Abstract

This chapter focuses on poverty in U.S. suburbs. It discusses differences between suburban and inner-city poverty, focusing on the suburban social welfare infrastructure. It then discusses the policy blind spot hypothesis by Puentes and Orfield (2002) and three current place-based policies benefiting suburbs as well as suburbanites, including the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, the Home Investment Partnership Program (HOME), and the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP). The chapter then argues that the impending major budget cuts of the first two place-based programs, scheduled to occur in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (Congress.gov, 2017), and the scheduled end of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program are going to cause many suburbs to find themselves in a true policy blind spot.