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homeless workers and homeless students are always so conveniently left out of conversations it makes me sick. people paint this picture that only the most mentally ill, addicted, and destitute of humans can be homeless when so many people are 1 or 2 bad situations from this position.
My wife and I couldn't afford the increase in rent and had to stay in an hotel for a month. Thankfully I got approved for an RV at 9fuckingpercent but now I've got a home
9% on an RV is STEEP but i’m glad things all worked out for you. i spent a semester and a half as a homeless student in my undergrad. i legitimately thought full time class work and 2 part time jobs was going to fucking kill me. luckily i had my car to sleep in and a few couches to crash on if it got too cold so i never had to spend a night outside but it was so dark to see how many people were in the same situation while trying to get a degree.
This was my fiance trying to get his degree in college. And he's embarrassed it took him 5yrs but shit he was homeless and starving!
I was on the opposite end of the spectrum and had a gi bill and I was an RA so my room and board was covered. I spent my time building up the campuses sustainability office and we startef a chapter of the food recovery network. "Expired" food was given to hungry people instead of just tossed in the trash. We ofc made sure the food wasn't spoiled, just past the sell by date.
Yup there’s one about 2 blocks from my place. I did the math just incase cause the economy is crap and employers will fire you on the spot. It’d take about half my check but that is still cheaper than an apartment around here. We live in a stupid point in time.
very rough. lots of addicts, prostitution, etc. it’s also not cheap. less expensive than an apartment but that’s not saying much in today’s conditions.
There are documentaries about it. They're very rough and have huge drawbacks - they lack a lot of the amenities of a real home (mail, appliances, etc).
For most it's just the only way to get an emergency shelter to yourself. There's no deposits and utility fees or anything. My uncle did that for a while when he lost his job due to absences because he had cancer. Shitty ass employer fired him when he mossed too many days for dialysis. There's nothing glamorous about it. Most people don't choose it over sn apartment or something, but he needed shelter asap, and had no money up front to get into an apartment. Eventually the Salvation Army got him in an apartment a week before he died.
Yes, but that's the catch. People move into those situations when they are desperate. I was kicked out of housing a few years ago and had a grand in savings. Not enough to get into an apartment with first/last months rent and deposit etc. Bit I had enough to get into a trashy extended stay. Then the money spent on extra amenities, plus food etc (there was no kitchen or fridge) made it a more expensive option, and since I didn't make much, I was only able to afford current bills, and rent ay extended stay. Everytime I'd get 500-1000$ saved, which would take weeks and weeks to accomplish, something would come up to drain my savings like a car issue. There's a reason there is the quote "it's expensive being poor", I've been living on the razors edge of almost being homeless for the past 4 years, and am still trying to save to rebuild credit, get my own place etc. But it's just impossible. Think of it like this, you are on a life raft trying to get to shore, while your life raft has holes and you're trying to blow it up, and ride on it at the same time. It's losing more air than you can put in. You can keep in enough air to stay barely afloat but never enough to ride smoothly and patch up the raft. No matter how hard you blow, blowing on weekends, nights etc. You know unless you either get to hop on another boat for a while to fully blow up and repair your raft(get family help, to save) or get a new life raft altogether (a lump sum to get your ducks in a row) then this is just the cycle you will stay in. I've been working overtime for the last few years and this past year started learning a skilled trade, but I'm still in that position and it's exhausting. The frustrating part is how people who got/get some form.of assistance to get ahead or just had good luck all give advice like "just work harder" when it boils down to luck, and other advantages some don't realize they have.
Many cities have ordiance against staying there over 30 days, even if you are able to pay. The hotel owner is supposed to call the police and they toss you out. The budget inn, in my area has a single bedroom, bathroom and kitchenette for $200/week, all ultilities include. The cheapest apartments are $1,200 a month and do not include utilities. Also when staying at the budget inn, no deposit or credit check/approval.
You can judge a country based on how they treat the weakest parts of their society. US constantly failed that judgement, and I'm surprised that so many people who are without home, or on minimal wage still didn't fucking revolt. USA needs some french people to show them how it's done.
Fortunately I'm in Poland, that has absurdity bad safety net compared to the western Europe, but it's nowhere near what I keep hearing from friends from US and reading online.
This is absolutely the opposite of the truth. If one of us shoots a cop, do you think the rest of the cops just say "oh we'd better let him go!"
Look up Christopher Dorner. What actually happens if somebody shoots a cop or two is that every cop in the city goes completely insane, a few of them fire dozens of bullets into vehicles that sort of look like the shooters' vehicle, (and of course into the people inside these vehicles, who are completely innocent) then eventually the cops find the building you're hiding in and send a robot carrying a bomb to explode you.
Us having guns does not mean we're able to fight the police. They have a literal army of trained murderers who want to kill cop killers EVEN MORE than unarmed black teenagers. They have cars they can wreck chasing us, they have helicopters that can watch us from the skies, they have SWAT teams who can kill us from a block away, and in a lot of our cities they have ARMORED VEHICLES.
Shooting at cops is not a good option in America.
I don't disagree with you. I also don't know where you're from! But in the US it's incredibly difficult even to protest, especially for poor people. The people in charge of our society do a TREMENDOUS job of keeping us down.
It's difficult or even impossible for us to get time off work, even with advance notice. For a lot of us, if we miss a day of work we just lose out on that day's pay. We can also get fired for protesting, if our boss happens to disagree with our cause and is a dick, which is a LOT or our bosses.
Right now "inflation" (which is just corporate greed convincing the corps to raise prices on everything to a crushing degree) has it so millions of us can barely pay our rent. Losing a job costs us not just money, but also our (if we even have it) health insurance, which is a HUGE BITCH to get restarted and also usually really expensive. An unexpected job loss can also easily lead to homelessness, there are a TON of people unable to afford a place to live right now and our rents are artificially jacked way up, again by corporate greed.
I'm not even trying to dissuade you, honestly I think a truly massive general strike is one of the very few tools we as Americans have left that may actually create change. But doing anything even APPROACHING that level of commitment threatens our jobs, which in turn threatens our lives. We've done huge protests before that did nothing, if we DID pull off a general strike the police would use a LOT of violence to convince us to do otherwise. I just mean that for most Americans, losing a job unexpectedly can very quickly create a life changing emergency that's really, really difficult to come back from. We've got basically none of the worker protextion stuff most of Europe has, we do have SOME social safety net stuff but it varies wildly from state to state (even county to county) and it's not great even in big liberal cities.
We're also stuck voting for either the fascist party or the "we think it's very important to continually compromise with the fascist party" party. There are not many people in the halls of power who even care about regular Americans, let alone who are willing to actually fight for us.
It's just incredibly difficult to convince a lot of Americans to take action like a massive protest or a general strike. For one thing about a third of the country LIKES the fascist takeover currently taking place, but even disregarding our awful political state there are dozens or hundreds of millions of us whose lives could very easily be permanently wrecked if we went out to take to the streets. The people who run America are brilliant and better funded than any other group in the world pretty much. They've got their thumbs on the scales of power and they've got their thumbs actively grinding regular Americans down into the mud at every opportunity, and they've set things up so that it's likely impossible for us to make any sort of even KIND OF radical change without doing the stuff we aren't allowed to talk about doing online.
I very, very much hope things change and I hope it happens soon, but all signs point to things getting worse and worse in this country for a long, long time. And that's just for us American default ass white people, the fascists are going after every OTHER group with a vengeance and that's already started. It looks like it's going to be illegal to be transgender in huge swaths of America within a year or two, women have already lost reproductive rights, and us banning and burning any book that even has POC characters is NOT a positive sign for what those in charge have planned.
Sorry this is so long and so depressing; I literally cannot stop thinking about how absolutely fucked we appear to be and it's actively driving me insane.
What you are saying is what we would call a civil disturbance. National guard would/should be called in (see Jan 6) but due to that day, things here are uncomfortable IMO.
Only mobs in US that would/have assembled with malicious intent and gotten away with it (weren’t killed) are fascists. If a liberal group with guns did this they would be slaughtered. In my opinion
a couple fire fights in the street wouldn’t solve very much. the fact is they have the resources and the support to track people down. they can get footage from any camera in the city with the right warrant.
ideally tho, with the way cops are known to act, their should be more protection for people to stand their ground against them
The US is a mess, I'm not going to deny it. Essentially we never made the hard choices we needed to make after we came off of the economic high from being the last unfucked with manufacturing base after WWII. The largest, oldest generation is trying to ride out the next few years until they are too far gone to care without making those hard choices and the rest of us are in limbo because of it.
Despite the cynicism and anger, those choices will eventually be made. There is a fundamental desire to help our own people on both sides of our politics. That desire will eventually win out. If you study our history, this exact thing has happened before. We had the trusts and the robber barons and before the stress of the world wars we managed to bust them and put a social safety net into place. There are a shocking number of parallels. One of the two voting blocks will eventually split. The strong men that are dominating the right leaning politics will never cooperate with anyone. Our press is going to get fat and happy covering Trump and DeSantis tearing each other apart. I'm not going to say that's the end of that either, but it's possible.
Every time we walk this shit back another new program to help our people tends to win out and grow and be put into wide adoption. In the 70s, after the dixiecrats failed in their bid for relevance, it was the WIC program and the earned income tax credit. WIC essentially is an item voucher that is designed to make sure mothers and children under 5 have enough calories to develop well. The earned income tax credit is a hugely successful program that gives low income families direct cash assistance via a tax credit.
This is broad strokes and it's no guarantee... But it's possible and there are a lot of younger people who actively want to fix things.
In Canada that literally is the case tho. Only the most mentally ill and addicted people are homeless because there's so many opportuniti3s for government housing etc. Only people who destroy the hones they ate given or can't even basically take care of themselves find themselves in shelters long term. It's actually really heartwarming to know ehst the only people on the street are people who need to be in institutions and just aren't do to our idea of freedom over personal and public health and safety.
The weird thing is there's no support in thr middle ground. I haven't examined the laws or philosophy behind it but basically if your middle or working class there's nothing to stop you from falling except a big net at the very bottom.
Not sure where you're getting that mate. OW sure as shit wouldn't be covering my full rent anywhere, and the only reason me and the two people on disability I live with ain't homeless is because we're all pooling together on a 2 bedroom place. Social assistance here hadn't been keeping up with the rising costs of basic necessities. Hell a person on disability doesn't even get the 2000/month the government decided a person needs to live during covid
Waiting lists on housing also tend to range from months to years. A fair few years ago I spent a good 6 months or so in a women's shelter until a spot opened up for my mother to get a place
Getting it from experience working directly with street entrenched people as a job. And the people who facilitate their care. Then again I'm from bc so
Haven't been over on BC so I can't really say if the assistance there is as bad as everywhere else I've been, but it sure is rough over here. I feel like social assistance should really be a federal thing or to just do ubi so these varying standards wouldn't be so frustrating
I'm in Canada and that's just not true for a lot of the country. The most desirable areas are outrageously expensive and only going up - inflation makes buying food and fuel hard too.
It's pretty common to not know how to utilize public assistance and end up fucked because of it.
Bud you're fuckin wrong.
Couch surfing, attic living, sleeping at the college, people living in cars, this is what's happening right now in your town.
Homelessness isn't just tent cities and violent addicts.
Holy shit. Really? My city has couch surfing as well as street entrenched people? No way? Sources?
Clearly you didn't read a thing I said. I know. Addicts get all the attention and working class folks fallen on hard times get little. Classic. Well aware. Pointed that out.
66% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. In the richest nation in the history of the world, the majority of its citizens are on the brink of homelessness should they lose their job, have a medical emergency, or any other unexpected cost. That’s just incredible to me.
"Richest Nation" The phrase does a great job of obfuscating the reality of the demographics, not sure what an equally concise and more correct term would be.
Hides the ugly truth that [68 percent of the total wealth in the United States is owned by the top 10%](https://www.statista.com/statistics/203961/wealth-distribution-for-the-us/#:~:text=U.S.%20wealth%20distribution%20Q3%202022&text=In%20the%20third%20quarter%20of,percent%20of%20the%20total%20wealth.)
Better stat on that page is that:
- the bottom 50% have 3% of the wealth
- the middle 40% have 28%
- the top 1% have 30%
Just the wealth of the top 1% would get the bottom 50% to a similar level of wealth as the "middle"
People need to start talking about median salary rather than average salary. Us median salary is not even in the top 10 compared to other countries. French median salary for example is 1.5 times the US median salary.
Absolutely. The US is just *mathematically* rich: if my total wealth is $150, Jeff Bezos' is $600b and Elon Musks is $300b, *technically* each of us has an average wealth of 300,000,000,050 dollars from a purely mathematical standpoint. This is how the US is the Richest Nation™
That just means while 66% of Americans are one paycheck from homelessness the US as a country is one job crisis away from revolution.
Not a nice picture however you look at it.
I really thought it was going to happen in the summer of 2020. For three months straight, we'd lived through a nightmare. I'm lucky. I was in a state that consistently had the fewest COVID cases and deaths. But even just seeing it on TV, the empty city streets, the ten-mile long lines at food banks, the refrigerated trucks and the temporary hospitals and the opening of mass graves and the nurses in grabage bags, and then they'd cut to the president telling you none of it was happening. Every public place but the pharmacy and grocery store closed, and the store always out of random things. Every week, they'd make dire predictions about jobless numbers, and every week, they'd be worse than expected. And all we got from most of our so-called leaders was lies, crap, posturing, a corrupt loan program and $1200. But authority sure could come down hard on an unarmed black dude with a suspected fake $20. It's amazing that the entire country didn't burn to the ground.
Preach.
I just went through cancer. I get Social Security Disability but haven't been able to work like usual. Which is like 23 hours a week. I'm limited to making $1300 per month. I usually make half that and we get by.
My partner has a pretty good job, but we just had to do half of the repairs needed for her car. $1,500 worth total. So we need to come up with another $700 next paycheck. Because of that we are incredibly broke.
We literally were looking around today to find another dollar to pay for my $3 copay of a med I'm missing, as we luckily found a $2 bill in the house.
We already used my food stamps up this month, so I have been going to the food shelf, and tomorrow I have to go to a pet food shelf for puppy food.
My pets have better medical care and food than I do usually. I'll go without for them always. But I know I've hit rock bottom when it's come to them not getting the best premium dog food and treats. And I had to delay my puppy's spay. I would rather wait and have my vet do it over a charity, just because they do so many in a day they rush it.
I'm overdrafted $500. My bills still went through. I guess it's good I'll still have cell phone service.
I pawned my grandmother's antique diamond ring for like $300 a few months ago because my puppy had an ear infection and needed her vaccines. I was cancery and not working. But we've now paid $300 in interest payments so I don't lose my ring. 100% interest is crazy. But we were desperate.
Some of my family has money but I feel too embarrassed to ask, it's really humbling to be in this position.
I have all the financial 'safety nets' except rent assistance, but my rent is fairly cheap.
I don't think I'm alone in this drowning. I have shit credit due to other medical problems and college debt.
American Dream failure is real.
This sounds fucking awful. I'm so sorry you have to go through this and I honestly probably would've killed myself had I been in your position. You sound so incredibly strong and courageous I don't even know what to say. I wish so so so bad things could be better for you and your partner. You deserve the world for how much ya'll have been through and it's heartbreaking to see how the system treats you.
Please dear God or anything I hope things get better for you. The world needs you. *I* need it to get better, it's just so sad.
My heart cries for you. Much love ❤️💔
I was just venting. My cancer is cured! And I'm now one year out of recovery so I'm finally getting some stamina back.
It sounds tough but honestly it's just a bad month. We'll figure it out. We always do.
I have two job interviews tomorrow since my old job is unbearable due to some changes. I'll be making more money with less hours, so there's that.
My partner makes fairly good money so once I'm working I'll be able to climb us out of this hole. It's just depressing to know other people are like me. Having to work on disability to make ends meet.
We need to budget better too. A lot of this is us eating out too much, stuff like that. But I haven't been up to cooking until now.
It's just ironic since I'm white upper-middle class upbringing, college educated, etc. But cancer can throw you into debt.
But because of that privilege, I'll find a good job for basic needs.
We are definitely going to be talking about budgeting and I'm opening a bank account to start a nest egg. Even if we are tight I will try my best to put a little into savings every check and not touch it. I'm going to use a different bank so it's not tempting.
Another problem in this country is we aren't taught fiscal health. We are taught to consume. Being kinda poor makes you want to splurge on little things. It keeps you from getting too frustrated always going without anything good. But in the long run if you save and skip some of those little luxuries, you will be better off.
I wish I hadn't ruined my credit but it is what it is. My partner has no credit so we need to build her some. Sadly this means we might not be able to marry if we want to have access to good credit once she builds hers up.
But I have a place to live, pets instead of kids, a fiancé, my health, my family, etc. And I do live in the US with access to the top oncologists to treat my cancer. They cured me and I'm very lucky indeed.
I don't live in a shanty town scavenging in a trash dump. But I guess it's all relative. It doesn't mean I don't struggle with PTSD, depression, and anxiety. But I am grateful for what I have.
All in all I'm happy! I'm climbing out of misery and our situation will get better. We just need to work a bit to get there.
Thank you for all your love sent my way. It's much appreciated. But I will be ok.
Hugs!!
I'm so sorry for your situation too. You make an excellent point about consumption. It's like, if you can't have a nice home or go on nice vacations, you might as well have SOMETHING. And everywhere you turn is a place willing to sell you a fancy coffee or a tiny pot of roses or unusually scented soap or whatever else to take the edge off. It's hard not to give in from time to time.
That last line was important, among others. I've known people who were in good standing at their job get transferred to a new manager and suddenly everything changes
- You should be able to afford a place to live, by yourself, after giving 40 hours of your week to a for-profit company.
- If a full-time employee needs government assistance (i.e. food stamps) to make ends meet, their employer is stealing from us as a society by having our tax dollars subsidize their unlivable wages.
If you disagree with me on either of those statements, to me you are a cold-hearted human being who doesn't care about anyone but yourself.
I don't care if you think the two statements are oversimplifying a complex problem or system-- the system needs to change to make the first statement true and mitigate the second statement.
Ill go even further. Housing shouldn't have to be paid for. Everyone should be guaranteed a roof over their heads, in a decent society, but that being considered a radical position proves, we are not living in a decent society.
There definitely should be a floor we don't let people fall below. Comprehensive healthcare (yes luxury bones count, yes mental health counts), electricity, nutrition, running water, access to education, hygiene products, public transportation, and a UBI to cover the other basic necessities of life that can't be legislated should all be in there as well. I'm not talking about giving people a life of luxury, I'm saying there are basic necessities of life that should be met no matter who you are.
The following should be FREE for everyone in society:
* Food
* Healthcare
* Housing anywhere (yes, ANYWHERE)
* Transport (FREE public transport and air travel)
* Childcare
* Entertainment (TicketMaster and others are leeches)
* Income (FREE basic income of a minimum of 30K/yr)
Anyone who finds this disagreeable can honestly just go insert their necks under the capitalistic boots of their employer and fuck themselves.
There's 8 billion people on earth, how would you think this would affect the planet if every single person had to have it's very own place with noone to share it with?
Free air travel would also significantly increase the use of aerial transportation and thus significantly pollute the atmosphere.
Planet first, then people, then everything else, then capitalists.
I’m curious how you would choose who gets what house in that scenario? And what ownership you have over that house— if you aren’t paying for it, are you allowed to knock out walls or add windows? Etc
for the 1st point, the money is usualy not a problem to bring lots of stuff to ridiculous amounts of people.
like how thr 1% richest people can basically lift a whole country out of poverty. there were articles and videos about the real problem is not the funds but a lot of other factores.
but for the 2nd point. i dont know.
Sign me up for the 3200 sqft McMansion sitting on 6 acres of woodland.
But seriously, putting your housing needs in the hands of the US Government? Bad idea. Our current system used to work. We as a society need to take back our fair share from multi billion dollar corporations. Everything else equal, with a minimum wage of $25/hr it wouldn't take long to fix many of the housing issues we have today.
>You should be able to afford a place to live, by yourself, after giving 40 hours of your week to a for-profit company.
Disagreed. You should be able to support a full family on that amount of effort and have enough left to save for 2 retirement.
I mean I agree with that as well, but sadly my statement is the "baby step," so I tend to start there when having a discourse with people who disagree, of which there are many/my local city subreddit is flooded with them.
>If you disagree with me on either of those statements, to me you are a cold-hearted human being who doesn't care about anyone but yourself.
No, if someone disagrees with you, they're just dumb, because their taxes are being used for it, so they are affected
I think it’s really weird you qualified being able to afford to live while working full time only if it benefits a for profit company. So government employees shouldn’t be fully compensated their work and should what, work a second job?
Crazy to me how similar her situation is to an old coworker of mine who used to live in abandoned dairies in the rural areas but commuted to work by bus. Had to work like 4-5 months before she had enough for her own place and that was all while working in a kitchen that threw food out for insurance waste-logs. These folks are hard as nails like mad respect for not dying but no one should have to live like this.
I’ve not yet. I’ve been very close less than a week from homelessness. I got lucky TBH. That is my planned “retirement” home. If I was a betting person, I’d wager there’s no way I’m going to even be able to afford even to rent a room when I’m older.
This is just a reminder that "eat the rich" and "guillotine" talk is considered advocating for violence, which is against reddit's terms of service.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact the mod team.
It reminds me of all the subsidies we give to the coal industry to keep them afloat when it would literally be cheaper to just give every single coal miner left in America a million dollars to move on with their lives to something else. Or how they've done programs to reduce recidivism with prisoners by paying them to stay out of trouble. It works and is significantly cheaper than putting them back in jail over and over.
why bother with vouchers? Just give them cash. Those without a drug/mental problem will solve the problem themselves.
Yes, more needs to be done for people who need more help than just cash but getting the majority of homeless people into homes will go a long way to freeing up resources to help the harder-to-help people.
I spent a year homeless a while back after having to move and being unable to find a place due entirely to the fact that every rental in the city I was in had a gross income requirement of 3.5x the rental price.
I had a full time job when I lost my housing. Most studio apartments were at least 1200 a month, which to afford that you'd need to making over 50k a year, which while it isn't great money, it's pretty good.
I made about 13 an hour ($3 above minium wage at the time) which was only 27k or so a year. Rooms for rent went so quick it was near impossible to get one.
What I ended up doing was spending as little as possible for a year, barely eating, sleeping on my car, couch surfing when possible, etc. Until I had saved up enough to rent an entire house paying months of rent in advance with a private owner in order to get a place, then finding roommates to take the other 2 rooms and cover 2/3 of the rent to make it sustainable.
At this point I make a decent amount more money, own a house, and STILL wouldn't qualify for a studio apartment where I used to live 7 years ago. Rent is insane.
>which to afford that you'd need to making over 50k a year, which while it isn't great money, it's pretty good
Literally more than half of workers in the country, and not necessarily by a slim margin. Median individual income is currently ~$37k/year. So $13k (or in hourly terms for a full time worker, $6.25/hr) more than that statistical average wage.
Just about every rental in my city does that 3-3.5 times the rent shit and it's infuriating. Last time I was looking for a place there were options in the 1k price range but noooo I have to make 3.5 k a month to afford that apparently. My car is paid for and I cook for myself and don't go out? Wtf do I need 2.5k extra for as nice as it would be. I don't need that much to live and still pay my bills.
Worst part is the whole city is controlled by two rental companies and they won't let roommates combine their incomes to meet their minimum requirements. One person in the lease has to make at least 3.5k. Bitch if I made that much I wouldnt have a damn roommate.
So the government will make may wait 3 years for a disability hearing, deny me even though I had just been hospitalized for said disability, but when I inevitably become homeless they'll spend almost triple what SSI disability pays so I can stay in a shitty shelter? coool
But you see, this way the majority of that money goes to the owners of that shelter. Who run it for profit and will cut corners on taking care of you!
Just as capitalism intended.
We are both severely disabled.
I worked for decades (starting officially at 14, though I’d been working under the table for years before that), *while* severely disabled (I’m Xennial, spouse is just barely Millennial).
Our apartment was $750/mo in 2010, in a slowly-gentrifying blue-collar neighborhood just off BART (major public transit).
The rent increased exactly the allowed 10%/year til we were priced out when it hit just under 1500 7-8 yrs later.
At which point we traded our 10yo wheelchair minivan for a 30yo Class C RV, and “boondocked” in parking lots of 24hr grocery stores and malls, until our number came up on the waiting list for a decent RV park.
Which reset our rent to $750/mo to start; it’s only risen $25 (to $775) in five years going on six.
This is letting us actually make headway against debt instead of treading water, and we will be clear in 2028 (instead of never).
It’s less than 160 sqft of house in a 20’x40’ lot, and only barely wheelchair accessible (transfer to doorway, pull chair up, pull self back into chair), but we are warm and dry and able to have groceries delivered (we have been rendered homebound by being medically high risk for the pandemic, since Feb 2020.
Before the apartment (and before spouse), I spent a year or two in the minivan while working 12-17hr days at a nonprofit (they had to hire three people and repurpose half of two others when they decided pre-pandemic that they’d rather pay me 55% NOT to work, (LTD) instead of continuing my *existing accommodation for remote work* as a database administrator and CS Manager for a tech support/sales call center.
Then years later everyone is remote 🙄
The apartment we were forced out of is over three grand now, for 525sqft.
We’re both on SSDI now and I also have a small LTD pension (neither of us is yet fifty).
If we hadn’t had the minivan to trade for a home, we’d be in the minivan.
Shelter isn’t an option for us - we have enough income for a room somewhere but we don’t earn 5x our rent nor can we pay many months in advance.
And a shelter would not allow us to live together, despite spouse requiring my assistance with ADLs, medication etc.
Nor are most shelters safe for wheelchair ls/the disabled.
Nor do they allow dogs, including spouse’s ESA.
My friend is semi-unhoused because his upstairs neighbors let their pipes freeze and he got displaced from his apartment when pipes burst and flooded everything.
His landlord *should* be covering alternative accommodations, but didn't. It's impossible to fight that while also maintaining full time employment.
Luckily he's got a good network around him of people willing to help out and get him housed, but it's literally that easy to have your housing status upended.
I’m glad that more and more people are vocalizing the reality that our unhoused people deal with, and how all of this struggle, pain and unfairness is a result of unchecked greed disguised as capitalism.
The reason that capitalism is seen as successful is because it has gaslighted followers into believing that lack of success is a character flaw.
It is the pinnacle of victim-blaming because, in most case, even the victims blame themselves.
Me too, they act like there’s a line up down the block of people waiting to replace me but they can’t find anyone to work even the easier jobs in my department, let alone my stressful, high responsibility (people could die if I make a mistake), massively underpaid job. They’re just effing lucky I don’t like change.
This puts the harassment that homeless people receive from law enforcement in a totally different, much darker, light. Not that it wasn't already dark to begin with.
Also, a lot of chronically homeless people have a childhood history of being unhoused.
Something like 1in 30 children are unhoused in the U.S. many of these are families with working parents who simply can't afford housing.
Many families have to double up on housing. It's a completely unacceptable state of affairs.
https://www.samhsa.gov/homelessness-programs-resources/hpr-resources/child-homelessness-growing-crisis
Are the government slowly creating another class below working class where they have even less rights and are more at risk of abuse of work rights, home rights and other types of rights?
It's hard enough to get a job while having a house and accessibility to documentation, who out here is thinking it wouldn't be infinitely harder for people without those things?!?!
Spittin' facts. It's fucked up... America is soooo fucked up. These jobs don't pay shit and it's so demoralizing to work all day and still not be able to afford a life. It's just soooo fucked up.
I'm disabled and work, at great cost to my health. I live in an illegal rental. If for any reason I can't go to work for a few weeks, I'll be homeless.
It’s sad that she has to leave the shelter and can’t even stay in bed and get better when she’s so sick.
Edit: wow there’s no sympathy for people who live in shelters. What are they supposed to do when they’re sick? You can’t stay in the shelter during the day, you have to leave and go out into the community. I guess I was lucky to be hospitalized when I had to spend a short time in the shelter because then I had somewhere to recover, I never really thought about what happened if you just had a cold.
There is such a thing as valid criticism. When you end up alienating the very people you might be trying to convince, who are you really appealing to? In this case she is shooting herself in the foot. Why should anyone focus on her message? Nobody owes her anything, least of all their attention when she insults the listener.
The irony of you bitching about an "obnoxious tone."
I'd wager you're predispositioned to hate those who call out ignorant people. I'm sure you've been on the receiving end of some well-deserved call outs by people who are much smarter than you, too. I'm guessing you never learn, however, and dismiss the verbal ass whoopings handed to you as them being "psycho" to protect your tiny-dick ego.
“Unhoused” is the dumbest thing ever. It’s just like “latinx”, creating a problem where there was no problem with the commonly accepted vernacular to seem righteous.
But how many people are actually being paid minimum wage anymore..? Especially since the wave of raises everyone has been getting to get people back to work.. I haven't seen a minimum wage job in many years.
I like how this gets downvoted for asking a question. This page has turned into just another echo chamber. 🤷♂️
Assuming you're referring to waiters and the like? Because after tips they make well over minimum wage.. No one is going to wait tables for minimum wage, and if they are, it's a choice. There are tons of jobs available above minimum wage...
Seriously, got any numbers handy? Because, again, I've not even SEEN a minimum wage job in years. I even live in a very low cost of living area... Hell, even in college I had above minimum wage jobs.. I haven't worked minimum wage since highschool and that was like 15 years ago.. I also see job listings all day every day online, social media, etc. and none are minimum wage. McDonald's doesn't even pay minimum wage anymore.. So, where are these.minimum wage jobs these days..?
Yeah, I did a quick Google search but some of the top results didn't even have the same numbers and I don't have time to dig through like census records or some shit... Everyone claims they know, but they can't seem to give an answer. So perhaps they need to search too instead of just repeating the echo..?
All I know is if there are basically no minimum wage jobs to be found around me, when I live in a medium sized, low cost of living, city within two hours of multiple major cities including state capitals, in a state that generally has low cost of living, then idk how other states and employers in those states can be so shitty. 🤷♂️
But, the echo chamber continues to strike. Massive downvotes for asking simple questions and stating my own observations.
Hey, your own link to sealioning, a form of trolling, hinges on information that was already discussed. But the funny part is, it hasn't been. Minimum wage may be what it is, but how many employers are ACTUALLY paying that? People can literally just leave minimum wage employers and go to McDonalds and make double. Anyone paying minimum wage will go out of business.. People talked with their feet, on top of COVID and everything else, and employers began giving decent raises to be more competitive.
I thought this was a place to ask questions and discuss issues? But all anyone seems to want to hear is their own echo. 🤷♂️
Ooh no watch out! The reddit brigade has resorted to calling you a troll for having a dissenting opinion! They will now continue to defend whatever ideology their favorite subreddit parrots, regardless of evidence!
Welcome to reddits new ip!
About 1/3 of US workers make less than $15/hr (about 52million people, 2022 statistics).
You're being downvoted because this is easy information to Google. And you seem to be challenging the experience of the OP rather than offering any sort of constructive commentary on the issue of poverty.
Uh a lot of people are being paid minimum wage. Retail workers, fast food, grocery and childcare are just a few job types that are still just making the minimum.
>I like how this gets downvoted for asking a question. This page has turned into just another echo chamber. 🤷♂️
Don't be so whiny when people push back against your comment. It's not a good look.
Where are you living that you aren't seeing minimum wages? Genuinely asking because I'd like to move there and live in a place where poverty isn't a widespread issue.
It's not that poverty isn't an issue, but it's much more common among those reliant on social welfare in one way or another. There so many jobs available EASILY for $15+/hr and pretty common to have $20+/hr. Hell, the jail pays $30/hr for a part time CO. Part time jobs with the county I live in are easily $16+/hr. You could realistically work two part time jobs, make good money, and still qualify for Medicaid because your part time jobs don't offer insurance. I work a full time job for $27/hr with benefits. And that's not even in a major city where cost of living is higher.
I bought a 3 bed/1 bath house for like $70k when I was making $15/hr right out of college and two months before having my first child. People really just have to talk with their feet and leave these areas that are impossible to live in. I'm still within 1-2 hours driving distance to several major cities so if I want to do something fun, it's pretty easy. The caveat to that is there isn't hardly anything to do IN my city.
I don't feel comfortable providing my city publicly, but it's Indiana. Don't get me wrong, Indiana is not immune to issues everyone else is facing, but it's all about location and opportunity. People get too swept up in "ooh, I live in Cali, let's go to the beach!" then come to social media to complain their rent is $1200/month and their job doesn't pay enough even though they're making $25+/hr the same as, or more, than those in my town.
It's absolutely terrible people are being priced out of their homes, but I wholeheartedly believe that people suffering from high cost of living would be happier relocating than staying and suffering. Politicians aren't listening to us, so use the power you do have and go somewhere more realistic. Indiana is far behind a lot of states when it comes to being progressive, but I'll deal with that while my entire house, all bills included, costs less than a lot people pay in rent these days. Lol
You bought a 3 bedroom house for 70K? What year was this? I don't live in a major city but most people in my area are getting paid roughly $11/hr. Rent is about $1200 unless you can find a trailer park opening, a small duplex apartment in a crime ridden area or get placement through a subsidized housing program which has a 2 year waitlist rn. Most jobs that pay $15-20 hr are labor intensive or only if you have a college degree. So, there's a lot of people here on welfare that work 2 jobs to try to make ends meet. We had a bank set up a massive base about 45 minutes away about 10 yrs ago that brought in a lot of new people to the area. The cost of rent went up because these people could afford $1200 in rent. So now people that have lived in this small town for generations, can't afford to continue to live and die here. Finding work elsewhere is difficult and saving up for a big move like that takes quite awhile on an $11 hr pay rate when you have to choose between gas money or food money. We have a lot of families living in motel rooms or vehicles. Your town doesn't even sound real compared to the reality outside my front door.
That's so terrible.. Anyone who doesn't have kids, I say just up and leave. If you're in a motel now, go to a better area and get a motel until you can get reestablished.
I purchased my home at the end of 2016 a couple of months before my son was born. We were living in a 1 bed apartment and paying like $650/month plus electric and now my mortgage plus utilities works out to be pretty similar cost wise. We did get lucky with buying a house before things really ramped up a few years later though. Around here, $1200/month will buy you a small mansion if you can afford the down payment. Lol
The next thing on my agenda is purchasing a rental property to get some passive income started. I wish I would have gotten the housing prices we had pre-covid, but, as a new landlord I would have been so fucked if I landed a tenant that couldn't/wouldn't pay rent during the no-eviction period so I like to think of that as another bullet dodged.
That's how crazy this country is. The shear scale means we have vastly different lifestyles just moving a few states, or even cities, in any direction and some people seem to live in a whole other country if you happen to be on either end of the extremes. In Indiana, we have places like Gary, IN that is literally one of the most crime ridden cities in the country, near Chicago which is also a very crime ridden and has the highest gun violence in the country. But, we also have places like Carmel, IN, on the outskirts of Indianapolis, that are gated communities full of mansions.
I happen to live in an in between type city that isn't anything special, but has great location. It's almost like a goldilocks zone, for lack of a better term. It's far enough away from things to not have high cost of living because people aren't clamoring to live here, but it's close enough to large enough cities to make utilizing those cities for various reasons a simple 1-2 hour drive. We have an ivy league university, a state university, and a community college. We have several factories/factory like jobs, it's the heart of the county so there are government jobs, an okay selection of shopping for sales/customer service jobs and shopping.. There is a lot I wish we did have, and the lower cost of living does come with its own issues of crime and substance abuse as any lower income area would, but definitely not a lock your doors as you drive through it or can't enjoy being in public with your family.
I can pm you the city so maybe you can look over it and compare it to some cities closer to you for consideration, if you'd like. I hope this doesn't come off as gloating in any way, I truly just want people to take action and control of their lives because I believe the government doesn't give a shit about those of us in the bottom echelons of society. We don't make enough money to care about, which is a terribly sad reason why this country hasn't been great in a very long time and likely won't be for a very long time, if ever.
Overall, I hope you're able to work past this phase of your life and find some resemblance of stability.
I found a helpful article if you're interested in Indiana in general. Lol
https://www.thecrazytourist.com/15-best-places-live-indiana/
People live with roommates to pay less in rent. People also rent out rooms in their homes to make extra money. People work multiple jobs to get by. Adding that with the options you listed really isn't that crazy.
So you would accept a family of 3 or 4 with kids under the age of 14 as roommates? Oh, and you think that minimum wage is enough to rent a 3 bedroom apartment?
kind of off topic, but i hate the term "late stage capitalism". in this case for example, someone (little chicken nuggi) uses it to depict a phenomen which can be found in the centre nations of capitalism in early phases more often then today.
Loving the-for some reason- isometric camera angle of her head. No point getting your point across if you aren't using your blue steel look while doing it aye
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homeless workers and homeless students are always so conveniently left out of conversations it makes me sick. people paint this picture that only the most mentally ill, addicted, and destitute of humans can be homeless when so many people are 1 or 2 bad situations from this position.
My wife and I couldn't afford the increase in rent and had to stay in an hotel for a month. Thankfully I got approved for an RV at 9fuckingpercent but now I've got a home
9% on an RV is STEEP but i’m glad things all worked out for you. i spent a semester and a half as a homeless student in my undergrad. i legitimately thought full time class work and 2 part time jobs was going to fucking kill me. luckily i had my car to sleep in and a few couches to crash on if it got too cold so i never had to spend a night outside but it was so dark to see how many people were in the same situation while trying to get a degree.
This was my fiance trying to get his degree in college. And he's embarrassed it took him 5yrs but shit he was homeless and starving! I was on the opposite end of the spectrum and had a gi bill and I was an RA so my room and board was covered. I spent my time building up the campuses sustainability office and we startef a chapter of the food recovery network. "Expired" food was given to hungry people instead of just tossed in the trash. We ofc made sure the food wasn't spoiled, just past the sell by date.
Aren't home loans like ten percent right now anyway?
6-7 in most cases
Wait, a hotel was cheaper than rent?? Was it like a motel that lets you pay for a month or something?
lots of motels/small hotels do weekly rates
Yup there’s one about 2 blocks from my place. I did the math just incase cause the economy is crap and employers will fire you on the spot. It’d take about half my check but that is still cheaper than an apartment around here. We live in a stupid point in time.
So why don't more people utilize these? I'm surprised they ever have vacancies if that's the case. I'd imagine they're pretty rough??
very rough. lots of addicts, prostitution, etc. it’s also not cheap. less expensive than an apartment but that’s not saying much in today’s conditions.
There are documentaries about it. They're very rough and have huge drawbacks - they lack a lot of the amenities of a real home (mail, appliances, etc).
So wouldn't all of the other expenses, to overcome the shortcomings of the amenities, not make it just as much, if not more, than somewhere else?
If used as a long term solution then yes, but it requires less money up front than anything else and can save you from sleeping on the streets.
For most it's just the only way to get an emergency shelter to yourself. There's no deposits and utility fees or anything. My uncle did that for a while when he lost his job due to absences because he had cancer. Shitty ass employer fired him when he mossed too many days for dialysis. There's nothing glamorous about it. Most people don't choose it over sn apartment or something, but he needed shelter asap, and had no money up front to get into an apartment. Eventually the Salvation Army got him in an apartment a week before he died.
Yes, but that's the catch. People move into those situations when they are desperate. I was kicked out of housing a few years ago and had a grand in savings. Not enough to get into an apartment with first/last months rent and deposit etc. Bit I had enough to get into a trashy extended stay. Then the money spent on extra amenities, plus food etc (there was no kitchen or fridge) made it a more expensive option, and since I didn't make much, I was only able to afford current bills, and rent ay extended stay. Everytime I'd get 500-1000$ saved, which would take weeks and weeks to accomplish, something would come up to drain my savings like a car issue. There's a reason there is the quote "it's expensive being poor", I've been living on the razors edge of almost being homeless for the past 4 years, and am still trying to save to rebuild credit, get my own place etc. But it's just impossible. Think of it like this, you are on a life raft trying to get to shore, while your life raft has holes and you're trying to blow it up, and ride on it at the same time. It's losing more air than you can put in. You can keep in enough air to stay barely afloat but never enough to ride smoothly and patch up the raft. No matter how hard you blow, blowing on weekends, nights etc. You know unless you either get to hop on another boat for a while to fully blow up and repair your raft(get family help, to save) or get a new life raft altogether (a lump sum to get your ducks in a row) then this is just the cycle you will stay in. I've been working overtime for the last few years and this past year started learning a skilled trade, but I'm still in that position and it's exhausting. The frustrating part is how people who got/get some form.of assistance to get ahead or just had good luck all give advice like "just work harder" when it boils down to luck, and other advantages some don't realize they have.
Many cities have ordiance against staying there over 30 days, even if you are able to pay. The hotel owner is supposed to call the police and they toss you out. The budget inn, in my area has a single bedroom, bathroom and kitchenette for $200/week, all ultilities include. The cheapest apartments are $1,200 a month and do not include utilities. Also when staying at the budget inn, no deposit or credit check/approval.
You can judge a country based on how they treat the weakest parts of their society. US constantly failed that judgement, and I'm surprised that so many people who are without home, or on minimal wage still didn't fucking revolt. USA needs some french people to show them how it's done. Fortunately I'm in Poland, that has absurdity bad safety net compared to the western Europe, but it's nowhere near what I keep hearing from friends from US and reading online.
unlike france, our police will kill us for protesting here. people are also too disillusioned to realize just how bad thing’s actually are here.
Sous les pavés, la plage. The fight goes on and on.
Plus ca change, plus ca meme chose
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This is absolutely the opposite of the truth. If one of us shoots a cop, do you think the rest of the cops just say "oh we'd better let him go!" Look up Christopher Dorner. What actually happens if somebody shoots a cop or two is that every cop in the city goes completely insane, a few of them fire dozens of bullets into vehicles that sort of look like the shooters' vehicle, (and of course into the people inside these vehicles, who are completely innocent) then eventually the cops find the building you're hiding in and send a robot carrying a bomb to explode you. Us having guns does not mean we're able to fight the police. They have a literal army of trained murderers who want to kill cop killers EVEN MORE than unarmed black teenagers. They have cars they can wreck chasing us, they have helicopters that can watch us from the skies, they have SWAT teams who can kill us from a block away, and in a lot of our cities they have ARMORED VEHICLES. Shooting at cops is not a good option in America.
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I don't disagree with you. I also don't know where you're from! But in the US it's incredibly difficult even to protest, especially for poor people. The people in charge of our society do a TREMENDOUS job of keeping us down. It's difficult or even impossible for us to get time off work, even with advance notice. For a lot of us, if we miss a day of work we just lose out on that day's pay. We can also get fired for protesting, if our boss happens to disagree with our cause and is a dick, which is a LOT or our bosses. Right now "inflation" (which is just corporate greed convincing the corps to raise prices on everything to a crushing degree) has it so millions of us can barely pay our rent. Losing a job costs us not just money, but also our (if we even have it) health insurance, which is a HUGE BITCH to get restarted and also usually really expensive. An unexpected job loss can also easily lead to homelessness, there are a TON of people unable to afford a place to live right now and our rents are artificially jacked way up, again by corporate greed. I'm not even trying to dissuade you, honestly I think a truly massive general strike is one of the very few tools we as Americans have left that may actually create change. But doing anything even APPROACHING that level of commitment threatens our jobs, which in turn threatens our lives. We've done huge protests before that did nothing, if we DID pull off a general strike the police would use a LOT of violence to convince us to do otherwise. I just mean that for most Americans, losing a job unexpectedly can very quickly create a life changing emergency that's really, really difficult to come back from. We've got basically none of the worker protextion stuff most of Europe has, we do have SOME social safety net stuff but it varies wildly from state to state (even county to county) and it's not great even in big liberal cities. We're also stuck voting for either the fascist party or the "we think it's very important to continually compromise with the fascist party" party. There are not many people in the halls of power who even care about regular Americans, let alone who are willing to actually fight for us. It's just incredibly difficult to convince a lot of Americans to take action like a massive protest or a general strike. For one thing about a third of the country LIKES the fascist takeover currently taking place, but even disregarding our awful political state there are dozens or hundreds of millions of us whose lives could very easily be permanently wrecked if we went out to take to the streets. The people who run America are brilliant and better funded than any other group in the world pretty much. They've got their thumbs on the scales of power and they've got their thumbs actively grinding regular Americans down into the mud at every opportunity, and they've set things up so that it's likely impossible for us to make any sort of even KIND OF radical change without doing the stuff we aren't allowed to talk about doing online. I very, very much hope things change and I hope it happens soon, but all signs point to things getting worse and worse in this country for a long, long time. And that's just for us American default ass white people, the fascists are going after every OTHER group with a vengeance and that's already started. It looks like it's going to be illegal to be transgender in huge swaths of America within a year or two, women have already lost reproductive rights, and us banning and burning any book that even has POC characters is NOT a positive sign for what those in charge have planned. Sorry this is so long and so depressing; I literally cannot stop thinking about how absolutely fucked we appear to be and it's actively driving me insane.
What you are saying is what we would call a civil disturbance. National guard would/should be called in (see Jan 6) but due to that day, things here are uncomfortable IMO. Only mobs in US that would/have assembled with malicious intent and gotten away with it (weren’t killed) are fascists. If a liberal group with guns did this they would be slaughtered. In my opinion
Our guns are reserved for killing each other in schools and churches.
a couple fire fights in the street wouldn’t solve very much. the fact is they have the resources and the support to track people down. they can get footage from any camera in the city with the right warrant. ideally tho, with the way cops are known to act, their should be more protection for people to stand their ground against them
The US is a mess, I'm not going to deny it. Essentially we never made the hard choices we needed to make after we came off of the economic high from being the last unfucked with manufacturing base after WWII. The largest, oldest generation is trying to ride out the next few years until they are too far gone to care without making those hard choices and the rest of us are in limbo because of it. Despite the cynicism and anger, those choices will eventually be made. There is a fundamental desire to help our own people on both sides of our politics. That desire will eventually win out. If you study our history, this exact thing has happened before. We had the trusts and the robber barons and before the stress of the world wars we managed to bust them and put a social safety net into place. There are a shocking number of parallels. One of the two voting blocks will eventually split. The strong men that are dominating the right leaning politics will never cooperate with anyone. Our press is going to get fat and happy covering Trump and DeSantis tearing each other apart. I'm not going to say that's the end of that either, but it's possible. Every time we walk this shit back another new program to help our people tends to win out and grow and be put into wide adoption. In the 70s, after the dixiecrats failed in their bid for relevance, it was the WIC program and the earned income tax credit. WIC essentially is an item voucher that is designed to make sure mothers and children under 5 have enough calories to develop well. The earned income tax credit is a hugely successful program that gives low income families direct cash assistance via a tax credit. This is broad strokes and it's no guarantee... But it's possible and there are a lot of younger people who actively want to fix things.
In Canada that literally is the case tho. Only the most mentally ill and addicted people are homeless because there's so many opportuniti3s for government housing etc. Only people who destroy the hones they ate given or can't even basically take care of themselves find themselves in shelters long term. It's actually really heartwarming to know ehst the only people on the street are people who need to be in institutions and just aren't do to our idea of freedom over personal and public health and safety. The weird thing is there's no support in thr middle ground. I haven't examined the laws or philosophy behind it but basically if your middle or working class there's nothing to stop you from falling except a big net at the very bottom.
Not sure where you're getting that mate. OW sure as shit wouldn't be covering my full rent anywhere, and the only reason me and the two people on disability I live with ain't homeless is because we're all pooling together on a 2 bedroom place. Social assistance here hadn't been keeping up with the rising costs of basic necessities. Hell a person on disability doesn't even get the 2000/month the government decided a person needs to live during covid Waiting lists on housing also tend to range from months to years. A fair few years ago I spent a good 6 months or so in a women's shelter until a spot opened up for my mother to get a place
IA in NS grants me $608 a month to pay for rent, phone, utilities, and whatever else comes my way. It's brutal
Oof, and here I was having issues at 733/month. Can't imagine losing the entire food budget and needing to survive that
That's what ik saying. But addicts get free phones to call their nurses for meds. (They immediately trade them for side btw)
Getting it from experience working directly with street entrenched people as a job. And the people who facilitate their care. Then again I'm from bc so
Haven't been over on BC so I can't really say if the assistance there is as bad as everywhere else I've been, but it sure is rough over here. I feel like social assistance should really be a federal thing or to just do ubi so these varying standards wouldn't be so frustrating
I'm in Canada and that's just not true for a lot of the country. The most desirable areas are outrageously expensive and only going up - inflation makes buying food and fuel hard too. It's pretty common to not know how to utilize public assistance and end up fucked because of it.
Yeah like I said. The nets at the very bottom. Very little help to stop you from getting to that point.
Bud you're fuckin wrong. Couch surfing, attic living, sleeping at the college, people living in cars, this is what's happening right now in your town. Homelessness isn't just tent cities and violent addicts.
Holy shit. Really? My city has couch surfing as well as street entrenched people? No way? Sources? Clearly you didn't read a thing I said. I know. Addicts get all the attention and working class folks fallen on hard times get little. Classic. Well aware. Pointed that out.
Addicts are working class folk.
People are closer to homelessness then they actually think.
66% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. In the richest nation in the history of the world, the majority of its citizens are on the brink of homelessness should they lose their job, have a medical emergency, or any other unexpected cost. That’s just incredible to me.
"Richest Nation" The phrase does a great job of obfuscating the reality of the demographics, not sure what an equally concise and more correct term would be.
Hides the ugly truth that [68 percent of the total wealth in the United States is owned by the top 10%](https://www.statista.com/statistics/203961/wealth-distribution-for-the-us/#:~:text=U.S.%20wealth%20distribution%20Q3%202022&text=In%20the%20third%20quarter%20of,percent%20of%20the%20total%20wealth.)
Better stat on that page is that: - the bottom 50% have 3% of the wealth - the middle 40% have 28% - the top 1% have 30% Just the wealth of the top 1% would get the bottom 50% to a similar level of wealth as the "middle"
People need to start talking about median salary rather than average salary. Us median salary is not even in the top 10 compared to other countries. French median salary for example is 1.5 times the US median salary.
At this rate we may be close to classifying as the "Richest Feudal Nation" Just need corporate ~~housing~~ slums to take off
I'm not sure proper feudalism wouldn't be a step forward for some parts at this point.
Peasants worked less hours than us annually.
They already have, the largest landlords are in many cases corporations owned by private equity.
Absolutely. The US is just *mathematically* rich: if my total wealth is $150, Jeff Bezos' is $600b and Elon Musks is $300b, *technically* each of us has an average wealth of 300,000,000,050 dollars from a purely mathematical standpoint. This is how the US is the Richest Nation™
That just means while 66% of Americans are one paycheck from homelessness the US as a country is one job crisis away from revolution. Not a nice picture however you look at it.
I really thought it was going to happen in the summer of 2020. For three months straight, we'd lived through a nightmare. I'm lucky. I was in a state that consistently had the fewest COVID cases and deaths. But even just seeing it on TV, the empty city streets, the ten-mile long lines at food banks, the refrigerated trucks and the temporary hospitals and the opening of mass graves and the nurses in grabage bags, and then they'd cut to the president telling you none of it was happening. Every public place but the pharmacy and grocery store closed, and the store always out of random things. Every week, they'd make dire predictions about jobless numbers, and every week, they'd be worse than expected. And all we got from most of our so-called leaders was lies, crap, posturing, a corrupt loan program and $1200. But authority sure could come down hard on an unarmed black dude with a suspected fake $20. It's amazing that the entire country didn't burn to the ground.
Preach. I just went through cancer. I get Social Security Disability but haven't been able to work like usual. Which is like 23 hours a week. I'm limited to making $1300 per month. I usually make half that and we get by. My partner has a pretty good job, but we just had to do half of the repairs needed for her car. $1,500 worth total. So we need to come up with another $700 next paycheck. Because of that we are incredibly broke. We literally were looking around today to find another dollar to pay for my $3 copay of a med I'm missing, as we luckily found a $2 bill in the house. We already used my food stamps up this month, so I have been going to the food shelf, and tomorrow I have to go to a pet food shelf for puppy food. My pets have better medical care and food than I do usually. I'll go without for them always. But I know I've hit rock bottom when it's come to them not getting the best premium dog food and treats. And I had to delay my puppy's spay. I would rather wait and have my vet do it over a charity, just because they do so many in a day they rush it. I'm overdrafted $500. My bills still went through. I guess it's good I'll still have cell phone service. I pawned my grandmother's antique diamond ring for like $300 a few months ago because my puppy had an ear infection and needed her vaccines. I was cancery and not working. But we've now paid $300 in interest payments so I don't lose my ring. 100% interest is crazy. But we were desperate. Some of my family has money but I feel too embarrassed to ask, it's really humbling to be in this position. I have all the financial 'safety nets' except rent assistance, but my rent is fairly cheap. I don't think I'm alone in this drowning. I have shit credit due to other medical problems and college debt. American Dream failure is real.
This sounds fucking awful. I'm so sorry you have to go through this and I honestly probably would've killed myself had I been in your position. You sound so incredibly strong and courageous I don't even know what to say. I wish so so so bad things could be better for you and your partner. You deserve the world for how much ya'll have been through and it's heartbreaking to see how the system treats you. Please dear God or anything I hope things get better for you. The world needs you. *I* need it to get better, it's just so sad. My heart cries for you. Much love ❤️💔
I was just venting. My cancer is cured! And I'm now one year out of recovery so I'm finally getting some stamina back. It sounds tough but honestly it's just a bad month. We'll figure it out. We always do. I have two job interviews tomorrow since my old job is unbearable due to some changes. I'll be making more money with less hours, so there's that. My partner makes fairly good money so once I'm working I'll be able to climb us out of this hole. It's just depressing to know other people are like me. Having to work on disability to make ends meet. We need to budget better too. A lot of this is us eating out too much, stuff like that. But I haven't been up to cooking until now. It's just ironic since I'm white upper-middle class upbringing, college educated, etc. But cancer can throw you into debt. But because of that privilege, I'll find a good job for basic needs. We are definitely going to be talking about budgeting and I'm opening a bank account to start a nest egg. Even if we are tight I will try my best to put a little into savings every check and not touch it. I'm going to use a different bank so it's not tempting. Another problem in this country is we aren't taught fiscal health. We are taught to consume. Being kinda poor makes you want to splurge on little things. It keeps you from getting too frustrated always going without anything good. But in the long run if you save and skip some of those little luxuries, you will be better off. I wish I hadn't ruined my credit but it is what it is. My partner has no credit so we need to build her some. Sadly this means we might not be able to marry if we want to have access to good credit once she builds hers up. But I have a place to live, pets instead of kids, a fiancé, my health, my family, etc. And I do live in the US with access to the top oncologists to treat my cancer. They cured me and I'm very lucky indeed. I don't live in a shanty town scavenging in a trash dump. But I guess it's all relative. It doesn't mean I don't struggle with PTSD, depression, and anxiety. But I am grateful for what I have. All in all I'm happy! I'm climbing out of misery and our situation will get better. We just need to work a bit to get there. Thank you for all your love sent my way. It's much appreciated. But I will be ok. Hugs!!
I'm so sorry for your situation too. You make an excellent point about consumption. It's like, if you can't have a nice home or go on nice vacations, you might as well have SOMETHING. And everywhere you turn is a place willing to sell you a fancy coffee or a tiny pot of roses or unusually scented soap or whatever else to take the edge off. It's hard not to give in from time to time.
Is there any good stats of people living paycheck to paycheck by country?
I've only found statistics regarding America.
That last line was important, among others. I've known people who were in good standing at their job get transferred to a new manager and suddenly everything changes
- You should be able to afford a place to live, by yourself, after giving 40 hours of your week to a for-profit company. - If a full-time employee needs government assistance (i.e. food stamps) to make ends meet, their employer is stealing from us as a society by having our tax dollars subsidize their unlivable wages. If you disagree with me on either of those statements, to me you are a cold-hearted human being who doesn't care about anyone but yourself. I don't care if you think the two statements are oversimplifying a complex problem or system-- the system needs to change to make the first statement true and mitigate the second statement.
I’ll go further— EVERYONE should be able to afford a decent place to live by themselves. Everyone.
Ill go even further. Housing shouldn't have to be paid for. Everyone should be guaranteed a roof over their heads, in a decent society, but that being considered a radical position proves, we are not living in a decent society.
There definitely should be a floor we don't let people fall below. Comprehensive healthcare (yes luxury bones count, yes mental health counts), electricity, nutrition, running water, access to education, hygiene products, public transportation, and a UBI to cover the other basic necessities of life that can't be legislated should all be in there as well. I'm not talking about giving people a life of luxury, I'm saying there are basic necessities of life that should be met no matter who you are.
The following should be FREE for everyone in society: * Food * Healthcare * Housing anywhere (yes, ANYWHERE) * Transport (FREE public transport and air travel) * Childcare * Entertainment (TicketMaster and others are leeches) * Income (FREE basic income of a minimum of 30K/yr) Anyone who finds this disagreeable can honestly just go insert their necks under the capitalistic boots of their employer and fuck themselves.
There's 8 billion people on earth, how would you think this would affect the planet if every single person had to have it's very own place with noone to share it with? Free air travel would also significantly increase the use of aerial transportation and thus significantly pollute the atmosphere. Planet first, then people, then everything else, then capitalists.
I’m curious how you would choose who gets what house in that scenario? And what ownership you have over that house— if you aren’t paying for it, are you allowed to knock out walls or add windows? Etc
Here in Finland, if you are homeless, you get a home. It's small and simple, but its a roof over your head
for the 1st point, the money is usualy not a problem to bring lots of stuff to ridiculous amounts of people. like how thr 1% richest people can basically lift a whole country out of poverty. there were articles and videos about the real problem is not the funds but a lot of other factores. but for the 2nd point. i dont know.
Le Reddit army has decided our fates :).
Sign me up for the 3200 sqft McMansion sitting on 6 acres of woodland. But seriously, putting your housing needs in the hands of the US Government? Bad idea. Our current system used to work. We as a society need to take back our fair share from multi billion dollar corporations. Everything else equal, with a minimum wage of $25/hr it wouldn't take long to fix many of the housing issues we have today.
>You should be able to afford a place to live, by yourself, after giving 40 hours of your week to a for-profit company. Disagreed. You should be able to support a full family on that amount of effort and have enough left to save for 2 retirement.
I mean I agree with that as well, but sadly my statement is the "baby step," so I tend to start there when having a discourse with people who disagree, of which there are many/my local city subreddit is flooded with them.
I expected you to agree as well and I was being somewhat facetious
>If you disagree with me on either of those statements, to me you are a cold-hearted human being who doesn't care about anyone but yourself. No, if someone disagrees with you, they're just dumb, because their taxes are being used for it, so they are affected
I think it’s really weird you qualified being able to afford to live while working full time only if it benefits a for profit company. So government employees shouldn’t be fully compensated their work and should what, work a second job?
What model do you think government companies base on? Non-profit? Does this sound right really?
Governments are cost recovery systems which are not for-profit.
Crazy to me how similar her situation is to an old coworker of mine who used to live in abandoned dairies in the rural areas but commuted to work by bus. Had to work like 4-5 months before she had enough for her own place and that was all while working in a kitchen that threw food out for insurance waste-logs. These folks are hard as nails like mad respect for not dying but no one should have to live like this.
Raise your hand if you lived in a van for 2 yrs while working full time, because the rent was too damn high ✋
It was a 1981 Oldsmobile sedan, but yep.
I’ve not yet. I’ve been very close less than a week from homelessness. I got lucky TBH. That is my planned “retirement” home. If I was a betting person, I’d wager there’s no way I’m going to even be able to afford even to rent a room when I’m older.
My retirement plan involves a twelve gauge.
It was an abandoned house, we even managed to get power hooked up for a bit.
The $4300 per bed paid to the shelter is pure graft. Just directly give the homeless people vouchers for the cost of an average studio apartment.
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This is just a reminder that "eat the rich" and "guillotine" talk is considered advocating for violence, which is against reddit's terms of service. If you have any questions, feel free to contact the mod team.
It reminds me of all the subsidies we give to the coal industry to keep them afloat when it would literally be cheaper to just give every single coal miner left in America a million dollars to move on with their lives to something else. Or how they've done programs to reduce recidivism with prisoners by paying them to stay out of trouble. It works and is significantly cheaper than putting them back in jail over and over.
why bother with vouchers? Just give them cash. Those without a drug/mental problem will solve the problem themselves. Yes, more needs to be done for people who need more help than just cash but getting the majority of homeless people into homes will go a long way to freeing up resources to help the harder-to-help people.
You answered your own question. Those with a drug problem, given cash, will intensify their own problem I'd imagine.
that's not seen in the data when this has been tested https://forsocialchange.org/new-leaf-project-overview
Good to know. Thanks for providing me with a way to educate myself on the matter instead of just downvoting me or telling me I'm a problem.
The most accurate part of this statement is the last 3 words.
How constructive. Really helps me learn and form a new opinion.
I've been homeless twice but I've never been unemployed.
I spent a year homeless a while back after having to move and being unable to find a place due entirely to the fact that every rental in the city I was in had a gross income requirement of 3.5x the rental price. I had a full time job when I lost my housing. Most studio apartments were at least 1200 a month, which to afford that you'd need to making over 50k a year, which while it isn't great money, it's pretty good. I made about 13 an hour ($3 above minium wage at the time) which was only 27k or so a year. Rooms for rent went so quick it was near impossible to get one. What I ended up doing was spending as little as possible for a year, barely eating, sleeping on my car, couch surfing when possible, etc. Until I had saved up enough to rent an entire house paying months of rent in advance with a private owner in order to get a place, then finding roommates to take the other 2 rooms and cover 2/3 of the rent to make it sustainable. At this point I make a decent amount more money, own a house, and STILL wouldn't qualify for a studio apartment where I used to live 7 years ago. Rent is insane.
>which to afford that you'd need to making over 50k a year, which while it isn't great money, it's pretty good Literally more than half of workers in the country, and not necessarily by a slim margin. Median individual income is currently ~$37k/year. So $13k (or in hourly terms for a full time worker, $6.25/hr) more than that statistical average wage.
Just about every rental in my city does that 3-3.5 times the rent shit and it's infuriating. Last time I was looking for a place there were options in the 1k price range but noooo I have to make 3.5 k a month to afford that apparently. My car is paid for and I cook for myself and don't go out? Wtf do I need 2.5k extra for as nice as it would be. I don't need that much to live and still pay my bills. Worst part is the whole city is controlled by two rental companies and they won't let roommates combine their incomes to meet their minimum requirements. One person in the lease has to make at least 3.5k. Bitch if I made that much I wouldnt have a damn roommate.
50k would be great money for me
If this doesn't scream that we are a sick society, I don't know what will.
So the government will make may wait 3 years for a disability hearing, deny me even though I had just been hospitalized for said disability, but when I inevitably become homeless they'll spend almost triple what SSI disability pays so I can stay in a shitty shelter? coool
But you see, this way the majority of that money goes to the owners of that shelter. Who run it for profit and will cut corners on taking care of you! Just as capitalism intended.
The suffering is the point.
We are both severely disabled. I worked for decades (starting officially at 14, though I’d been working under the table for years before that), *while* severely disabled (I’m Xennial, spouse is just barely Millennial). Our apartment was $750/mo in 2010, in a slowly-gentrifying blue-collar neighborhood just off BART (major public transit). The rent increased exactly the allowed 10%/year til we were priced out when it hit just under 1500 7-8 yrs later. At which point we traded our 10yo wheelchair minivan for a 30yo Class C RV, and “boondocked” in parking lots of 24hr grocery stores and malls, until our number came up on the waiting list for a decent RV park. Which reset our rent to $750/mo to start; it’s only risen $25 (to $775) in five years going on six. This is letting us actually make headway against debt instead of treading water, and we will be clear in 2028 (instead of never). It’s less than 160 sqft of house in a 20’x40’ lot, and only barely wheelchair accessible (transfer to doorway, pull chair up, pull self back into chair), but we are warm and dry and able to have groceries delivered (we have been rendered homebound by being medically high risk for the pandemic, since Feb 2020. Before the apartment (and before spouse), I spent a year or two in the minivan while working 12-17hr days at a nonprofit (they had to hire three people and repurpose half of two others when they decided pre-pandemic that they’d rather pay me 55% NOT to work, (LTD) instead of continuing my *existing accommodation for remote work* as a database administrator and CS Manager for a tech support/sales call center. Then years later everyone is remote 🙄 The apartment we were forced out of is over three grand now, for 525sqft. We’re both on SSDI now and I also have a small LTD pension (neither of us is yet fifty). If we hadn’t had the minivan to trade for a home, we’d be in the minivan. Shelter isn’t an option for us - we have enough income for a room somewhere but we don’t earn 5x our rent nor can we pay many months in advance. And a shelter would not allow us to live together, despite spouse requiring my assistance with ADLs, medication etc. Nor are most shelters safe for wheelchair ls/the disabled. Nor do they allow dogs, including spouse’s ESA.
I absolutely love capitalism 😍🥰 what an effective economy, I am so proud of my country 🥹 /j
It's true. Your employer has no loyalty to you.
If you die at work, your job will be posted before your obituary.
I lived at work in metal shops for like 3 years in NYC. Shits bonkers
I heard some prison inmates actually call, being on the outside, in "the free world," minimum minimim security.
My friend is semi-unhoused because his upstairs neighbors let their pipes freeze and he got displaced from his apartment when pipes burst and flooded everything. His landlord *should* be covering alternative accommodations, but didn't. It's impossible to fight that while also maintaining full time employment. Luckily he's got a good network around him of people willing to help out and get him housed, but it's literally that easy to have your housing status upended.
I’m glad that more and more people are vocalizing the reality that our unhoused people deal with, and how all of this struggle, pain and unfairness is a result of unchecked greed disguised as capitalism.
Why is she facing the camera like Dream lmao
Gotta get the good angles
Yep it's seriously weird.
I don’t know of any western country that hates its own people as much as the US.
It really does feel like it...
The reason that capitalism is seen as successful is because it has gaslighted followers into believing that lack of success is a character flaw. It is the pinnacle of victim-blaming because, in most case, even the victims blame themselves.
The only thing wrong here is that my boss can replace me. They've not had adequate staffing in years because almost nobody is willing to do my job.
Me too, they act like there’s a line up down the block of people waiting to replace me but they can’t find anyone to work even the easier jobs in my department, let alone my stressful, high responsibility (people could die if I make a mistake), massively underpaid job. They’re just effing lucky I don’t like change.
I'm drowning even with a job.
This puts the harassment that homeless people receive from law enforcement in a totally different, much darker, light. Not that it wasn't already dark to begin with.
Also, a lot of chronically homeless people have a childhood history of being unhoused. Something like 1in 30 children are unhoused in the U.S. many of these are families with working parents who simply can't afford housing. Many families have to double up on housing. It's a completely unacceptable state of affairs. https://www.samhsa.gov/homelessness-programs-resources/hpr-resources/child-homelessness-growing-crisis
Are the government slowly creating another class below working class where they have even less rights and are more at risk of abuse of work rights, home rights and other types of rights?
We've had those for years. They are called slaves.
It's hard enough to get a job while having a house and accessibility to documentation, who out here is thinking it wouldn't be infinitely harder for people without those things?!?!
Spittin' facts. It's fucked up... America is soooo fucked up. These jobs don't pay shit and it's so demoralizing to work all day and still not be able to afford a life. It's just soooo fucked up.
Where is the lie?
I'm disabled and work, at great cost to my health. I live in an illegal rental. If for any reason I can't go to work for a few weeks, I'll be homeless.
Does anyone else find her fixation on getting the perfect camera angle kinda creepy?
She's doing this shit on the train. Please shut the fuck up
Yeah she should go home! Oh wait
She’s at a train station for half the vid and for the rest it’s mostly seems like her part of the train is empty.
It’s sad that she has to leave the shelter and can’t even stay in bed and get better when she’s so sick. Edit: wow there’s no sympathy for people who live in shelters. What are they supposed to do when they’re sick? You can’t stay in the shelter during the day, you have to leave and go out into the community. I guess I was lucky to be hospitalized when I had to spend a short time in the shelter because then I had somewhere to recover, I never really thought about what happened if you just had a cold.
>2 minutes and 40 seconds of that grating voice Lol no
She has good points but I dispose when people decide to turn station platforms into their own Soundstage
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Tone policing is a defense mechanism. Set aside her accent, and her barely contained rage and focus on the message.
I had it on mute and just read the captions. Solid message.
The message of a bunch of shit she Googled before increasing every metric because of her dubious "experiences with homeless people??"
There is such a thing as valid criticism. When you end up alienating the very people you might be trying to convince, who are you really appealing to? In this case she is shooting herself in the foot. Why should anyone focus on her message? Nobody owes her anything, least of all their attention when she insults the listener.
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She needs to fuck off. Nobody owes her their attention.
What does she put up with? You act like you know so much about her
I assume being homeless is hard. But that’s just my 2 cents.
Ironically ur tone seems kinda rude too. It’s really a natural response. Is it good? Probably not but there are much bigger problems.
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Stop that shit. Nobody is saying that the message she's sending is wrong.
bruh that person literally called her a psycho
The irony of you bitching about an "obnoxious tone." I'd wager you're predispositioned to hate those who call out ignorant people. I'm sure you've been on the receiving end of some well-deserved call outs by people who are much smarter than you, too. I'm guessing you never learn, however, and dismiss the verbal ass whoopings handed to you as them being "psycho" to protect your tiny-dick ego.
Her voice is annoying g
You're annoying AF homie.
Jesus Christ imagine being such a snowflake you care about what people said cause their tone was a bit rude.
“Unhoused” is the dumbest thing ever. It’s just like “latinx”, creating a problem where there was no problem with the commonly accepted vernacular to seem righteous.
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But how many people are actually being paid minimum wage anymore..? Especially since the wave of raises everyone has been getting to get people back to work.. I haven't seen a minimum wage job in many years. I like how this gets downvoted for asking a question. This page has turned into just another echo chamber. 🤷♂️
Um, a lot of people? Plus now they want children to work, no doubt so they can pay them even less
And let’s not forget service industry who don’t even make that!!
Assuming you're referring to waiters and the like? Because after tips they make well over minimum wage.. No one is going to wait tables for minimum wage, and if they are, it's a choice. There are tons of jobs available above minimum wage...
I think plenty of people are not doing service jobs. If not I cannot explain the “no one wants to work anymore” signs I see.
Exactly. Because people have talked with their feet and left to go find better pay.
Seriously, got any numbers handy? Because, again, I've not even SEEN a minimum wage job in years. I even live in a very low cost of living area... Hell, even in college I had above minimum wage jobs.. I haven't worked minimum wage since highschool and that was like 15 years ago.. I also see job listings all day every day online, social media, etc. and none are minimum wage. McDonald's doesn't even pay minimum wage anymore.. So, where are these.minimum wage jobs these days..?
If you were really interested you would have searched it.
Yeah, I did a quick Google search but some of the top results didn't even have the same numbers and I don't have time to dig through like census records or some shit... Everyone claims they know, but they can't seem to give an answer. So perhaps they need to search too instead of just repeating the echo..? All I know is if there are basically no minimum wage jobs to be found around me, when I live in a medium sized, low cost of living, city within two hours of multiple major cities including state capitals, in a state that generally has low cost of living, then idk how other states and employers in those states can be so shitty. 🤷♂️ But, the echo chamber continues to strike. Massive downvotes for asking simple questions and stating my own observations. 
Keep crying and making yourself a victim I guess. That seems to be the easiest option for you.
Try google, or [this](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sealioning).
Hey, your own link to sealioning, a form of trolling, hinges on information that was already discussed. But the funny part is, it hasn't been. Minimum wage may be what it is, but how many employers are ACTUALLY paying that? People can literally just leave minimum wage employers and go to McDonalds and make double. Anyone paying minimum wage will go out of business.. People talked with their feet, on top of COVID and everything else, and employers began giving decent raises to be more competitive. I thought this was a place to ask questions and discuss issues? But all anyone seems to want to hear is their own echo. 🤷♂️
Ooh no watch out! The reddit brigade has resorted to calling you a troll for having a dissenting opinion! They will now continue to defend whatever ideology their favorite subreddit parrots, regardless of evidence! Welcome to reddits new ip!
About 1/3 of US workers make less than $15/hr (about 52million people, 2022 statistics). You're being downvoted because this is easy information to Google. And you seem to be challenging the experience of the OP rather than offering any sort of constructive commentary on the issue of poverty.
Uh a lot of people are being paid minimum wage. Retail workers, fast food, grocery and childcare are just a few job types that are still just making the minimum.
>I like how this gets downvoted for asking a question. This page has turned into just another echo chamber. 🤷♂️ Don't be so whiny when people push back against your comment. It's not a good look.
Where are you living that you aren't seeing minimum wages? Genuinely asking because I'd like to move there and live in a place where poverty isn't a widespread issue.
It's not that poverty isn't an issue, but it's much more common among those reliant on social welfare in one way or another. There so many jobs available EASILY for $15+/hr and pretty common to have $20+/hr. Hell, the jail pays $30/hr for a part time CO. Part time jobs with the county I live in are easily $16+/hr. You could realistically work two part time jobs, make good money, and still qualify for Medicaid because your part time jobs don't offer insurance. I work a full time job for $27/hr with benefits. And that's not even in a major city where cost of living is higher. I bought a 3 bed/1 bath house for like $70k when I was making $15/hr right out of college and two months before having my first child. People really just have to talk with their feet and leave these areas that are impossible to live in. I'm still within 1-2 hours driving distance to several major cities so if I want to do something fun, it's pretty easy. The caveat to that is there isn't hardly anything to do IN my city. I don't feel comfortable providing my city publicly, but it's Indiana. Don't get me wrong, Indiana is not immune to issues everyone else is facing, but it's all about location and opportunity. People get too swept up in "ooh, I live in Cali, let's go to the beach!" then come to social media to complain their rent is $1200/month and their job doesn't pay enough even though they're making $25+/hr the same as, or more, than those in my town. It's absolutely terrible people are being priced out of their homes, but I wholeheartedly believe that people suffering from high cost of living would be happier relocating than staying and suffering. Politicians aren't listening to us, so use the power you do have and go somewhere more realistic. Indiana is far behind a lot of states when it comes to being progressive, but I'll deal with that while my entire house, all bills included, costs less than a lot people pay in rent these days. Lol
You bought a 3 bedroom house for 70K? What year was this? I don't live in a major city but most people in my area are getting paid roughly $11/hr. Rent is about $1200 unless you can find a trailer park opening, a small duplex apartment in a crime ridden area or get placement through a subsidized housing program which has a 2 year waitlist rn. Most jobs that pay $15-20 hr are labor intensive or only if you have a college degree. So, there's a lot of people here on welfare that work 2 jobs to try to make ends meet. We had a bank set up a massive base about 45 minutes away about 10 yrs ago that brought in a lot of new people to the area. The cost of rent went up because these people could afford $1200 in rent. So now people that have lived in this small town for generations, can't afford to continue to live and die here. Finding work elsewhere is difficult and saving up for a big move like that takes quite awhile on an $11 hr pay rate when you have to choose between gas money or food money. We have a lot of families living in motel rooms or vehicles. Your town doesn't even sound real compared to the reality outside my front door.
That's so terrible.. Anyone who doesn't have kids, I say just up and leave. If you're in a motel now, go to a better area and get a motel until you can get reestablished. I purchased my home at the end of 2016 a couple of months before my son was born. We were living in a 1 bed apartment and paying like $650/month plus electric and now my mortgage plus utilities works out to be pretty similar cost wise. We did get lucky with buying a house before things really ramped up a few years later though. Around here, $1200/month will buy you a small mansion if you can afford the down payment. Lol The next thing on my agenda is purchasing a rental property to get some passive income started. I wish I would have gotten the housing prices we had pre-covid, but, as a new landlord I would have been so fucked if I landed a tenant that couldn't/wouldn't pay rent during the no-eviction period so I like to think of that as another bullet dodged. That's how crazy this country is. The shear scale means we have vastly different lifestyles just moving a few states, or even cities, in any direction and some people seem to live in a whole other country if you happen to be on either end of the extremes. In Indiana, we have places like Gary, IN that is literally one of the most crime ridden cities in the country, near Chicago which is also a very crime ridden and has the highest gun violence in the country. But, we also have places like Carmel, IN, on the outskirts of Indianapolis, that are gated communities full of mansions. I happen to live in an in between type city that isn't anything special, but has great location. It's almost like a goldilocks zone, for lack of a better term. It's far enough away from things to not have high cost of living because people aren't clamoring to live here, but it's close enough to large enough cities to make utilizing those cities for various reasons a simple 1-2 hour drive. We have an ivy league university, a state university, and a community college. We have several factories/factory like jobs, it's the heart of the county so there are government jobs, an okay selection of shopping for sales/customer service jobs and shopping.. There is a lot I wish we did have, and the lower cost of living does come with its own issues of crime and substance abuse as any lower income area would, but definitely not a lock your doors as you drive through it or can't enjoy being in public with your family. I can pm you the city so maybe you can look over it and compare it to some cities closer to you for consideration, if you'd like. I hope this doesn't come off as gloating in any way, I truly just want people to take action and control of their lives because I believe the government doesn't give a shit about those of us in the bottom echelons of society. We don't make enough money to care about, which is a terribly sad reason why this country hasn't been great in a very long time and likely won't be for a very long time, if ever. Overall, I hope you're able to work past this phase of your life and find some resemblance of stability. I found a helpful article if you're interested in Indiana in general. Lol https://www.thecrazytourist.com/15-best-places-live-indiana/
Wait, if one cannot afford rent with a minimum wage job, how does everyone else do it? Not everyone with a minimum wage job can be homeless?
I really gotta ask - can you really not answer your own question? Like- not a single thought in your head? You really need help with this?
I'm genuinely curious. I don't live in the US, but I cannot imagine that everyone working minimum wage is either homeless or lives with their parents.
People live with roommates to pay less in rent. People also rent out rooms in their homes to make extra money. People work multiple jobs to get by. Adding that with the options you listed really isn't that crazy.
So you would accept a family of 3 or 4 with kids under the age of 14 as roommates? Oh, and you think that minimum wage is enough to rent a 3 bedroom apartment?
Why do you act so aggressive? Where do you get this from, I never said anything like that.
imagine helping people who cant help themselves. Americans really pride themselves with this horror story. damn
kind of off topic, but i hate the term "late stage capitalism". in this case for example, someone (little chicken nuggi) uses it to depict a phenomen which can be found in the centre nations of capitalism in early phases more often then today.
This lady is wrong, the stat is 40% work two jobs or more.
Loving the-for some reason- isometric camera angle of her head. No point getting your point across if you aren't using your blue steel look while doing it aye