Summary: During the housing boom, low-income families were drawn to the suburbs by construction and service jobs, as well as the opportunity to have their own homes. Then the recession hit, and recent data show that of the massive increase in the number of American poor in 2009, two-thirds occurred in suburban areas. In this episode of the Metro Matters podcast, Next American City Editor-at-Large Diana Lind speaks with Elizabeth Kneebone, a Senior Research Associate at the Brookings Institution, whose ongoing work assesses the scale and nature of suburban poverty. Joining them is Scott Allard, a professor at the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration and a Nonresident Senior Fellow at Brookings. His recent book Out of Reach: Place, Poverty and the New American Welfare State looks at how where people live affects the social services available to them, and argues that our current safety-net system is inadequate. Together, these experts discuss equitable access to services, a current lag in private resources and the ongoing perception problem that poverty is strictly an urban issue. Listen to the podcast, and don’t forget to subscribe to Metro Matters in iTunes so you’ll never miss an episode.
