Poverty Growing Faster in Suburbs Than in Central Cities

Sources:  2000 and 2008, 2011

Hardship Makes a New Home in the Suburbs. (The New York Times, 5/9/2014)

Poverty moves to the suburbs.   Five decades after President Lyndon B. Johnson declared a war on poverty, the nation’s poor are more likely to be found in suburbs like this one than in cities or rural areas, and poverty in suburbs is rising faster than in any other setting in the country. By 2011, there were three million more people living in poverty in suburbs than in inner cities, according to a study released last year by the Brookings Institution. As a result, suburbs are grappling with problems that once seemed alien, issues compounded by a shortage of institutions helping the poor and distances that make it difficult for people to get to jobs and social services even if they can find them.

The article focuses on Mary Carmen Acosta and Sebastian Plancarte, a married couple who live in Mareno Valley, California, located 60 miles east of Los Angeles.   Like many other Moreno Valley residents, Mary and Sebastian were lured here by lower housing costs.

The City of Moreno Valley was incorporated on December 3, 1984.

The Moreno Valley Public Library first opened for business on July 1, 1998.