Looking for studies on govt programs to buy cars for the urban poor

April 19, 2007 9:00 PM

I'm looking for articles (popular or scholarly) about government/non-profit programs designed to reduce poverty by purchasing cars for poor people.

I remember reading an article on this within the last few months in which the author suggested that it would be less costly for government to buy cars for the non-working poor than it is to subsidize mass transit and pay welfare. Of course, I can't remember where the article appeared, and my Googling has been fruitless. I think this program has actually been implemented in a US city. Any info is appreciated.

posted by desjardins to society & culture (7 comments total)

This is probably not quite what you're looking for, but here's a piece written about how subsidizing vehicles for the impoverished may have improved evacuation procedures during Hurricane Katrina (the html is crap, though I'm pretty sure the content was printed in the Seattle Times in September of 2005).

Here's a rebuttal (pdf, and the rebuttal starts on page 15). These articles aren't specific to the debate you're referring to (who gets subsidized more: drivers or riders?) but they may be a good jumping off point.
posted by gordie at 10:05 PM on April 19, 2007

Correction: first link here.
posted by gordie at 10:08 PM on April 19, 2007

There was an article in one of the seattle papers (time? pi? stranger? weekly?) within the last two years describing just that sort of program. good luck. Seemed to be focused on the areas a bit north of seattle. I think the profiled client was from lake city.
posted by mmdei at 1:14 AM on April 20, 2007

pi. ding!
posted by mmdei at 1:27 AM on April 20, 2007

Just in case this helps: When I was in my early 20's, I lived in a place where many employers would refuse to employ anyone without a car. Public transit existed, but only 12 hours a day, limited range. I did indeed get turned down for decent jobs solely on that basis. It puzzled the hell out of me why, given these circumstances, a car was considered a "luxory" by assistance programs.
posted by Goofyy at 3:48 AM on April 20, 2007

It's from the DLC site, and from 1999, but the report appears fairly well-researched: PDF file.
posted by needled at 7:34 AM on April 20, 2007

Appendix to a 2000 report from the University of New Mexico Alliance for Transportation Research Institute, PDF file.
posted by needled at 7:42 AM on April 20, 2007