Rochester's poverty levels more concentrated than Buffalo

from the Buffalo News

Here is another story on the Brookings Institution report that is focused on New York State

By, Jonathan Epstein

A new study by the liberal-leaning Brookings Institution shows that the concentration of low-income working families in high-poverty areas is significantly higher in Rochester than in the Buffalo-Niagara Falls area.

According to the Brookings report, to be released today, about 21 percent of Rochester's low-income working families lived in ZIP codes where at least 40 percent of all taxpayers get the federal Earned Income Tax Credit. Low-income families were defined as those who receive the EITC.

In fact, Rochester had the eighth-highest concentration of poverty in the country, among the 58 largest cities studied by Brookings. And it had the fourth-highest increase in that concentration, which rose by 13.2 points from 1999 to 2005.

By contrast, just 13.5 percent of Buffalo's low-income families lived in such concentrated areas. And that was up just 5.1 percent in the six years.

Indeed, the concentration in Buffalo Niagara area almost matches that of the 58 largest cities in the country -- 13.3 percent nationwide.

However, nationwide, the number of low-income families living in high-poverty neighborhoods soared 40 percent, as 34 of the 58 large cities saw higher rates of concentration. Many are in older industrial cities, like Rochester, Detroit and Cleveland, and suburbs saw increases in high-poverty neighborhoods as well.

Brookings blamed the rise on the economic downturn and slow recovery in the first half of this decade. The report said "extremely poor neighborhoods" often discourage private-sector investment, offer less access to job opportunities, and have higher crime rates, underperforming public schools, poor housing, and poor health conditions. That's on top of the regular daily challenges of being poor.

Research director and report co-author Alan Berube called for "smart policies" that foster more "economic integration" throughout metropolitan areas while linking residents of impoverished neighborhoods to labor markets.

Nationwide, the worst metropolitan area for concentration of poverty was Fresno, Calif., where 30 percent of low-income filers live in high-poverty areas, according to Brookings. And that was down by 4.3 points from six years earlier.

That was followed by Augusta, Ga., at 29.3 percent; Detroit at 27.5 percent, Miami-Ft. Lauderdale at 26.7 percent; and Philadelphia at 25.5 percent. Cleveland was seventh, at 21.5 percent.

The lowest concentrations among the 58 cities -- in all cases, zero -- were in Sacramento and San Diego, Calif., and in Washington, D. C. Trenton, N. J., was next, followed by Phoenix, Ariz.