I have not considered myself homeless before as an adult. I had my mother to live with and I was doing okay. I have a job, a car and an okay income, but all of that has changed and now I really do consider myself homeless. I don’t have a set place to go, I have a p.o box as an address and I worry about what will happen to me. I am staying on random sofas, driving two hours one way to keep a job or even sleeping in my car at a rest area to keep gas cost down. I am eating cheap food and finding places I can use the internet for the price of a coffee.
This is something I am not new to, I have always tried to live a frugal lifestyle. I don’t have much and what I have bought and spent money on were things I have had for a long time, back when I had the money to do these things.
Enough about me though, this is a post about everyone who is working and homeless. Most of us are working because we want to, we are driven to do anything to keep a job that may not pay enough to allow us to afford rent, but we still keep trying. The problem comes back to jobs and the lack of jobs in affordable areas.
The area I live in has nothing under the $600 mark. That may not seem much to you, but for someone working on minimum wage, it’s a lot. Not only is it most of your income if your single, but many places now have income requirements so you can’t even get in there to try to pay for it. This is hard and discouraging to anyone looking for a place to live, not only that, but think about that same person trying to find a second job, but not knowing where there going to be in a week.
This is why I believe that the percentage of working homeless is growing. Affordable housing is non-existent in many places and government help is strained enough as it is. They also don’t give much help to single people, figuring we can get second jobs. I feel though as a single person working full time hours over minimum wage, I should be able to afford a place to live. For me there are a few other factors besides being able to afford rent, but these hurdles have made me more interested into the plight of the working homeless and why we are not doing more to help those that are trying to better themselves instead of those who are doing nothing or constantly quitting jobs to stay home and collect assistance.
I personally am hoping to use this experience to help others who are in a similar or worse situation. I’m happy to say I am looking at volunteer opportunities to help people who need it and want that extra push and help to get them on their feet. We need to help those who don’t want to be on assistance, but are struggling and have to be. These are the people who will change our country and our world.
I am hoping to do a little more research on this subject and will be posting more information soon. If you have any insight to share please do!
What would you do to help? Share with me.
My dd is going through this now. We want her to support herself for a year before she goes to college so she will take it more seriously. Rent around here is also running around $500 – $600 for a single bedroom apartment. Where she works won’t hire her or anyone full time because they don’t want to deal with the benefits. Many who work with her hold down two and three jobs.
Yet we count ourselves blessed because she was able to get a job at all.