Low-income residents have scattered to the periphery, where social services are less accessible.

Aaron Wiener writes in detail about the suburbanization of poverty, focusing on the region around Washington, D.C. as an example of changes underway in cities around the country.
According to Wiener, people growing up in neighborhoods in Washington, D.C. couldn't have imagine how much those places would change—or where those changes would require them to move.
Nobody imagined it, really. Certainly not the original suburbanites, the mostly white pilgrims who fled cities nationwide for peace, safety, space — and sometimes to get away from people who didn’t look like them. Not the federal government, which declared war on poverty in the 1960s but got stuck on an old version of the fight, still targeting low-income clusters in urban centers today rather than the diffusion of people who can no longer afford to live near their work. Not the nonprofit organizations that help low-income populations, which began in the so-called inner city and are largely still there, spending far more money per urban poor person than per suburbanite in need — 10 times as much in the D.C. region.
According to Wiener, low-income residents are leaving downtowns for more suburban locales, where they are "increasingly hidden from public view" and "isolated from the government offices, social services, and networks of friends and relatives on which they once relied." Traditionally wealthy areas, like Montgomery County in Maryland, have seen the fastest increases in poverty while also seeing an influx of non-white residents.
To illustrate the larger societal shift, Wiener follows the story of Delonte Wilkins, a resident of Capital Heights, Maryland, who grew up in the Bloomingdale neighborhood of Northwest Washington, D.C. But the larger story told by the article is about the struggle of non-profits and local jurisdictions to respond to the shifting geography of poverty.
FULL STORY: Poverty is moving to the suburbs. The war on poverty hasn’t followed.

Planetizen’s Top Planning Books of 2023
The world is changing, and planning with it.

Chicago Red Line Extension Could Transform the South Side
The city’s transit agency is undertaking its biggest expansion ever to finally bring rail to the South Side.

How ‘Daylighting’ Intersections Can Save Lives
Eliminating visual obstructions can make intersections safer for all users.

San Diego Trolley Nation’s Most Popular Light Rail
The system's ridership benefited from an extension project and free transit for youth.

San Jose Affordable Housing Development Gains Approval
A proposed project is moving forward with reduced building heights and all-affordable units.

Oklahoma City Begins Work on Parking-Protected Bike Lane
The project is part of the city’s broader plan to improve bike and pedestrian infrastructure and road safety.
City of Morganton
San Joaquin County
University of New Mexico - School of Architecture & Planning
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
Park City Municipal Corporation
National Capital Planning Commission
City of Santa Fe, New Mexico
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.