IntraRegional Socioeconomic Inequality and Polarizations: Race, Poverty, and Uneven Development

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Intra-Regional Socioeconomic Inequality and
Polarizations Race, Poverty, and Uneven
Development

• Dawn Calvert

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Martin Luther King Jr. - 1957

• Men hate each other because they fear each
  other. They fear each other because they dont
  know each other. They dont know each other
  because they cant communicate with each other.
  They cant communicate with each other because
  they are separated from each other.

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Economic Inequality in the U.S.

• There is greater economic inequality in the U.S.
  than other advanced countries
• The rich and poor are not evenly divided
• Social Stratification Theory geography of the
  large metropolis is socially, economically, and
  racially differentiated in terms of residence and
  amenities

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• The U.S. is more suburbanized and separated than
  Europe or Asia
• Political Balkanization land-use controls public
  education, police and fire are local
  responsibility

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Factors Contributing to Economic Segregation

• Economic Segregation is the spatial segregation
  of households by income or social class
• Zoning Practices
• Exclusionary zoning practices allow communities
  to restrict poor people from living in their
  communities

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• Common exclusionary zoning practices include
  requiring large lot sizes, refusing to allow
  apartment buildings and other low-income housing
  or building low-income housing for a select group
  of individuals (such as senior citizens)
• Municipalities that utilize exclusionary zoning
  have a larger tax base to draw upon while
  avoiding expensive social programs necessary for
  low-income people

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• Transportation
• Government subsidies have provided the
  infrastructure for suburban development
• Reliance on personal transportation is necessary
  to live in suburbs which many poor people cannot
  afford
• Many metropolitan areas have inadequate public
  transportation systems for commuting from central
  cities to suburbs

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• Lending Practices
• Home Owners Loan Corporation
• Created by Congress in 1933
• Deemed racially diverse communities risky
• Channeled funds to white, outlying areas

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• Federal Housing Authority
• Created by Congress in 1934 to make homeownership
  more attainable
• Red-lining refusing loans in minority or
  racially integrated neighborhoods
• Preferred new construction to purchase of
  existing units (thereby paying whites to leave
  central city while simultaneously confining
  minorities to the central city)

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• Discriminatory Practices by banks and realtors
• Minority loan applications refused at triple the
  rate of white applications
• Realtors participated in racial steering and
  blockbusting
• 1968 Fair Housing Act
• Allowed the black middle-class to leave the
  central city

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Darien New Canaan, Connecticut

• Wealthy communities such as Darien and New Canaan
  practiced exclusionary zoning, created a
  community inhospitable for minorities, and
  limited or even prohibited industrial use.

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Newark, New Jersey

• Newark, New Jersey provided low-income housing,
  welcomed minorities and was a leading industrial
  city. As a result, it has experienced incredible
  hardship.

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Effects of Economic Segregation

• Poverty Concentration
• 40 or more of a neighborhoods residents at or
  below the poverty line
• Fragmentation of urban areas and sprawl lead to
  extreme racial and economic segregation and
  creation of persistent poverty and hopelessness

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• Poverty concentration creates a culture isolated
  from middle class society and the private economy
• Higher teenage pregnancy rate
• Higher high school drop out rates
• Higher rates of crime, drug use
• Distinctive speech patterns
• Oppositional Culture rejects middle-class
  mores
• Increased gang participation

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The Medias Role

• Crime stories are inexpensive to cover, easy to
  explain, and generate high ratings
• Media coverage is often sensationalistic and
  repetitive
• Serves to harden the middle-class towards
  concerns of those living in concentrated poverty
  and solidify racial tensions

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Disinvestment in Poverty Tracts

• Mass disinvestment perpetuates poverty
  concentration
• As middle-class residents leave central cities
  business follows
• Increased crime coupled with the loss of
  middle-class taxpayers decreases property values
• Fewer business can afford to operate those that
  do charge higher prices

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• Social needs increase
• In order to provide more services to fewer
  residents with less property taxes,
  municipalities are forced to increase taxes
• More residents able to leave the central city do
  so
• The cycle continues with few solutions

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Changes in Poverty Concentration from the
1990-2000

• A study by Paul Jargowsky found a reversal of the
  trend in central cities from 1990-2000. The
  study found
• The number of people living in high poverty
  neighborhoods declined by 24 in the 1990s
• The steepest declines in high poverty
  neighborhoods occurred in the Midwest and South
• The Northeast stayed the same while the West saw
  a 26 increase (most likely due to the increase
  in size and population of Hispanic barrios)

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• Concentrated poverty declined among all racial
  and ethnic groups, especially African Americans
• African Americans and Native Americans suffer the
  highest poverty concentration rates due to the
  inflexibility of ghettos and Indian Reservations
• The number of high poverty neighborhoods declined
  in rural areas and central cities, but suburbs
  experienced almost no change
• Poverty actually increased among outer edges of
  central cities and inner-ring suburbs of many
  metro areas

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• On the surface, it appears that great progress is
  being made in fighting poverty and poverty
  concentration
• In actuality, poverty is spreading to inner-ring
  suburbs
• In addition, further studies show that the
  patterns of suburbanization contribute to
  economic segregation

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Combating Economic Segregation

• Combating economic segregation and poverty is
  difficult
• Fear from minority leaders that regional
  approaches are an attempt to increase white
  authority
• Failed polices such as public housing and urban
  renewal increase resistance to new approaches
• Dominant suburban voters
• Racial tension

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The Gautreaux Case

• By consent decree, more than 4,000 low-income
  households were given housing opportunities in
  Chicago and its suburbs in 1966
• More than half the households were moved to
  affluent middle class, virtually all white
  neighborhoods
• The others were moved to poor and either
  exclusively African-American or low-income and
  integrated neighborhoods

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• Those families that moved to the suburbs saw
• Improved employment and earnings
• 15 increased likelihood of being employed
• Less fear
• Stronger motivation to improve themselves
• Fewer high school dropouts
• Increased college enrollment
• Better grades
• Higher rates of youth employment
• Better pay
• Resegregation did not occur

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Regional Approaches

• Annexation
• Increase size broaden tax base by incorporating
  middle-class suburbs
• Regionalizing Government Functions
• Move fire, police and schools to state or
  regional levels
• Fair-Share Agreements
• Every city must set aside a certain percentage of
  housing stock for the needy
• Urban Growth Boundaries

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Federated Regionalism

• Regionalism that gives cities or communities a
  way to maintain appropriate control of their
  political and cultural institutions while sharing
  in regional resources and balancing participants
  concerns
• Requires cooperation on some levels, but leaves
  autonomy on others
• Does not allow communities to opt-out of
  regional problem solving or ignore the needs of
  others

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• Cumulative voting
• Creates large electoral districts with multiple
  representatives and allows each voter to have as
  many votes as there are seats to be filled
• Allows minority groups greater opportunity to win
  representation in elections beyond the municipal
  level
• Joint Power Boards
• Achieve specific short and long term goals, lobby
  for regional solutions in state legislatures and
  reduce bureaucracy