Transforming America’s Low Income Districts

By Greg Kats and Keith Glassbrook

This report provides an in-depth analysis of the costs and benefits of applying a set of roofing and surfacing technologies at scale in ward-level low-income areas in three cities: Washington, DC, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. The low-income areas studied are substantial, representing, on average, about one-tenth of the population of the cities. These low-income areas are characterized by far higher poverty rates, lower income, and higher unemployment than the cities they are part of. On average, the low-income areas studied have 53% higher percent of population below the poverty line and 64% higher unemployment rates than the cities they are part of. Not coincidently, these low-income areas also have 43% lower tree coverage relative to the cities as a whole. Underinvestment in trees and green technologies generally in urban low-income areas like these result in higher summer temperatures, worse air quality, more severe health problems, and higher energy bills per square foot than more affluent areas.