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suggestions on an early version of this paper that suggested the political relevance of the policy distinctions discussed below. 2Abstract This paper identifies the persistence of spatially-concentrated poverty, reviews the implementation of various antipoverty public policies, proposes a theoretical classification for understanding them and discusses how the classification can be the basis for a more refined understanding of how and when politics drive the antipoverty agenda. Proponents of either people-based or place-based policies have dominated the urban poverty debate. This tension has led to a fragmented and piecemeal approach to spatially-concentrated poverty that focuses on either people or places, and does not best serve the poor. The author specifies both the policy targets and the policy mechanisms for the major federal and state programs, examining the degree to which each focuses on people or places, and the degree to which each relies on supply and demand side assumptions. This reclassification suggests that the assumptions inherent in public policy can provide insight into how antipoverty coalitions can and should respond to political cycles and major socio-political events