There's been plenty written about the two Detroits; the haves and have nots.
And some of that involves gentrification, hipsters and young professionals.
But Detroit News columnist Laura Berman points to a new report from the D.C.-based Brookings Institution that challenges " some of our reflexive assumptions about Detroit income inequality."
She writes that the study of the nation’s 50 largest cities and income inequality, Detroit ranked 14th — with less of a gap between rich and poor than Dallas, a bit more than Minneapolis.
What the report does flush out -- and frankly it's not a big surprise -- is that Detroit has the poorest low-income residents — and the least-affluent at the high end — of any of the 50 cities studied.
She writes about Alan Berube, the study author and deputy director of Brookings’ Metropolitan Policy Program, who says:
“My short synopsis: Detroit does not have an income inequality problem — it has a poverty problem.”
“The displacement questions aren’t nearly as pressing as they are in other big cities, he says, describing worry about gentrification as “premature.” -- Allan Lengel
