Kansas City Future Fact Check: Poverty Rising Faster In Suburbs

Scrolling through potential posts for this blog we found something that offers a glimpse at the future. 

The basics . . .

AMERICAN POVERTY ENDURES EPIC SPIKE IN THE SUBURBS!!!

This is important for a lot of reasons but mostly because DATA DEMANDS WE CHANGE OUR PERCEPTIONS ABOUT SUBURBAN LIFE. 

Already in places like Raytown & Grandview we've abandoned the notion of suburban bliss. 

But at the end of this year an upcoming low barrier homeless shelter in Lenexa should remind us that our perceptions regarding Golden Ghetto good life need to be realigned and, in fact, the promise of suburban prosperity no longer seems sustainable for most Americans. 

Here's an important quote, data and analysis that offers a more nuanced view:

"There are about 15 million of the 40 million Americans who live below the poverty line who reside in the suburbs of our major metropolitan areas.

"That's more than the 11 million poor Americans who live in big cities or the 7 million who live in rural areas.

"The suburban poor population is rising three times as fast as in big cities.

"In the popular imagination in America, poverty is something that's concentrated in distressed inner-city areas or rural areas, the fact of the matter is that the majority low-income Americans these days are living in communities where the majority of Americans live, which are suburbs," Vice President and Director of Brookings Metro Alan Berube said."

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

Why poverty is on the rise in U.S. suburbs

National poverty rates are on the decline, but the amount of progress made varies across age groups and geography, according to recent U.S. Census Bureau data. Alan Berube, co-author of "Confronting Suburban Poverty in America," joins CBS News to examine why.