New data released from the U.S. Census Bureau show that while the recession may officially be over, it hasn’t yet loosened its grip on tens of thousands of District families. In fact, poverty has been on a steady climb here in DC, with an additional 17,500 DC residents falling into poverty since 2007. Nearly one in five DC residents lived below the poverty line, or $22,314 for a family of four, in 2010.
What’s worse is that two-thirds of the growth in poverty reflects residents living in deep poverty ‘ or below half of the poverty line. One in nine DC residents lived on less than about $11,000 for a family of four in 2010. And just over a quarter of those living in deep poverty, are children. Research shows that deep poverty in particular has a significant impact on a young child’s school achievement and future earnings as an adult.
At the same time, the new data show that income for other DC households is rising. Median income — the income of the household in the middle of the distribution ‘ rose from $57,100 in 2007 to $60,900 in 2010. The fact that both incomes were rising for some while poverty was getting worse means that the recession is hitting some groups in DC harder than others. The data show huge jumps in poverty among children, single-parent female headed households and Black DC residents since the start of the recession. In 2010, one in three kids, two in five single parent female households, and one in four Black DC residents lived in poverty.
The data also show that poverty remains highest in Wards 7 & 8, but the biggest jumps in poverty were seen in other parts of the District, particularly Wards 4, 5, and 6. In fact, in the Census-defined geographic area that largely includes Ward 4 (and some of Ward 1), poverty jumped by more than four-fifths, rising to just over 16 percent in 2010. And in the Census-defined geographic area that includes mainly Wards 5 and the eastern side of Ward 6, poverty jumped by more than three-fifths, rising to just over 20 percent in 2010.
Looking ahead, it doesn’t appear that 2011 will be any better for poverty, and it may in fact be worse. Leading indicators for poverty changes ‘ like food stamp participation and employment ‘ show that more people are struggling. In the first half of 2011, food stamp participation in the District is up by 13 percent when compared to 2010, and employment levels have been steadily falling since January.
In addition, poverty rates always take a long time to recover after a recession ends; research shows that poverty often does not fall until at least one year after unemployment drops. Given that the unemployment rate in DC is rising in 2011, poverty will likely remain high in DC for some time.
Because poverty is likely to remain high for some time and associated with negative outcomes for both families and neighborhoods, the District should be making poverty reduction a top priority. This means making investments to keep more families from falling into poverty and help families move out of poverty through a strong safety net and connection to employment with decent wages.
