Katrina's Window: Confronting Concentrated Poverty Across America

a report from the Brookings Institute on poverty and disasters. From the lede:

This paper argues that the conversation should focus special attention on alleviating concentrated urban poverty—the segregation of poor families into extremely distressed neighborhoods.

among the report's conclusions:

• Overall, nearly 50,000 poor New Orleanians lived in neighborhoods where the poverty rate exceeded 40 percent.
• Areas of concentrated poverty are not confined to New Orleans.
• These neighborhoods did not appear by accident.
• A large body of research has demonstrated that concentrated poverty exacts multiple costs on individuals and society.
• With a set of smart policy tools and a booming economy, progress was made in the 1990s towards reducing concentrated poverty in America.
• Congress should consider several policy options to put the nation back on track towards alleviating concentrated poverty, by supporting choice and opportunity for lower-income residents in distressed neighborhoods.