This seems surprisingly specific to where the author lives.
My city has decent enough public transport that many people live their live fine without getting a drivers licence, so no worring about cars.
The cheap parts of the city look less appealing but they don't feel as unsafe as the author makes it sound. Oh and the grocery store is 10min by foot max.
I guess at the end of the day it's not actually surprising that social policies are good for low income folks