A Deregulatory Framework for Alleviating Concentrated African-American Poverty

Authors

Benjamin Zimmer

Abstract

America's urban poor have become more geographically concentrated and isolated, of which, African Americans comprise the majority. Governmental efforts to combat concentrated poverty have consisted primarily of new government interventions in the housing market: subsidies, mandates, and other programs and regulations designed to compel socio-economic or racial integration. All the while, a separate set of government interventions in the form of tax expenditures, education financing, and land-use controls are largely responsible for the perpetuation of concentrated African-American poverty in the first place.

It is time to consider that a successful approach to poverty de-concentration and residential integration must begin by eliminating harmful government interventions in the housing market. Moreover, while numerous articles have addressed issues related to concentrated African-American poverty, they lack a holistic analysis tying together all the pieces of the problem into coherent policy recommendations. Thus, one of the useful contributions of this article will be to provide a different analytical framework that synthesizes the multitude of existing analyses and case studies into a more holistic understanding of concentrated African-American poverty and all its various dimensions.

Recommended Citation

Benjamin Zimmer, A Deregulatory Framework for Alleviating Concentrated African-American Poverty, 9 Hastings Race & Poverty L.J. 555 (2012).
Available at: https://repository.uclawsf.edu/hastings_race_poverty_law_journal/vol9/iss2/8