  to newly developing areas
• Declining federal resources for urban areas
• Despite the great need to maintain existing
  infrastructure in our cities

31
Inequities in Transportation Policy and Spending

• As witnessed in the aftermath of Katrina, public
  transportation is critical to low income
  households
• Nearly a 29 of African Americans in New Orleans
  had no access to a vehicle
• Many were trapped with no viable way to leave the
  city during the storm, or no viable way to reach
  employment prior to the storm
• Despite the desperate need for public
  transportation, government expenditures always
  favor highways and private auto travel
• For every 100 spent on highways, Louisiana spent
  17 on public transit

Katrina Survivors waiting for transit to leave
the superdome.
Source U.S. Census and Sierra Club, Sprawl
Report 2001
32
Most Severely Flooded Areas were Transit
Dependent African American Neighborhoods
Transit Stop Destroyed by Katrina
33
Inequities in Transportation Policy and Spending

• Milwaukee also has a large urban transit
  dependent population, that is depends on public
  transit to access employment and to travel for
  other critical needs (school, health care, etc.)
• Over 70,000 households in the Milwaukee region
  had no private automobile in 2000, nearly 50,000
  of these lived in the City of Milwaukee
• In the City of Milwaukee 33 of African Americans
  and 15 of Whites have no automobile
• Similar to Louisiana, transportation spending
  primarily benefits highways over transit
• For every 100 spent on highways, Wisconsin spent
  15 on public transit

Source U.S. Census and Sierra Club, Sprawl
Report 2001
34
Sprawling DevelopmentWho Pays for New
Infrastructure?

• Development in the suburbs and exurbs create
  tremendous costs for the public sector
• Schools, water and sewer, fire and police
  protection, roads and sidewalks, parks and other
  public services
• Research in Oregon has found that that average
  new home costs the public sector 33K in
  infrastructure costs
• Where is spending for infrastructure occurring
  for Milwaukees new suburban neighborhoods?
• Who is paying for this? (We all pay)

35
Sprawl and Infrastructure Costs

• Where was money spent for new infrastructure in
  the Milwaukee region?
• The following map presents estimates for the
  public cost to create infrastructure to serve new
  housing units in the region
• As indicated on the map, most infrastructure
  expense for new housing was in the regions
  suburbs

36
Declining Federal Resources for Urban Areas

• Many of our urban areas have depressed tax bases
  due to population loss, vacant properties and job
  losses
• While urban communities have diminished capacity
  to meet their needs, they often have the highest
  demand for public services
• High poverty neighborhoods, maintaining critical
  regional infrastructure (downtown), high need
  schools, old existing infrastructure that is at
  the end of its life cycle
• While need is growing, federal support is
  declining
• As evidenced by federal cuts to critical urban
  programs
• housing, community development etc.
• Between 2003 and 2004, federal grants to
  Milwaukee County decreased by 15.6, representing
  a loss of over 290 million

Source U.S. Census Bureau, Inflation Adjusted
Dollars
37
Effects of Policies and Structures

• What are the cumulative effects of these policies
  and structures?
• Opportunity segregation
• Social Isolation
• Limited access to opportunity structures
• Creation of high and low opportunity communities
• Often coexisting with severe racial disparity
• What are opportunity structures, how do we define
  and measure opportunity?

38
Defining Opportunity
39
Opportunity Structures

• Individuals exist within this interconnecting
  relational web of opportunity structures
• Opportunity structures are the resources and
  services that contribute to stability,
  advancement and quality of life
• Opportunities are distributed geographically-
  inner city residents are walled off from
  opportunities
• Thus, where you live is as important as what you
  live in!

40
The Dynamics of Opportunity in New Orleans

• These trends of opportunity exclusion are evident
  in the New Orleans region
• Low opportunity neighborhoods in New Orleans
• Were more likely to be African American
  neighborhoods
• Were more likely to be flooded
• How will these neighborhoods be rebuilt?
• Will they be high opportunity communities or
  replicate pre-Katrina inequities

41
High (Dark Colors) and (Light Colors) Low
Opportunity Neighborhoods in New Orleans and
Flooded Areas (Red)
42
The Dynamics of Opportunity in the Milwaukee
Region(Light Colors Lowest Opportunity
Neighborhoods Dark Colors Highest Opportunity
Neighborhoods)

• Similar conditions can be seen in Milwaukees
  neighborhoods
• Low opportunity communities are clustered in the
  inner city, high opportunity areas are found in
  the suburbs
• Based on an analysis of multiple indicators of
  neighborhood opportunity including Poverty
  rates, vacancy rates, population change,
  unemployment rates, home values

43
The Dynamics of Opportunity in Milwaukee

• Who is living in low opportunity communities in
  Milwaukee?
• Low opportunity neighborhoods are
  disproportionately made up of people of color
• African American and Latino
• Isolation in low opportunity communities also
  impacts many Whites
• In absolute terms, a significant number of Whites
  are found in low opportunity communities

44
The Dynamics of Opportunity in Milwaukee
Population by Race by Neighborhood Opportunity
Level

• Who is living in low opportunity communities in
  Milwaukee?
• Nearly 85 of the Milwaukee regions African
  Americans live in low and very low
  opportunity neighborhoods
• 2/3s of the regions Latinos can be found in
  these communities
• Approximately 200,000 Whites are found in low
  and very low opportunity communities
• 225,000 African Americans and 70,000 Latinos live
  in these communities as well

45
Moving Forward Proposed Solutions

• To address these inequities, we propose
  equity-based regionalism
• An equity-based, structural approach that
  emphasizes the region as the primary geographic
  unit determining the distribution of opportunity
  and resources
• Equity-based regionalism focuses on KEY
  opportunity structures
• Equity-based regionalism reconceptualizes these
  structures and relationships not just for people
  of color, but for ALL residents of a region
• Without re-conceptualizing these structures and
  relationships everyone will come up short.

46
Linked Fate

• Why should those living in inner-ring, outer-ring
  suburbs, and exurbs care about inner-city
  disparities?
• A region and all its residents share a linked
  fate
• This issue is particularly important today
• To thrive, regions must be competitive in
  the global economy
• Regions cannot compete with wasteful
  and redundant services, and
  fragmented governments
• Research suggests that regions who
  utilize regional policies are
  economically (and socially)
  healthier

47
Addressing Racial Tensions

• In order to move forward and address the our
  nations racialized poverty and economic
  insecurity, we must raise awareness and address
  the racial tensions which initially created
  inequities
• We must use race as a transformative bridge, to
  improve conditions for all
• Race should not be used as a divisive phenomena,
  as it historically has been used

48
Coalition Building

• We need to recognize our connectedness and
  develop and implement solutions that benefit ALL
  members of society
• Linked-fate
• Targeted Universalism
• This cannot be done in isolation
• Need diverse coalitions
• Connect with community based organizations,
  social justice groups, local governments, the
  business community, CDCs, philanthropic
  institutions and large urban institutions (e.g.
  universities)

49
A New Paradigm

• Through collective imagination, we need to define
  what the future should look like
• A New Paradigm!
• Explicitly stated goals and principals provide a
  common framework through which to pursue justice

Post Katrina Graffiti in New Orleans
50
A New Paradigm

• What is our alternative vision?
• A model where we all grow together
• A model where we embrace collective solutions
• Where race is experienced and addressed in a
  different way
• No longer using race to divide and distract from
  class struggle
• Using race to transform our society in a way that
  lifts up all people

51
Concluding Thoughts

• What has Katrina taught us?
• That race and poverty are intricately
  interconnected in our society
• Illustrated the fragile state of our low income
  urban communities
• Revealed our shared fate, Katrina impacted the
  entire nation
• The response to Katrina will impact us all

52
Concluding Thoughts

• What has Katrina taught us?
• Demonstrated the inadequacy in resources devoted
  to meeting the needs of our inner city
  communities
• Levies and inadequate transit in New Orleans
• What is lacking from your community?
• Indicated strong need for responsible
  government (Being a good Social Citizen)
• Responsible to the people, especially the most
  sensitive populations

53
Concluding Thoughts

• The obstacles we face can seem insurmountable,
  however
• Through a new paradigm and with coalition
  building we can make great strides in addressing
  the race and class disparities in our nation
• Strategic transactional change, can ultimately
  accomplish transformation
• Eyes on the prize(s)
• Remember- We Have, and Can Make Progress!

54
www.KirwanInstitute.org
55
Addendum and Additional Data How do we rebuild
New Orleans and all of our communities?

• Core Principles for
• New Orleans and Beyond

56
Commitment to New Orleans?

• Pledges to rebuilt Levies at Hurricane 5 strength
  remain unfulfilled
• Large parts of the City remain without
  electricity and have limited public services
• Almost all schools remain shut down
• Displaced residents soon will lose housing
  assistance
• Demolition of the homes of the displaced soon to
  begin, limited protection from eviction
• The Citys plan for redevelopment offers little
  guidance, support and assistance for displaced
  residents those who want to return
• A Laissez-faire approach to bringing back New
  Orleans?

57
Core Principals for New Orleans and Beyond

• Develop and support safe, livable communities
  that are connected to opportunities
• Provide sufficient financial resources to the
  entire region, while doing no harm to critical
  social programs
• Create an accountable and equitable regional
  approach- include public participation that
  assures effective political voice
• Ensure that the comprehensive public and
  environmental health and safety needs of the
  region and its residents are met

58
Core Principals for New Orleans and Beyond

• High quality educational opportunities are
  critical to the health of a region and its
  residents
• Create a long term economic development strategy
  that produces an equitable, thriving, sustainable
  economy
• Economic development strategies must also support
  local wealth creation and asset building
• Redevelopment must assure that equitable physical
  and social infrastructure is provided to all
  communities in the region

59
High (Dark Colors) and (Light Colors) Low
Opportunity Neighborhoods in New Orleans
60
Growing Economic Insecurity

• Milwaukee has not been immune to these national
  trends
• Income (inflation adjusted) has decreased in the
  Milwaukee metropolitan area from 50,028 in 2000
  to 48,302 in 2004
• The poverty rate in the Milwaukee metropolitan
  area increased from 9.8 in 2000 to 12.6 in 2004
• In 2004, more than one in five people in the City
  of Milwaukee were in poverty

Source U.S. Census Bureau
61
Conditions for the African American Community

• In respect to the overall condition of the
  African American community, both regions rate
  very poorly
• Of the 21 largest regions
• New Orleans recorded the 4th worst conditions for
  African Americans
• Once again, Milwaukee had the worst ranking of
  the 21 regions