Homelessness and poverty are linked. The poor are more affected by increased costs of housing, by increased costs of food, by unplanned medical expenses, by child care expenses, and by loss of jobs.
Poverty
According to the US Census Bureau, the “official” poverty rate in 2013 was 14.5% in the US alone, with the poverty rate for children under 18 identified at 19.9%. Those living in poverty was identified at more than 45 Million people. Sadly, this number does not include children under 15 who are “not living with a family member”, and does not include the homeless.
How much is “poverty”?
Poverty is defined as a single person who makes less than $12,000/year, or a couple who make less than $16,000/year combined, or a family of four who make less than $19,000/year combined.
Consider for a moment being a family of four — you, your spouse, and two children. Whatever your salary, what would you have to forsake if you and your spouse collectively made $19,000 last year?
Wages and cost of housing
One of the significant contributors to homelessness is cost of housing.
Poverty is identified as an individual whose gross income is less than $12,000/year, or $1000/month. Consider for a moment an individual making $10/hour, and fortunate enough to find two positions with a combined total of 40 hours per week (25 for one position, and 15 for the other). Gross annual income is about $20,000, and monthly income is about $1700. Subtract $150 for federal withholding, $100 for social security, $25 for medicare, and $50 for state income tax, and take home pay is now around $1350/month.
What can one do with $1350/month? First lets take out known expenses:
- The person has to eat ($15/day total, including breakfast, lunch, and dinner, to the tune of $450/month. Do you eat on $15/day? I’ll bet not.),
- There must be a reserve to buy clothes (this includes socks, and pants, and shirts, and shoes, and undergarments, say $30/month)
- Launder clothes and towels and sheets ($4/load plus laundry detergent plus dry time, two loads per week, $32/month)
- Public transportation (monthly pass in Pittsburgh is $150), or cost of vehicle to transit to work.
What does that leave? Just over $650/month, or about $7800/year . That includes no going out at all, no movies, no Starbucks, no hair cuts, no McDonald’s, no KFC, no unexpected costs, no doctors appointments, no emergency room visits, no dental appointments.
This is for an individual making $8000 more per year ($20,000) than poverty ($12,000/year).
What you can do
Eradicating homelessness is unlikely, although there are millions of dollars being spent on doing just that. What can help?
- Housing. Lack of affordable housing is a significant contributor to homelessness. Is it reasonable to expect the public to house those found in homeless situations in their private homes? No, of course not. Although the likelihood of a dangerous situation may be small, there is still a possibility of entering a dangerous situation.
- Other shelter. Providing some sort of other shelter may be reasonable. For example, petitioning your city to provide a “tent city” may be practical, although these types of living arrangements are often dismissed or otherwise made illegal by local politicians, tent cities allow controlled and safe environments for the homeless population who wish to utilize it.
- Public feeding. Public feeding is increasingly being made illegal in many areas. Considering food is one of the requirements for life, what do people forced to resort to in order to feed themselves? Whatever the case, public feeding at least feeds those who need nutrition.
- Community kitchens. Soup kitchens are ideal situations, in that there is a somewhat controlled environment and a safe place to eat for those involved. Further, a regularly scheduled soup kitchen can help the homeless who have to sleep at different places every night to avoid harassment, those who are able to sleep in a homeless camp, and those who are not homeless but need nutritional assistance.
What other ways are we able to help those in need? Please comment below with your ideas!