ABSTRACT
De-industrialization and globalization have created a low-wage, high-risk economy for individuals and families. As corporations respond to declining profits by downsizing, hiring temporary workers, and moving to countries with cheaper labor, workers are increasingly insecure. Job loss is resulting from de-industrialization and corporate flight a declining tax base as more affluent white residents retreat to the suburbs and disinvestment by financial institutions result in spiraling urban decay. These trends are magnified for racial minorities, who constitute a larger and larger proportion of the urban poor. A "safety net" of welfare state protections must be instituted, providing basic security for those who are most at the mercy of structural economic transformation. Low-income and affordable housing is dwindling, particularly in US cities. The urban housing market has been transformed by gentrification, investments in middle-class and luxury housing, the destruction of single-room occupancys, slumlording, and rising rents.
