At last — good news for Philly on poverty

Here’s some good news for a change:

Philadelphia has just surrendered the mantle of poorest among America’s Top Ten cities to the armpit of humidity known as Houston.

The change is small, but important, at least to civic pride, and as a bragging point for Mayor Cherelle Parker. 

In 2024, for the first time since at least 1979, according to the Census Bureau, the Philly poverty rate dipped below 20% — to 19.7%, while Houston’s stood at 21.2%. H-Town is the largest city in Texas.

The national poverty rate is 10.6%.

“The Parker Administration takes no comfort in knowing that 1 in 5 Philadelphians still live in poverty,” said Parker Chief of Staff Tiffany Thurman, throwing a wet blanket over the rare achievement.

That’s my job.

But not today.

I remember 2011, when Philly’s poverty rate was an astonishing 28.4%, in the wake of the Great Recession. That number now has been cut by more than one-third. (For sports fans, the Eagles finished the 2011 season 8-8. The Phillies won the National League East. The Sixers were eliminated in the first round of playoffs. The Flyers were swept in the second round of playoffs.)

Today, I am a homer, a cheerleader.

We are within striking distance of New York’s poverty rate of 18%, which I believe will accelerate if Zohran Mamdani, the socialist, is elected mayor. I believe his policies will hurt business, and result in a slowed economy. 

That’s just an opinion. We will soon find out if it is true, if he is elected, which seems likely.

In Philly, Parker has been pushing various policies to reduce poverty and homelessness, but since they are not yet in effect, she can’t get credit for the falling poverty rate. Which is not to say she won’t claim it — she will. The numbers were announced on her watch and that’s how the game is played.