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647 Annals Am. Acad. Pol. & Soc. Sci. 6 (2013)

handle is hein.cow/anamacp0647 and id is 1 raw text is: INTRODUCTION
Reconsidering
the Urban
Disadvantaged:
The Role of
Systems,
Institutions, and
Organizations
By
SCOTT W. ALLARD
and
MARIO L. SMALL

The recent economic recession and a sluggish recovery
have made conditions especially precarious for the
most disadvantaged members of the urban poor
population-those with criminal records, health condi-
tions, undocumented status, or unstable housing. We
argue that the fewer the resources to which people
have access, the more their circumstances will depend
on the organizations in which they participate, the sys-
tems in which these organizations operate, and the
institutions governing the behavior of both. We call for
a renewed focus on systems, institutions, and organiza-
tions among researchers who study urban disadvantage,
and review a series of studies that show the promise of
these perspectives.
Well into the dawn of the twenty-first cen-
tury, the prospects for the urban poor
seem far less promising than they were at the
dusk of the twentieth. The robust economic
expansion of the 1990s now seems like distant
history, replaced by a weak labor market, a fragile
housing sector, a fraying health care system, and
a sense of public austerity that threatens to evis-
cerate the safety net. While these conditions are
affecting all low-income people, they are espe-
cially pernicious for those whose income poverty
is compounded by other serious disadvantages.
For example, a criminal record makes it
nearly impossible to find stable employment in
today's tough economy. For those with chronic
health conditions and fixed incomes, grappling
to pay medical bills often means teetering on
the brink of bankruptcy. For unauthorized
immigrants, a lack of legal status inhibits con-
nections to the formal labor market and com-
munity institutions, particularly given the
recent intensification in the enforcement of
immigration law. Experiments with public
housing demolition have created greater hous-
ing instability for many families formerly receiv-
ing project-based assistance. And the rapidly
rising returns to education in an economy that
increasingly rewards advanced training has cre-
ated daunting obstacles to upward mobility for
those with no postsecondary schooling.
DOJ: 10.1177/0002716213479317

ANNALS, AAPSS, 647, May 2013

6

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