Poverty rates spike in suburbs, any correlation to decrease in Chicago's population? (Joliet: low income, cheap apartment)

[Savoir Faire]

"During a period when they were widely thought to have flourished economically, the Chicago suburbs over the past 25 years have recorded an explosive 114.5 percent increase in the number of people who are poor"

"Battered by the downturn, suburbs around Chicago and other cities are bearing the brunt of poverty that has climbed to its highest level in almost a half century."

Chicago Suburbs Replacing City as Poverty Hotspot, New Report Concludes - Heartland Alliance (http://www.heartlandalliance.org/whoweare/news/press-releases/poverty-hotspot.html - broken link)

Poverty spikes in suburbs around Chicago, other cities - Chicago Breaking News (http://archive.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/10/poverty-spikes-in-suburbs-around-chicago-other-cities.html - broken link)

[Attrill]

All the conservatives in the 'burbs complained about paying taxes for Cabrini Green and Robert Taylor homes, so they got shut down over the last 10 years. How do they like it now?

[ofcjim40]

Originally Posted by Attrill

All the conservatives in the 'burbs complained about paying taxes for Cabrini Green and Robert Taylor homes, so they got shut down over the last 10 years. How do they like it now?

Well, if the people that moved in acted well, no one would mind. When people act like criminal animals then people mind. Is it really too much to ask of man kind to act decent to each other? Sadly the answer at times seems to be yes. Funny how the thug mentality can remain even when someone is moved into a nice 1700 sq foot house with a backyard and driveway...

[tonythetuna]

The increase in Mexicans had something to do with the increase in poverty in the suburbs.

[urza216]

I would correlate the increase in suburban poverty more to gentrification than anything else. Poor people have nowhere else to go except for cheap housing in the suburbs. Housing projects getting torn down is also a factor but not nearly as much of a factor as some people like to think. Aproximately 80% of ex-project dwellers relocated elsewhere in the city.

[urza216]

Originally Posted by Attrill

All the conservatives in the 'burbs complained about paying taxes for Cabrini Green and Robert Taylor homes, so they got shut down over the last 10 years. How do they like it now?

Ex-project dwellers didn't relocate to the areas where fiscal-conservatives live. They relocated to neighborhoods and suburbs that already weren't doing too well. You know, areas they can afford.

I think fiscal conservatives in affluent white suburbs are more than happy with the tearing down of the projects.

[DANNYY]

What the hell? 114%

[allen2323]

As far as chicago population loss, I think it is pretty clear that the decline was do to a quality of life issue. Not from being priced out. Much of the loss came in the the communities that make up the southside bungalow belt such as chatham. Looking at particularly the far southern suburbs where middle class suburbs such as matteson have grown in population by over 30 percent since 2000, and the black population is now the majority. It's clear to see that the city has lost alot of it's middle class blacks. Even the Chatham Pancake House which was a staple amongst the middle class chatham black community has relocated out to country club hills. I suspect to be closer to where most of it's former chatham middle class black clientele has moved to. Army & Lous soul food restaurant has closed, another staple amongst the middle class chatham black community. Mayor Harold Washington used to eat there all of the time.

[SJaye]

Also, what is the increase in suburban poverty by region. The South Suburbs are nothing like the North Suburbs. In fact, the North Shore Suburbs are nothing like the Northwest Suburbs. For someone living in, say, Glencoe, I sincerely doubt whether or not Cabrini Green was shut down had any affect on their lives whatsoever .... that is, unless they chose to take an interest in CG.

I also read yesterday, that while some blacks are moving to the Suburbs, there are also a significant number of them moving back to the South- primarily places like Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Charlotte.

[Tex?Il?]

I think a lot of people have a gross misunderstanding of the relationship to poverty and crime issues in the city versus the suburbs.

The gentrification of Chicago during the past 20 years has really only completely transformed a small percentage of the city. Out of the 227 or so square miles, if you count up the area of the neighborhoods that are gentrified it about 25-30 square miles. Seriously. Huge swaths of the city have not changed or in some case worse.

All the evidence points that more often than not it is the ones in the ghetto neighborhoods that have dreams, aspirations, and motivation to pull themselves out of the ghetto and achieve the American dream. This is one reason why some of the ghettos have gotten worse in some cases. Its basically brain drain on a smaller geographic scale. The kid from Englewood studies, does well in school and moves to Homewood. The kid from Austin studies, works hard then several years later buys a house in Westchester or wherever.

Personally I think there is a bit of low key racial profiling going on, when people think the project teardowns have led to crime spikes in the suburbs. I even posted a thread on this a while ago. Because those displaced from the projects have much of the west and south sides to rent a dirt cheap apartment in the ghetto. The famous projects were a fairly small percentage of Chicagos imporverished. Most of them lived in dilapidated old workers cottages, bungalows and two flats across the south and west sides.

Any spike in crime and poverty in the suburbs are generally in communities that were gritty, industrial, and only existed as companies towns for some industry (Harvey, Chicago Hts, Joliet, Maywood, etc.) and cheaply constructed apartments scattered throughout middle class areas, that were inevitably going to eventually attract low income people.