National report cites climb in extreme poverty rates in areas including Springfield and Holyoke
November 04, 2011 at 9:27 AM
SPRINGFIELD – A national report has found that the number of people living in extreme poverty, after declining in the 1990s, has climbed in the past decade and is especially concentrated in urban areas such as Springfield and Holyoke.
The new report, “The Re-Emergence of Concentrated Poverty: Metropolitan Trends in the 2000s,” was prepared by the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program, based in Washington D.C.
In the Greater Springfield area known as the Springfield Metropolitan Area, there were 12 census tracts identified, including seven tracts in Springfield and four tracts in Holyoke with “concentrated poverty” – areas having poverty rates of at least 40 percent. The remaining census tract was in a northern section of Amherst.
Each tract studied nationwide are areas that contain roughly 4,000 people on average, according to Brookings.
Timothy W. Brennan, executive director of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, said concentrated poverty is an issue faced for a number of years and one that is continually confronted by various organizations and the government.
“I am not surprised that the intensity has increased, as the bottom has fallen out of the economy,” Brennan said. “Similarly, the kind of problems that folks of very low economic means face are things like foreclosures and poverty.”
It is also not surprising that concentrated poverty is in the urban core areas such as Springfield and Holyoke, as those are areas that include services for the poor, lower cost housing and greater access to public transportation, Brennan said.
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Kathy Tobin
After almost thirty years covering the news for television affiliates in Western Massachusetts, Kathy joined Friends of the Homeless in the fall of 2009 to help raise money and the profile of the organization to fulfill its mission. As Director of Development, Kathy is available to help you understand the work we are doing and how you might contribute to end homelessness in our community.