Inner-City Poverty in the United States (1990) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
3 How Poverty Neighborhoods Are Changing
3 How Poverty Neighborhoods Are Changing
Pages 68-110
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 68... ...
The chapter also looks at how federal policies have affected poverty neighborhoods. The nature of the available information precludes a systematic evaluation of the impact of particular federal antipoverty policies in particular neighborhoods, but some inferences can be drawn about the ways in which the most important federal policies have affected poverty neighborhoods in general, and some guesses can be made about the likely effectiveness of recent proposals.
|
From page 69... ...
The data were produced as a special tabulation for this study by the Princeton University Computer Center, under a contract with the American Enterprise Institute. Changes in the 1960s are also analyzed, using data for a smaller set of poverty neighborhoods that had been compiled from the decennial censuses of 1960 and 1970, as part of a previous study.)
|
From page 70... ...
Poverty neighborhoods were delineated by the Office of Economic Opportunity after 1970 as groups of contiguous low-income census tracts with 20,000 or more residents in the aggregate. The smallest of these neighborhoods contained at least three census tracts.
|
From page 71... ...
Study Neighborhoods For this study, 79 persistently poor neighborhoods were identified in 12 central cities of standard metropolitan statistical areas (SMSAs)
|
From page 72... ...
Buffalo had no neighborhoods with more than To census tracts. The only eastern cities that met the study criteria but were excluded were Baltimore (four poverty neighborhoods)
|
From page 73... ...
(A list of the tracts contained within each poverty neighborhood, for each of the three decennial censuses, is available from the author.) NEIGHBORHOOD CHAD GES IN THE 1970s Poverty neighborhoods differ from city to city, but the neighborhoods in eastern and midwestern cities changed in similar ways in the course of the 1970s.
|
From page 74... ...
Both also experienced the same raciaVethnic turnover. The typical neighborhood lost about one-third of its total population in the decade, over half its white population, almost one-third of its black population, and almost one-fifth of its Hispanic population.
|
From page 75... ...
8.413.3 Percent renter-occupied83.982.4 Space Persons per unit3.152.85 Median rooms per unit4.064.15 Percent crowded17.212.1 Quality Percent without complete plumbing5.26.5 Percent without central heat13.614.1 Percent without heat0.20.5 Age Percent 30+ years old73.071.0 Percent built pre-194073.055.4 Percent <10 years old7.57.9 Percent in 1-unit structures14.616.2 Percent in 5+ unit structures59.059.8 Median home valueb$34,000$24,200 -29.6 Median rentb$131$134 +2.5 Non-Hispanic population. ~ 1980 dollars.
|
From page 76... ...
The remaining housing aged 10 years, and a small number of new units were built. It is reasonable to conjecture that some if not all of the new units were built under government housing programs for the poor, but this is only a conjecture; unfortunately, the census tract data do not identify public housing or other subsidized housing.
|
From page 77... ...
The increase turns out to be the result of a little-noticed change in definition, combined with a much-noticed change in the housing stock In 1970, a unit was deemed to have complete plumbing if the facilities were located within the structure; in 1980, it was necessary that they be located within the unit. This changes the classification of rooming houses, but that is not the most important effect, statistically.
|
From page 78... ...
bIn 1980 dollars. CFor families and unrelated individuals in 1970, households in 1980.
|
From page 79... ...
bIn 1980 dollars. CFor families and unrelated individuals in 1970, households in 1980.
|
From page 80... ...
bIn 1980 dollars. CFor families and unrelated individuals in 1970, households in 1980.
|
From page 81... ...
ban 1980 dollars. CFor families and unrelated individuals in 1970, households in 1980.
|
From page 82... ...
The housing stock in New York neighborhoods, to take an obvious example, consisted much more of large apartment buildings in both 1970 and 1980, and surely does today, than in neighborhoods in any other city. In New York and Chicago, rental housing was much more predominant than in the smaller cities; the typical housing unit was smaller, and crowding (defined as having more than one person per room)
|
From page 83... ...
As the older private housing stock was removed from the inventory during the 1970s, public housing constituted a larger share of the inventory, and the proportion of units without central heat increased. Thus, the reported rise in the Chicago neighborhoodscertainly unexpected at first sight, considering the climate-does not by itself indicate a deterioration in housing quality.
|
From page 84... ...
20,500 16,300 44.6 35.8 Hispanic 10,500 20,300 27.3 44.6 Other races. 2,000 2,600 5.3 6.1 Over 65 years 4,300 4,200 12.0 9.8 Under 18 years 13,600 14,400 33.9 33.8 Households 14,300 14,100 -0.1 Married couples 5,800 6,300 42.8 43.6 Female head 5,100 5,400 36.0 38.9 Male head, no spouse 3,300 2,400 21.4 17.5 Income and Economy Median household incomeb $8,200 $8,500 +4.2 Labor force Percent unemployed 5.3 6.3 Percent not in labor force 50.3 48.3 Percent employed 43.6 45.3 Percent with eamingsC 79.7 66.2 Percent with income transfersC 52.2 53.2 Median years of schooling 10.0 10.0 Housing Housing units 15,400 15,100 Occupied housing units 14,200 14,100 Vacancy rate (%)
|
From page 85... ...
The poor black population in these neighborhoods apparently moved to nearby census tracts, causing many of them to be classified as poverty areas in 1980 and causing a spread of poverty to a wider area around the Civic Center, particularly to the southwest and south. NEIGHBORHOOD CHANGES IN A LONGER PERSPECTIVE Although comparable data for the same set of neighborhoods could not be obtained from the 1960 census, as noted, data were available for a different set.
|
From page 86... ...
Population and Housing Changes in the 1960s Table 3-9 summarizes the population and housing conditions in 1960 and 1970 for the sample of 50 neighborhoods. All but one lost population
|
From page 87... ...
They did, however, lose less population than the average during the decade, as was also true of the few other neighborhoods with a substantial Hispanic minority in 1960. The housing changes in the Miami neighborhood in the 1960s were much like the changes in the Hispanic neighborhoods in Los Angeles in the 197Qs: a lower vacancy rate, higher rents, more crowding, and an increase in units without complete plumbing.
|
From page 88... ...
Data on the age of the housing stock were not collected on a comparable basis in 1960, but it seems likely that the experience was similar-a large loss among the oldest housing units and a small volume of new construction. The big difference between the decades is the big drop in units without complete plumbing in the 1960s.
|
From page 89... ...
The housing stock decreased, the vacancy rate increased, and real rents fell over both decades. All measures of housing space showed steady improvement.
|
From page 90... ...
They leave behind the poorest of their neighbors. As the poverty neighborhoods empty out, the worst housing within them drops out of the housing stock or stands vacant.
|
From page 91... ...
Turnover is much lower in public housing projects than in private low-income housing. In Cabrini-Green, 59 percent of the households had lived in the same unit for five years; in the rest of that poverty neighborhood, the proportion was 40 percent.
|
From page 92... ...
People are working and doing better, rather than living on transfer payments and doing worse. STATISTICAL ANALYSES OF NEIGHBORHOOD CHANGES Support for the notion of a filtering process at work comes from more sophisticated statistical analyses of some of the changes in the 79 poverty neighborhoods.
|
From page 93... ...
A high ratio-implying a greater possibility for filtering is associated with better neighborhood housing conditions and perhaps with a greater decline in neighborhood population. The most consistently important neighborhood factor is the growth in Hispanic population, which tends to put pressure on the local housing stock at the same time that local income and employment rise.
|
From page 94... ...
This is odd. All new housing units must have complete plumbing, and most will have central heating (perhaps excluding some public housing projects)
|
From page 95... ...
Hispanic population change+.47+.52 +.76 (2.3)
|
From page 96... ...
In addition, income rose more in the neighborhoods where the housing stock increased. These were mainly the Hispanic neighborhoods, but statistically, however, employment and housing stock changes mattered more than the change in the Hispanic population.
|
From page 97... ...
Housing Conditions Three aspects of neighborhood housing are analyzed: crowding, the absence of complete plumbing, and the absence of central heating. In each case, the neighborhood housing market turns out to be greatly affected by the metropolitan market.
|
From page 98... ...
TABLE 3-14 Regression Analysis of Change in Housing Units Without Complete Plumbing Sample Excluding A1179 Excluding Los Angeles Variable Neighborhoods Los Angeles and New York Constant+.02+.02 +.04 SMSA filtering-.32-.31 -.24 (3.0)
|
From page 99... ...
The analysis of neighborhood unemployment and labor force participation (Ibbles 3-16 and 3-17) is essentially a reduced form of this model; the SMSA unemployment rate is the proxy for the demand for labor, and labor force participation is measured by the fraction of the adult population that is not in the labor force.
|
From page 100... ...
Labor force participation was less affected by the SMSA unemployment rate and more by the neighborhood attributes: age and race consistently, schooling and household composition in some cases Gable 3-17~. In most of these neighborhoods, the unemployment rate rose over the decade and labor force participation declined.
|
From page 101... ...
All 76 Neighborhoods Excluding Los Angeles Excluding Los Angeles and New York Constant Change in city's share of SMSA jobs SMSA unemployment rate change Elderly population change +.05 -.12 (3~5)
|
From page 102... ...
Transfer payments probably account for a larger share of neighborhood income; certainly more residents have been receiving them. The data tabulated for this chapter do not distinguish between Social Security and welfare programs, but given the changing age distribution and household composition in these neighborhoods, it is likely that both have become more important income sources.
|
From page 103... ...
A one percentage point growth in the elderly population translated into a one percentage point decline in labor force participation, and the growth in the elderly population in the average neighborhood accounted for about a quarter of the decline in participation. Single mothers accounted for another substantial share of the decline in participation, and they might benefit from welfare reform in the long run.
|
From page 104... ...
If the local private housing stock is generally decent, the programs help poor people afford the housing and promote neighborhood stability. If the stock is substandard, the programs help poor people move out of the neighborhood.
|
From page 105... ...
At first sight, this may seem an unlikely strategy; many public housing residents are very poor, and projects in many poverty neighborhoods consist of high-rise apartment buildings. Tenant ownership must perforce take the form of cooperative or condominium ownership, or ownership by a resident management corporation.
|
From page 106... ...
At the same time, the overall minimum wage increase will tend to reduce employment of lowskilled poverty neighborhood residents, if anything. National Economic Policy and Poverty Neighborhoods The differences between the 1960s and 1970s and the connections between the neighborhood and metropolitan area economies illustrate the importance of national economic changes and macroeconomic policies.
|
From page 107... ...
, but the central-city rate was markedly higher. The logical inference from these data is that poverty neighborhoods in big cities expanded geographically during the 1980s, repeating the pattern of the 1970s.
|
From page 108... ...
Public housing, Section 8 New Construction, and other low-income construction programs have proven to be much more expensive than using the existing stock to house the poor. Public housing changes the neighborhood as well as the housing stock.
|
From page 109... ...
Paper prepared for a symposium at the New School for Social Research, November. National Housing Policy Review 1974 Housing in the Seventies.
|
From page 110... ...
1982 The Relationship Between Subsidized Housing Production and Loss Rates Wthin Metropolitan Areas. Contract Report No.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.