Rethinking the Cause for Suburban Poverty

Johnson County human service providers have been sounding the alarm for the past several years that poverty is increasing.  Many find it hard to believe that more people with income below 100% of the federal poverty level live in Johnson County than in Wyandotte County, 38,000 vs. 33,000.  Now, studies by the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings and numerous articles, such as “Trouble in the Suburbs” by the Center for American Progress, confirm that rising suburban poverty is changing the landscape across the country.  They conclude that growing suburban poverty contradicts commonly held perceptions of suburbs, therefore we must change how we think about them.

While some tend to conclude that suburban poverty is “caused” by low-income people moving to the community, in Johnson County the number of poor grew almost two times the one-year population increase.  Three concurrent trends have combined to bring about this transformation of the suburbs:  downward mobility of the middle class over the past decade; recession-related fiscal challenges such as job loss, unemployment and underemployment; and to a smaller degree, low-income individuals and families moving to suburbs in search of what everyone wants – better job opportunities, safer neighborhoods and quality schools.  

Human service providers and advocates must start by educating their boards and other influential leaders about the changing nature of our community. And together, we must work to put in place programs and policies that can make a difference.  Blaming the poor will not change the reality of growing suburban poverty.