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Introduction
It is important to note that poverty is a highly complex and multifaceted issue, which can be increased or decreased by a range of factors, such as housing, health, and other policy elements. In the United States, poverty is defined as a household’s family income being equal to or lower than the poverty line, which was $33,148 as of 2021 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2022). In Atlanta, Georgia, poverty has been persistently high and increasing in recent years, reaching 20% value and making it one of the poorest states in the US (U.S. Census Bureau, 2022). Thus, one might wonder about the underlying drivers of an increase in poverty in Atlanta, Georgia. The key causes of the high poverty rise in the city include housing policies and instabilities, the lack of transit services and public transportation infrastructure in suburban areas, and childhood poverty.
Housing Policies and Instabilities
Firstly, housing cost is the prime factor causing the persistent and gradual increase in poverty in Atlanta, Georgia. A study on housing stability and evictions found that subsidized rental properties “have substantially lower eviction rates than market-rate properties do” (Harrison et al., 2021, p. 411). In addition, “a senior, subsidized multifamily rental building is expected to have an annual eviction rate that is 10.7 percentage points below that of a nonsenior, market-rate property” (Harrison et al., 2021, p. 411). In other words, these findings suggest that eviction rates increase in recent years has been a strong driver of poverty in Atlanta, Georgia, where a high reliance on market-rate housing led to greater eviction levels. The lack of government interventions in terms of subsidies, at least for older properties, made housing instability a serious catalyst behind eviction and high housing costs. Essentially, rental properties are becoming unaffordable to many city residents.
Moreover, the housing practices in Atlanta, Georgia, disproportionately affect vulnerable poor and Black communities through serial filings, which massively aggravates housing stability. Research suggests that “the largest owners and larger buildings tend to have high serial shares … neighborhood race is a strong independent predictor; properties in Black neighborhoods have substantially higher non-serial filing rates” (Immergluck et al., 2020, p. 903). Therefore, people with lower income rates tend to live in larger apartment buildings with few or single landowners. Any change in the market rent rate incentivizes the latter to engage in serial filings. Black communities have higher non-serial filing rates because their evictions are successful on the first filing. In other words, housing instability greatly impacts poor people as well as people of color.
Transit Services and Public Transportation Infrastructure: Suburban Areas
Secondly, the lack of transit services and public transportation infrastructure in suburban areas has been another critical reason for the increase in poverty in Atlanta, Georgia. A study found that more poor people are living in the suburbs compared to the city centers, and thus, the lack of access to public transportation is a major poverty driver in these regions (Pathak et al., 2017). It is stated that “on average, after controlling for neighborhood characteristics, census tracts with better access to public bus transportation have a higher proportion of low-income households – in both the central city and the suburbs” (Pathak et al., 2017, p. 198). Thus, suburban areas are becoming poorer as a general trend not only in Atlanta but the US in general. Public transportation allows people with low socioeconomic status to work and commute to the city center sustainably. The lack of proper means of transportation forces the poor to use a more expensive mode of transportation or not have access to jobs in the center at all. This results in the form of gentrification and aggravation of an already growing trend of suburban poverty.
However, if one looks at poverty rates in various areas of Atlanta, Georgia, it becomes evident that poverty is becoming decentralized. The latter term refers to the phenomenon that poverty in the city center is not improving, but it is spreading to city suburbs, which means it is no longer constrained to the central areas making it decentralized (Wang & Woo, 2017). It is stated that “the trend toward the decentralization of poverty has become evident in many metropolitan areas and underscored the need to improve suburban transit services” (Wang & Woo, 2017, p. 183). Therefore, the current state of suburban transit services and the decentralization of poverty is the prime reason why the issue is becoming more prevalent in the city.
Childhood Poverty: Health
Thirdly, it should be noted that childhood poverty growth is significantly contributing to the general poverty increase in Atlanta, Georgia. The largest segment of people affected by poverty are children (U.S. Census Bureau, 2022). A study found that children from households with low socioeconomic status have more adverse health outcomes to environmental pollution, indicating that there is a relationship between poverty and the health of children (O’Lenick et al., 2017). The connection is rather evident since poverty translates to poorer nutrition for children, which means more diseases and illnesses. If one factor in healthcare costs and the lack of insurance among the poor, the current situation puts poor children and their families at a greater risk of becoming as well as remaining below the poverty line (O’Lenick et al., 2017). In essence, the existing situation in Atlanta, Georgia, creates an environment where cards are stacked against the poor, making it difficult for them to have a place to live, build families, and work. Therefore, poverty among children in Atlanta, Georgia, is a major contributor to the overall poverty increase in the city.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the causes of high poverty and its increase in Atlanta, Georgia, include housing policies and instabilities, the lack of transit services and public transportation infrastructure in suburban areas, and childhood poverty. Firstly, housing cost is the prime factor causing the persistent increase in poverty in the city, with eviction rates increasing in recent years. The latter has been a strong driver of poverty in Atlanta, Georgia, where a high reliance on market-rate housing led to greater eviction levels making rental properties are becoming unaffordable to many city residents. The practice aggravates housing stability since any change in the market rent rate incentivizes the latter to engage in serial filings. Secondly, the lack of public transportation infrastructure in suburban areas has been another reason for the increase in poverty. The current state of suburban transit services and the decentralization of poverty are reasons why the issue is becoming more prevalent in the city since public transportation allows poor people to commute to the city center. Thirdly, it should be noted that childhood poverty growth is contributing to the general poverty increase because children are the largest poverty segment.
References
Harrison, A., Immergluck, D., Ernsthausen, J., & Earl, S. (2021). Housing stability, evictions, and subsidized rental properties: Evidence from metro Atlanta, Georgia. Housing Policy Debate, 31(3-5), 411-424. Web.
Immergluck, D., Ernsthausen, J., Earl, S., & Powell, A. (2020). Evictions, large owners, and serial filings: Findings from Atlanta. Housing Studies, 35(5), 903-924. Web.
O’Lenick, C., Winquist, A., Mulholland, J. A., Friberg, M. D., Chang, H. H., Kramer, M. R., Darrow, L. A., & Sarnat, S. E. (2017). Assessment of neighbourhood-level socioeconomic status as a modifier of air pollution–asthma associations among children in Atlanta. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 71, 129-136. Web.
Pathak, R., Wyczalkowski, C. K., & Huang, X. (2017). Public transit access and the changing spatial distribution of poverty. Regional Science and Urban Economics, 66, 198-212. Web.
U.S. Census Bureau. (2022). How the Census bureau measures poverty? Web.
Wang, K., & Woo, M. (2017). The relationship between transit rich neighborhoods and transit ridership: Evidence from the decentralization of poverty. Applied Geography, 86, 183-196. Web.
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