Session 4: The Geography of Poverty

Who and Why according to georgraphy?

Who knew that geography plays apart in poverty of people. The South has been historically the poorest region, followed by the West, the Northeast, then the Midwest. According to John Iceland, author of Poverty In America, rural areas are the poorest, then metropolitian areas, then the suburbs. Rural areas have the highest poverty rates due to the lack of schools, public transportation, jobs, isolation, and limited social support services. After reading this, it completely makes sense to me. For example, I use to live on the Eastern Shore in Maryland, which is considered the South and a rural area. There was one way in and one way out. There was one high school and no public transportation. It was hard to make a living there with so many people fighting for the minimum amount of jobs there were and the high cost of living on the Chesapeake Bay.

What?

Even though the South has the highest poverty rates, the Northeast has the highest concentrated poverty, which means one area has poverty rates of 40% or more. Several factors contribute to concentrated poverty. For example, the buliding of low-cost housing projects post-WWII grouped poor people together in one area. Also public transportation and several tax policies added to concentrated poverty. Even though the government thought these policies and housing projects were helping people, it blew up in their faces and added to the poverty problem. Like Galster's theory, trying to acheieve concentrated poverty of 10% or less needs to be the ultimate goal of our society. Government needs to strongly consider each housing project and tax policy they create to make sure it does not add to the problem.