urban poverty

7 Stories

Wal-Mart to Storm Big Cities With Small Stores

Retailer makes a pitch to urban America

(Newser) - Wal-Mart is looking to take Manhattan—as well as large US cities—by opening a slew of small- and mid-sized stores in urban America, the Wall Street Journal reports. Wal-Marts as small as 30,000 square feet—six times smaller than the average "supercenter"—are headed to unfamiliar...

America's Fastest-Dying Cities
 America's Fastest-Dying Cities

America's Fastest-Dying Cities

Ohio and Michigan feel the worst of nation's woes

(Newser) - America’s Rust Belt continues to corrode a little more each day, reports Forbes in its analysis of the nation’s fastest-dying cities. Cities in Ohio and Michigan take 6 of the top 10 spots in the survey, which is based on population flight and unemployment:
  • Canton, Ohio
  • Youngstown, Ohio
...

Why Is Memphis the New South Bronx?
 Why Is Memphis the New
 South Bronx? 
analysis

Why Is Memphis the New South Bronx?

Demolition of low-income housing has only redistributed the problem

(Newser) - Despite a flattened national crime rate in large cities, Memphis was recently dubbed the nation's leader in violent crime, prompting Atlantic Monthly to ask: “Why has Elvis’s hometown turned into America’s new South Bronx?" Local experts offer an unsettling answer: demolition of low-income housing projects isn’t...

Homeless Look to Foreclosures
Homeless Look to Foreclosures

Homeless Look to Foreclosures

Spike in empty homes provides convenient, albeit sometimes dangerous, shelter

(Newser) - As the nation's spate of foreclosures leaves more people homeless, more homeless people are finding shelter in those newly abandoned buildings, the AP reports. The stock of foreclosed homes in hard-hit areas may well outnumber people on the street, leading many to chance arrest or a run-in with drug dealers...

NY Seeks to Move Poverty Goal Post
NY Seeks to Move Poverty Goal Post

NY Seeks to Move Poverty Goal Post

Updated definition of 'poor' may shape programs nationwide

(Newser) - New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, fed up with the circa-1960s definition of poverty used by Washington, is developing his own measure of deciding who is entitled to financial relief, the New York Times reports. Although Bloomberg’s plan aims to help New York City's poor, officials hope it will spark...

Opulence Duels With Poverty on LA's Skid Row

But amid crackdown on crime, still a daily struggle for survival

(Newser) - While upscale lofts and hotels sprout up near crack houses and homeless shelters, Los Angeles' Skid Row has outstripped most other cities in all the races you don't want to win. LA County has a homeless population of 88,345—roughly twice as much as New York—and the 50...

NYC to Pay the Poor for Good Parenting

Bloomberg foots part of the tab for new anti-poverty program

(Newser) - Mayor Bloomberg is flying in the face of liberals and conservatives alike with a new antipoverty program, and paying some of it out of his own pocket. He’s raised more than $40 million that he plans to give it to poor parents for certain tasks, like going to the...

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