Poverty is hitting the suburbs with more sting, By Mary Jane Smetanka, March 6, 2010, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “In a startling shift, Twin Cities suburbs now have more poor people than the core cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Job losses, foreclosures and disappearing insurance coverage have pushed requests for food stamps, medical assistance and emergency housing aid to record levels. Homeless numbers are rising. Food shelves are scrambling to meet demand. It’s a trend mirrored in suburbs across the nation, where a recent study found that suburban poverty has grown five times faster than it has in big cities. Worst hit are single moms and unskilled workers whose finances were shaky before the economy dipped. But financial stress reaches well into the middle class…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty