Article: More Poor Live in Suburbs

[elgringo]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-suburban-poverty-20130520,0,1639664.story


"In Irvine, one of the fastest growing cities in California, the estimated number of poor people rose from roughly 12,400 to nearly 21,000 in a decade, Brookings found in its analysis of U.S. Census data. Every month, hundreds of struggling families call or stop into the Irvine offices of Families Forward ? far more people than the Orange County nonprofit can help house. It once handed out groceries to roughly 25 families a week. Now it's more than 160."

 

[nosuchreality]

You may wonder how that's possible, but you can own a home (or more importantly, be making payments) on a home and still qualify.  Actually, you may be able to deduct the home payments from the your gross income in calculating eligibility.

I'm trying to figure out where they are living in Irvine and exactly how.  If we understand that, we can understand what we actually have for need and how much we actually are providing.

 

[elgringo]

I'm interested in what you find.  My church supports another group that does this for people who live in a hotel in central OC (http://www.focusoc.org).  I work with someone who works with a group that helps out some of the people who live under bridges.  The issue of poverty in Irvine doesn't receive much coverage.  I've seen a few folks on street corners and other pushing carts on Von Karman near the 405 overpass.  I wonder how much we don't even know about.

I'm trying to figure out where they are living in Irvine and exactly how.  If we understand that, we can understand what we actually have for need and how much we actually are providing.