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Originally Posted by Seaver
I talked to a begger one day as we were in line at HEB (grocery store). He said he makes usually $7-15 per hour begging, all tax free.
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Well, according to what many us believe when it comes to beggars, he was most likely lying.
It's good to know that Texas has good programs. I've heard many good things about Texas in general. However, is it safe to assume this is the case across the country? I doubt it.
As some evidence, I found this data on the housing crisis that occurred in Toronto. It was one of many factors of homelessness, yet look how much of an impact it had:
- Between 1996 and 2001, Ontario lost 44,780 rental units, of which 17,515 were in the greater Toronto area, where the population increased by 9.6% over that time period.
- Between 1997 and 2001, Toronto rents rose by 31% - more than double the 14% rate of inflation for the same period. Today, only 20% of private rental apartments rent for less than $800 a month.
- Since 1997, the increase in monthly rent for an average two-parent, two-child family rose $225. Among conventional one-bedroom units, average rent rose $220 over six years, to $894 in 2002.
- In the past three years, 873 new rental-housing units were built in the Toronto area (3% of new housing construction), as compared to 28,492 for the home-ownership market (97% of new housing construction).
- In Toronto, 49% of all households are tenants. Since 1996, the overall supply of rental housing actually decreased by 5,000 units.
- While vacancy rates in Toronto have climbed to about 2.4% this is not as heartening as it may appear. For units at the low end ($400 to $800) the vacancy rate is at about 1%, while the vast bulk of the vacancies are in the $1,200 to $1,600 range. As an indication of how tight the rental market has become, in 1996 units under $800 made up more than 65% of the market; today they make up only about 20% (49,100 of 250,500 units).
Source: CBCNews The Fifth Estate.
Now take all of this and consider another factor: for years, real wages have been stagnant if not eroding.
Things have certainly changed since then. The rental market has opened up, to say the least. I'm unsure about the low-rent units. But what does it matter if you're already homeless and out of work? Or, homeless and working part-time at minimum wage...