Employment and Poverty Among the Homeless - Poverty And Homelessness

There is an undeniable connection between homelessness and poverty. People in poverty live from day to day with little or no safety net for times when unforeseen expenses arise. If a family's resources are very small, expenditures on such necessities as food, shelter, or health care have to be carefully decided and sometimes sacrificed. Should one spend money on food, a visit to the doctor, buying necessary medicines, or paying the rent? In 2005 a full-time job paying minimum wage for forty hours per week provided an income of just $10,712 annually. (The federal poverty guideline for 2005 for one person was $9,570; for two people, $12,830.) Being poor often means that an illness, an accident, or a missed paycheck could be enough to cause homelessness.

Housing costs for such a family may be out of reach, costing from 50%–75% of the family income. According to Ralph da Costa Nunez and Laura M. Caruso in "Are Shelters the Answer to Family Homelessness?" in USA Today Magazine (January 1, 2003), low income and high rent payments often result in substandard housing accommodation, doubled-up living, or living on the street or in a public shelter. The necessity of basic sustenance and medical care usually leaves little money left to meet housing needs. People in poverty have further difficulties finding housing if they have previously defaulted on their rent payments or perhaps their house payments, with the end result of homelessness.