Concentrated Urban Poverty in the South

On the eve of Hurricane Katrina, over one-third of poor New Orleanians lived in neighborhoods where at least 40 percent of the residents had incomes below the federal poverty level. Poor African Americans were even more likely to live in such neighborhoods, according to a new report issued by The Brookings Institution.

While New Orleans is a distinctive American city in many ways, it unfortunately is typical of many large American and southern cities when it comes to the issue of concentrated urban poverty.

The Brookings Institution report shows that the concentrated poverty rates in four southern cities -- New Orleans, Louisville, Miami and Atlanta -- were among the ten highest in the nation with another four southern cities ranking among the top 25.

Southern cities with high rates of concentrated poverty come in two types. First, there are immigrant gateway cities like Miami and El Paso. Second, there are fast growing regional cities like Atlanta, Charlotte and Nashville.

According to the report, concentrated poverty exacts a terrible toll on the vitality, health, safety and economic prosperity of large cities, as well as on the individuals who reside in racially and economically segregated neighborhoods.

Such neighborhoods arise from a variety of factors, including public policies that have vacillated "between benign neglect and outright hostility towards these distressed neighborhoods and their residents." Both growing southern cities and rebuilding ones along the Gulf Coast must work to avoid the policies that produced the concentrated poverty on display in New Orleans prior to Hurricane Katrina if these cities are to reach their true economic potential and offer opportunities for all residents.