What happened to housing "white flight"/moving to the suburbs/etc and pubic transporation is happening to education because the government caters to the lowest

What happened to housing "white flight"/moving to the suburbs/etc and pubic transporation is happening to education because the government caters to the lowest instead of centering the middle class family. Where these people can take their ball and go home, they are doing so. In cases where they can't (ie a job in the city), it's just because they can't. not because they like "urban life".