Tackling Poverty Amidst an Economic Recovery: A Call for Action

12/17/23

If I had to prioritize our domestic problems here in the US, I’d put poverty at the top of the list. The reality is that the ramifications for those living in poverty are dire; but despite that, we seem to have institutionalized poverty in a way that allows it to persist.

I live in one of the nicer neighborhoods in Brooklyn, NY, where poverty is mostly invisible, save for the handful of regulars I see asking for handouts on the street in my normal course of daily life. While largely invisible to me, others are much less insulated, particularly those living in urban areas where tent cities are sprouting up, taking over increasing ground. This problem has been worsening since the pandemic, despite the generally improving conditions in the economy in the aftermath of the pandemic that hit in March of 2020.

The broad restrictions on business activity imposed in response to the pandemic fostered dramatically reduced gross domestic product (GDP) in the second quarter of 2020; but with the substantial injections of COVID relief funding, economic activity rebounded sharply in the third quarter. Since then, quarterly real GDP growth has been more stable, averaging at an annual pace of 3.2 percent. Meanwhile, the national unemployment rate has remained at or near historical lows for…