A feature in the Houston Chronicle explores the economic segregation of Houston along the axis of Main Street—with low income neighborhoods like Independence Heights to the north and affluent neighborhoods like Old Braeswood to the south.
"Houston is a place of stark contrasts," writes Monica Rohr to frame a feature coverage in the Houston Chronicle. "It is home to pockets of poverty, including Independence Heights, the northside neighborhood where Streets has lived since she was a teenager, and also to multibillion-dollar corporations and multimillion-dollar mansions."
As an example that informs lessons well beyond its municipal boundaries, "[Houston] epitomizes America in 2015, where the gap between rich and poor keeps growing wider and [people live] on just enough to get by, but never enough to get ahead."
The article includes several profiles on citizens trying to overcome the disadvantages of their zip code in neighborhoods that rank among some of the worst in the country on measures like income, college education, and more. The examples of how low income Houstonians struggle illustrate the many manifestations of poverty in urban environments—often found just a few blocks away from affluence and excess.
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