scholarly journals Poverty Suburbanization, Job Accessibility, and Employment Outcomes

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 166-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Delmelle ◽  
Isabelle Nilsson ◽  
Providence Adu
Keyword(s):  
Metropolitan Area ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Urban Amenities ◽  
Job Opportunity ◽  
Employment Rates ◽  
Center City ◽  
Household Incomes ◽  
Block Groups ◽  
Low Income Households

The last decade of urbanization throughout many cities have seen a perceptible shift in the demand for centralized urban amenities while poverty has increasingly decentralized. Yet, the opportunity landscape of these shifting geographies of poverty and prosperity are not well understood. In this article, we examine how access to employment for low-income households has been impacted as a result of these changing geographies. Using a case study on the Charlotte metropolitan area we examine whether the suburbanization of poverty and reinvestment in the center city has reshaped the job opportunity landscape for low-wage residents. The objectives of this article are twofold. First, we calculate and map autobased accessibility from all neighborhoods in the Charlotte metropolitan area to job locations, differentiated by wage categories, in 2010 and 2017 to identify potential changes in the mismatch between low-income households and access to employment. We use a point-level employment dataset for these two years and calculate accessibility originating from census block groups. Second, we estimate the extent to which access to employment has affected employment rates and household incomes at the neighborhood level using a first-difference, spatial two-stage least squares model with instrumental variables. Our findings suggest that changes in accessibility had no significant effect on changes in neighborhood employment rates. However, we find evidence that increasing accessibility for lower-income households could have a positive effect on neighborhood median household incomes. Overall, the polycentric nature of Charlotte appears to have reduced the spatial mismatch between low-income workers and low-wage jobs.

Free basic water in Msunduzi, KwaZulu-Natal: is it making a difference to the lives of low-income households?

Water Policy ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 443-467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie A. Smith ◽  
J. Maryann Green
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Water Requirements ◽  
African Government ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Kwazulu Natal ◽  
Making A Difference ◽  
Tariff Structures ◽  
Low Income Households

South Africa's past apartheid inequities create unique challenges in achieving water delivery goals. The South African government implemented the free basic water (FBW) policy in July 2001 to ensure all South Africans had access to a basic amount of safe water by 2004. The FBW policy entitles all people to a free lifeline supply of 6000 ls/6 kilolitres (kl) (1 kl = 1000 l) of water per household per month. Despite being heralded as a way of ensuring access of lifeline water services to low-income households, fundamental policy flaws exist. The FBW allocation does not meet the basic water requirements and special water requirements of the majority of low-income households. Low-income households require more than the 6 kl allocation and are thereby expected to pay the full cost for their water service. The affordability crisis has not been addressed as tariff structures and cross-subsidisation mechanisms remain inadequate. The financial sustainability of the FBW policy is reliant on the equitable share, an unconditional grant from national government and user-fees, which the extensive low-income sector cannot afford to pay. The FBW policy is analysed, via a case study, conducted in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, within the Msunduzi municipal jurisdiction, which draws on low-income household experience of the policy.

Who are the High Hospital Users? A Canadian Case Study

2003 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noralou Roos ◽  
Charles Burchill ◽  
Keumhee Carriere
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Household Income ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Health Care Use ◽  
Socio Economic Status ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Patterns Of Use ◽  
Household Incomes ◽  
Hospital Days

Objectives: Researchers have taken two different approaches to understanding high use of hospital services, one focusing on the large proportion of services used by a small minority and a second focusing on the poor health status and high hospital use of the poor. This work attempts to bridge these two widely researched approaches to understanding health care use. Methods: Administrative data from Winnipeg, Manitoba covering all hospitalizations in 1995 were combined with public use Census measures of socio-economic status (neighbourhood household income). High users were defined as the 1% of the population who spent the most days in hospital in 1995 ( n = 6487 hospital users out of population of 648 715 including non-users). Results: One per cent of the Winnipeg population consumed 69% of the hospital days in 1995. Thirty-one per cent of the highest users were among the 20% of residents of neighbourhoods with the lowest household incomes, and 10% of the highest users were among the 20% from neighbourhoods with the highest household incomes. However, on most other dimensions, including gender, age, average days in hospital, average admissions, percentage who died in hospital and diagnostic reasons for being hospitalized, the similarities between high users, regardless of their socio-economic group, were striking. Conclusions: The lower the socio-economic status, the more likely an individual is to make high demands on hospitals. However, patterns of use as well as the diseases and accidents that produce high use among residents of low income neighbourhoods are not much different from those that produce high use among residents of high income neighbourhoods.

scholarly journals The Contribution of Up-Cycled Food Waste to a Balanced Diet of Low-Income Households

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 4779
Author(s):  
Anne Nogueira ◽  
Fátima Alves ◽  
Paula Vaz-Fernandes
Keyword(s):  
Food Waste ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Food Aid ◽  
Portuguese Population ◽  
Cereal Products ◽  
Balanced Diet ◽  
Cooked Food ◽  
Nutritional Balance ◽  
Low Income Households

This paper focuses on the contribution of an upcycling food organization to a balanced diet, which rescues and redistributes fresh or freshly cooked food to low-income households. To determine the nutritional balance of food hampers provided by our case study organization, according to the Portuguese food guidelines, we have weighed all items of food hampers in three weighing rounds over a period of four months. The results suggest that upcycled foods can contribute to a more balanced diet in terms of “Potato, Cereal and Cereal Products”, “Vegetables”, “Meat, Fish, Seafood and Eggs” and “Fruits”, both according to the Portuguese Food Wheel and compared to that of the general Portuguese population. The novelty of this study is the evaluation of the contribution to the balanced diet of the population in a vulnerable situation, of perishable foods such as freshly cooked, in traditional restaurants, cafes, bakeries, and hotels, or is naturally fresh (fruit and vegetables food aid services) up-cycled by a food aid organization.

scholarly journals Social policies, financial markets and the multi-scalar governance of affordable housing in Toronto

Urban Studies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (13) ◽  
pp. 2628-2645
Author(s):  
Beibei Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Financial Markets ◽  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Policy Documents ◽  
Housing Needs ◽  
Nuanced Understanding ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Low Income Households

While housing has been a central object of financialisation, questions regarding how multi-scalar states shape the financialisation of housing remain under-researched. I address this knowledge gap through a case study of the financialisation of affordable housing in Toronto. By analysing pertinent policy documents, I examine the roles and relationship of the federal, provincial and local states in the financialisation of affordable housing. Two findings are highlighted. (1) Although policies from all levels of government show traits of financialisation – in terms of both the connection between social policy and financial markets, and financialised ideologies prevailing in policy discourses, the extent and pattern of the manifestation of financialisation are distinct. This research thus calls for a nuanced understanding of the state’s role in the financialisation of housing from a multi-scalar perspective. (2) Affordable housing policies usually do not give an explicit definition of ‘affordable’. By scrutinising the policy specifications, I found that the target group is mainly moderate-income, rather than low-income, households. It will be increasingly difficult for low-income households to meet their housing needs.

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