The Washington area has ridden the stability of federal jobs and government contracting to the lowest poverty rate of any major metropolitan area in America, according to the Census Bureau. When compared with areas like Fresno, Calif. — where 26.8 percent of the population lives under the poverty line — or McAllen, Texas, which at 33.4 percent has the highest poverty rate in the country, the Washington area, including counties in Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia, boasts relative prosperity with a poverty rate of 8.4 percent.
But homeless advocates say their battle against hunger and poverty in the District and its suburbs is far from over.
| Lowest poverty rates: |
| Washington metro area: 8.4 percent |
| Honolulu metro area: 9.1 percent |
| Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown, N.Y., metro area: 9.4 percent |
| Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Conn., metro area: 9.4 percent |
| Des Moines-West Des Moines, Iowa, metro area: 9.9 percent |
| Highest poverty rates |
| McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas, metro area: 33.4 percent |
| Fresno, Calif., metro area: 26.8 percent |
| El Paso, Texas, metro area: 24.3 percent |
| Bakersfield-Delano, Calif., metro area: 21.2 percent |
| Augusta, Ga.,-Richmond County, S.C., metro area: 19.9 percent |
Stirring a pot of carrots in the kitchen of the Dorothy Day House on Thursday evening, Art Laffin merely raised his eyebrows at the news that the area had relatively few poor. Laffin, who’s lived and worked at the Dorothy Day House, a Catholic shelter in Petworth, for 20 years, says he’s seen lines stretch down the block at the center’s weekly food distribution — just across the street from the upscale Hay-Adams Hotel. The house fields daily calls from women and children looking for shelter, he said, and on Thursday, he was expecting 25 families at the house’s weekly dinner.
“It’s always been bad,” he said. “You see the faces of the poor who come to this house. … It’s a crime.”
The District of Columbia, with an 18.4 percent poverty rate, is among the most impoverished places in the country, behind only Arkansas, Mississippi and Kentucky. But lower poverty rates in the wealthy suburbs outside the District bring down the region’s overall poverty rate.
“Here in Greater Washington, D.C., there’s still a lot of stability in terms of government programs and government support,” said John Mendez, a social worker at the homeless shelter Bethesda Cares. “It doesn’t surprise me that we have one of the lowest rates.” Still, Mendez said, the center still struggles to help get people off the streets and into a more stable lifestyle.
At Manna Food Center, Montgomery County’s main food bank, officials say the number of people they serve has nearly doubled since the financial meltdown in 2008, from 82,000 to 132,000 this year.
“Nationally, that’s fine,” said Natalie Corbin, Manna’s development director. “But to the folks who are in our line, it doesn’t matter that D.C. has one of the lower poverty rates.”
