The problem is exacerbated by ongoing evaporative cooling: people (mostly young) with energy, talent, motivation all leave. What's left behind in the community is usually not pretty.
It may not be pretty, but that's most likely because they either don't have any money, or can only get it under onerous conditions ('welfare'). If you just pay everyone the same amount, it doesn't take much to improve these folks' living standards until they're at least tolerable. (Since their local area is so cheap.) And once you have some money flowing in the area, local job opportunities would also spring up. (This is basically the principle GiveDirectly relies on, although they apply it to some of the poorest people in the world, as opposed to Roma or Native Americans.)
Money is a part of the problem, or maybe the origin of the whole problem, but at some moment there is a culture that perpetuates itself, and from that point giving more money does not help.
For example, in a group of poor people it makes sense to reduce the concept of private property. To make a mutual treaty of "if someone from our group is starving, and others have food or money, they are obliged to share". At some moment this treaty benefits everyone, so it becomes a part of the culture. But in a long term... as soon as the first job opportunit...
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