The American suburb, to which, for the better part of a century middle and upper-class families have fled from the poverty of inner cities, may be a refuge from poverty no more. In the past decade, poverty has risen at a much faster rate in suburbs than in central cities. While the poverty rates in the suburbs (10.4%) is lower than the national poverty rate (14.3%) and only slightly more than half the urban poverty rate (19.5%), a greater absolute number of poor people now live in the suburbs than live in central cities. The Brookings Institution released two reports earlier this month detailing the challenge of suburban poverty. One particularly difficult issue: due to the popular belief that suburbs are largely free from poverty, they often lack sufficient social services to deal with those that are in poverty.