Raising wages as a way to remedy poverty is one way to improve economic stability, good nutrition, good health, stable housing, and reduced lost of properties and eviction. In Matthew Desmond's argument against raising wages, he states that though raising wages is a factor to remedy poverty, it is only a third of the contributing factor and that the leading cause of poverty is eviction, rising cost of housing and policies of the housing authorities.
Matthew Desmond is the coauthor of two books on race and the author of the award-winning book "On the Fireline." Also, he is the editor of a collection of studies on severe deprivation in America. He is the codirector of the Justice and Poverty Project and is the John L Loeb Associate Professor of social sciences at Harvard University.
According to Desmond, eviction is one of the leading causes of poverty, not wages. Eviction of tenants by landlords causes housing instability which intends leads to losing of properties, neighborhoods, school, home, public accommodation and employment instability. Families that lose such factors goes through years of hardships from hunger to enduring the cold weather. That lead them to move into substandard houses, undesirable places of the city and poorer neighborhoods. Since these places are not in good
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Most renters spend much of their income on housing and over one out of five people spend half of their income on rent. Since legal assistance has reduced, low-income families quickly evicted, and attorneys represent most landlords in court and renters have no attorneys. Another factor that causes poverty is the rise in the cost of living for food, gas and phone bills, and other regular expenses that go high when wages increased. When that happens, the low-income families get less return on taxes, education, and mortgages leading to smaller income and empty
One of the most prominent concerns of Evicted is the issue of inescapable financial instability as it relates to eviction. In the very first few pages of the book, Desmond reveals that the majority of poor renting families in America spend over 50% of their income on housing, with an even more astonishing one in four spending over 70% of their income on it (4). When families are spending the majority of their already meager income on housing alone, it is no surprise that they have little money left for savings or self-betterment programs such as a college education. Compounded with this is the fact that some welfare systems are constructed in a way that discourages long-term financial responsibility. For example, Supplemental Security Income, a program that provides monthly stipends for low-income elderly or disabled individuals, is revoked if individuals have too much money in their bank account (217). For
One reason why people become homeless could be due to the decline of housing units affordable to extremely low income households (National Resource Center on Homelessness and Mental Illness).
In order to be radical about poverty, we need to understand the difference between wealth and income. Income is a transfer of money by working or by gifts. On the other hand, wealth is more of a total of accumulated assets that has been stored for a period of time (Conley, pg. 253). Wealth is not distributed equally among the public. (NCH, 2016, http://nationalhomeless.org/about-homelessness/). Declining wages has also caused a lot of stress and increase people’s inability to pay for their housing or other needs. If there are affordable housing, it’s usually in an unsafe and polluted environment or it’s extremely overcrowded that people have a higher chance of being homeless or inadequate housing arrangements than getting their applications accepted (Why Are People Homeless Research, 2016, NCH). Also, privatizing housing will increase the accumulation of wealth of the power elite or those that own property and lands by their pricing in rents. Most people go through depression because of loss of home, jobs, or a sense of self. Often times, the lack education about health and they don’t receive adequate support for medical care if they are homelessness. Poverty is also treated as a criminal offence and if people were to ask for public assistance, they have to prove their eligibility. If they have a criminal record, they are
Imagine a world where you are working overtime, seven days a week, yet your kids are starving. You can’t get the education you need because you don’t have the time and money to afford it, and you can’t change jobs because this is the only one you can get. Unfortunately, this is the reality for millions of Americans living today. The federal minimum wage is too low to help families, and actually mathematically speaking, too low to survive on. The quality of life for minimum wage families is terribly low, and that is unacceptable. As humans, we should be looking after others and helping the poverty come out of their continuous cycle. Raising the minimum wage would not only help families be able to afford a better quality of life, but help them to afford healthy food, get an adequate education, and invest in the necessary health care they need.
The root cause of homelessness is largely be explained by economics: people who become homeless have insufficient financial resources to obtain or maintain housing. Data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2010 American Community Survey (ACS) shows that 75% of households at or below the poverty line are severely housing cost burdened. Unexpected financial crises would jeopardize housing stability and lead to an increased risk of homelessness.
...nt of $764 and a staggering 43% cannot afford to purchase an average priced home ($140,422). With that being said, over 8,000 families are on waiting lists for subsidized and affordable housing. Many things can prevent someone from housing such as poor credit histories, unresolved debts, and criminal backgrounds. Without affordable child care or dependable transportation, families have a greater challenge of moving towards autonomy.
Currently, in the United States, the federal minimum wage has been $7.25 for the past six years; however, in 1938 when it first became a law, it was only $0.25. In the United States the federal minimum wage has been raised 22 times since 1938 by a significant amount due to changes in the economy. Minimum wage was created to help America in poverty and consumer power purchasing, but studies have shown that minimum wage increases do not reduce poverty. By increasing the minimum wage, it “will lift some families out of poverty, while other low-skilled workers may lose their jobs, which reduces their income and drops their families into poverty” (Wilson 4). When increasing minimum wage low-skilled, workers living in poor families,
For families, the three most common causes are lack of affordable housing, unemployment and poverty. For single individuals, the three common causes are substance abuse, lack of affordable housing and mental illness (“facts”). “Thirty eight percent report alcohol use problems. Twenty six percent report other drug use problems. Thirty nine percent report some form of mental health problems. Sixty six percent report either substance use and/or mental health problems. Three percent report having HIV/AIDS. Twenty six percent report acute health problems other than HIV/AIDS such as tuberculosis, pneumonia, or sexual transmitted disease. Forty six percent report chronic health conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes or cancer” (“Facts”). About one billion and one hundred million people in developing countries have insignificant access to water. Two billion and six hundred million lack fundamental sanitation. About two in three people lacking access to clean water have to survive on less than two dollars a day. One in three live on less than a dollar a day (Snah). This shows there are different causes and people experience problems in their lives. Any one of us can become homeless in a matter of seconds because “one bad circumstance or series of unlucky or unfortunate events can lead to homelessness” (Bolster). Four to five times as many people experience homelessness in one year than in one day. Eight hundred thousand is a lot of
Instead, they exacerbate the problem,” which is exactly true. One of the main reasons for homelessness is an economic crisis. During the recession of 2008 many cities saw an increase in the number of homeless individuals, with over 300,000 people being evicted (City Mayors). According to City Mayors, during the recession, of twenty-five cities being studied, nineteen of them had a rise in the numbers of homeless. The issue with sudden increases is that the cities have no way to handle the new influx of people. In 2011, the poverty rate for the United State was at 15%, meaning there were over 46 million people in poverty (National Homeless). While being in poverty does not mean that the person is going to become homeless, it greatly increases the chances of becoming homeless in the future, because any unexpected incident could push them over the edge. When people get pushed to this extreme, housing costs are often the first major things to be cut out of the budget, forcing an even greater number out onto the
the major factors that put homeless to the population is the combination of declining wages, reduced
The minimum wage being too low has been a public issue in America for generations. Basically, the debate includes two different opinions. Firstly, people who want to raise the minimum wage, and second, people who would rather is stay the same. The overwhelming majority of liberals are on the side that favors a raise. Additionally, a somewhat smaller proportion of conservatives favor the change as well, but for different reasons. The liberal opinion on raising the minimum wage is based on the idea that putting more money in the people’s pockets, will stimulate the economy, and decrease poverty. The problem that conservatives and liberals alike have with this, is that a few direct consequences are proven to apply when raising wages. Some proposed consequences include unemployment, inflation, and unfairness to higher educated people. Another main point is that raising the minimum wage is thought to helps small business by increasing worker satisfaction. This issue of minimum wage has become increasingly popular and important in current times, as president Obama has proposed the idea of raising the minimum wage of contract workers to 10.10$ per hour (about a 30% increase from the current 7.25$ per hour minimum wage). A large number of people consider this wage hike unnecessary due to the fact that today’s value of minimum is higher than it has ever been since the 80’s, and because the wage hike comes at too high of a cost. All things considered, the issue of raising minimum wage is not a battle of political parties and their agendas, its really a debate between everyone.
For many people in the United States, life is no more than a regular work cycle. Members of working class usually have a High School diploma and may work in a low skilled occupation or manual labor. Most of the enjoying age of this people is spent in working, as they don’t want their new once to have a life they struggling through. Therefore, this essay will argue that minimum wage should be increased federally to $15/hour by 2017. Firstly, if taxes touches the sky, why should the minimum wage be on the ground? Increasing minimum wages would also create new opportunities for education as the students wouldn’t have to work crazy hours. Likewise, many couples won’t have to work multiple jobs in order to manage the household. Lastly, it will lift
For instance, drug addiction is often a contributing factor to why people end up on the streets because it ruins the individual's source of income because rather than spending money on basic necessities to survive, they dwindle their money away on buying drugs therefore, losing their homes and jobs. Presently, the most common factor in homelessness is poverty because there is a lack of jobs in the type of work that an individual may be able to do plus minimum wages at low-paying jobs that these individuals may hold. Homelessness doesn’t just affect individuals, but families as well. According to Peter Katel, Leida Ortiz, was a single mother living in Worcester, Massachusetts with her two children and sister. Ortiz’s father was a factory worker and was diagnosed with stomach cancer, so Leida Ortiz and her children went to live with Leida’s mother to help care for her father. She tried to move back to her sister’s house, but that didn’t work out and decided to live with a roommate. However, that took a drastic turn when her roommate kicked Leida Ortiz and her two children out since she couldn’t pay the $400 in rent each month and deserted to living on the streets out of bags not knowing where they would end up (Katel). Thus, even normal families are victims of homelessness and become victims not by choice but by a chain of events that led to being homeless. According to Peter Katel, “Whatever the case, housing advocates are united in the belief that government action can eliminate homelessness once and for all. Conservatives tend to be more skeptical, though ideology isn't a reliable guide to views on homelessness. One would agree that the American government needs to take immediate action to eliminate homelessness in the United States for the homeless as a
Many people find themselves in a predicament when they are living with a partner and the two decide to go their separate ways. Some people may not be able afford the cost of living on just their income alone, so when two people terminate a relationship where one depends on the other, both are often left homeless for a period of time. Unemployment is another major cause of people becoming homeless. When people lose their jobs and fail to find another within a reasonable amount of time, they will not be able to pay their rent or mortgage on time or even at all, causing them to look else where for shelter. Many people are not fortunate enough to have a family member that is willing, or capable, of taking them in and supporting them. The main cause of homelessness comes from people being evicted from their place of residence either by their parents, friends, or land lord. Parents will often kick their kids out of the house because they can not financially support them anymore, or they are just simply tired of their kids bumming off of them when they are perfectly capable of supporting themselves or at least contributing to the cost of living expenses. So many people are forced to live on the streets because of something as little as a relationship problem. All homeles...
...he squatter camps of the city which they are living. Moreover slums are also the source of all kinds of social evils such as drugs and prostitution because of the lowest security.