More low-income people live in suburbs

A boarded-up house.




Alan Berube is a senior fellow with the Brookings Institution:












Again, Alan Berube with Brookings:



I'm Jeff Tyler for Marketplace.

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I used to know Vanita. If anyone can put me back in touch with her I may be able to help her out of the situation she's in.

You should send your real name and identifying information, info she could remember you by, to the author of this article. He can decide whether to share your email with Vanita. If she remembers you and you give your good contact info, it may be that you can help her. It is important to do this in the right way.

I am a 22 year old student supporting a mother, two siblings, and a disabled uncle. yes we are poor and yes we live in the suburbs. the housing is actually cheaper the further you get from the city. I find it unsettling that people like the woman in this article, and my mother who have degrees and years of experience and yet are still struggling to make a living. i am currently in debt to my school 4,000 dollars and still managing to pay little bits here and there but im starting to wonder if this investment in higher education is going to be worth it, especially in this economy.

Amid todayâ€™s economic chaos most investors, consumers, and politicians are asking what is guiding todayâ€™sâ€™ businesses and government decisions. How does a CEO decided whether to pay bonuses, fire thousands or innovate? How does a president clean five rooms of a house simultaneously, while American workers of all education levels lose everything?

Itâ€™s because we no longer do we address the root cause of problems, no longer do we take the time to plan and implement, but only seek manageable and profitable manners in which to deliver a livable solution.

Health care â€“ letâ€™s address the final cost verses that there has only been one new medical school opened in the past 30 years, that taxpayer funded research at Universities end up being patented by drug companies, that an IT work with experience in databases needs to go get an RN before getting hired to work at a hospital.

Jobs â€“ we continue to offer more HB1 visa, create job descriptions that wonâ€™t allow someone with a PhD in mathematics teach addition to 1st graders whoâ€™s teacher fell asleep in the class yesterday, and expect employees to spend 100K on higher education and wonâ€™t give them two weeks notice when you send their jobs oversea.

Energy â€“ we spend billions on new roads and HOV lanes, but not mass transit systems, new technology to navigate around those congested roads, but very little on high MPG. We take taxpayer moneys to build the roads and then sell them to foreign countries.

All because these entities can continue increasing taxes and fees in HOPE that it will all magically return to normal. Hint it takes seven years for correct information to drop off credit reports


I can relate to Vanita Thomas. I am a doctoral candidate in social welfare. I had some major medical issues that effected my ability to work as a student and as an employee. I have been looking for employment in housing policy research, but now I will take whatever is available. Like Vanita, I also feel that the system as well as research organizations, academic institutions, and government agencies have failed. I am close to being homeless. However, I am using the experience to truly understand the experiences of the very people I have been wanting to help through my policy research.

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