INEQUALITY
we’re very conscious of that,” said Mr. Sheldon, a real-estate photographer.
The economic segregation that afflicts most urban areas in the United States is especially stark in Columbus. Research conducted by Ohio State University for The Dispatch reveals striking contrasts that have persisted, and by some measures worsened, even as the Columbus area recovered from the Great Recession more quickly than many other cities.
“It’s so sharp and it’s so profound,” said Jason Reece, an OSU professor who led the research and has long studied disparity in the area.
Among the troubling trends:
■ Unemployment in Franklin County sits at 4.6 percent, yet the share of residents officially poor or nearly so — a population that surged during the recession — has stayed roughly the same. About one in three live at or below 200 percent of the poverty line, which is now $49,200 a year for a family of four. The measure includes the working poor and is only slightly lower than the county’s median household annual income of $52,341.
■ Work remains tenuous for many. From 2009 to 2015, the number of temporary jobs in Franklin County grew by 49 percent, nearly five times the rate of overall job growth.
■ Several national studies show the Columbus area is among the most economically segregated cities in the country, with disparities that keep poor children from moving up.
The divide is clear: Median household incomes in two census tracts less than 2 miles apart can easily differ by more than $70,000. One tract in Clintonville, west of I-71 and north of North Broadway, has distinct and pricey homes, leafy streets, and a median annual household income of $100,284. In a tract just to the east across the interstate in North Linden, northeast of Oakland Park Avenue and Karl Road, many of the houses stand empty or have been turned into rentals. The median household income there: $27,702.
“You see the intensity of the issue,” Reece said. “Is this a permanent underclass that’s going to be created in this community?” And with that, will these neighborhoods continue to struggle with crime and blight, infant mortality and reduced life expectancy, as residents continue to need public assistance?
Reece and OSU graduate students created maps and charts for The Dispatch that sought to go beyond overall poverty statistics and shed light on income
inequality. Although the region has been producing lots of jobs, both the city and the broader Columbus metro area saw a decline beginning in 2000 in workers who earned at least $15 an hour.
“For the most part, this community is doing really well,” Reece said. “This has kind of risen in the shadow of that.”
The Dispatch interviewed dozens of residents and community leaders, workers, public officials and national researchers to gain insight into the struggles and divisions. They spoke of the difficulties of life after switching from one low-wage position to another, of job fairs and outsourcing and temporary hiring, of divides that must be overcome if everyone is to share in metro Columbus’ economy.
As Steele walked through the North Linden neighborhood with the Mid-Ohio Workers Association, she talked and empathized with fastfood workers, call-center employees and laborers.
Day wasn’t yet sure she’d found a secure job, although she said she’d been at the recycling center for four months, working six days a week, from 4:30 p.m. until 4:30 a.m. The job came through a staffing agency.
Steele is executive director of the 14,000-member group, which canvasses neighborhoods seeking low-wage workers needing help paying rent and bills, obtaining emergency food and legal advice, and getting medical and dental care.
But she’s looking for one thing in particular.
“What we need are jobs we can live on,” she said.
‘A crisis of success’
Columbus turns up among the worst cities for neighborhood disparity and income mobility in recent national reports, say researchers who study the problem. That runs counter to the city’s image as a thriving and welcoming magnet for young professionals, immigrants and the LGBT community.
“In a place like Columbus, it’s a crisis of success,” said Richard