Devil's Knob
"His eyes were as red as the devil's dick"
projections of the mind
Posts tagged housing:
Half of America Is Officially Poor According To Census Data 
While it’s no surprise that nearly 50 million Americans live below the poverty line, new statistics from the US Census show that almost 100 million others are counted as low-income citizens, making half of the population of America officially poor.
The latest figures out of the US Census Bureau show that in addition to the 49.1 million Americans who fall below the official poverty line, those that rake in enough to be between that level and the income equitable to double it fall into a new “low-income” category, which counts an additional 97.3 million people. Altogether, that clump of nearly 150 million Americans living in dire economic standing accounts for around 48 percent of the US population.
American officials have deemed the current poverty line to be at around $22,000 for a family of four, but the new category just about doubles that figure to $45,000 and places those that fall between the numbers as low-income. The Associated Press reports that for families that fit in that range, often half of the household income is spent on child-care costs and housing bills.
Taking into account medical, commuting and other living costs, the number of people living below 200 percent of the poverty level has been drastically changed and not for the better. Before those factors were taken into consideration, the US Census reported in September that only one-in-three Americans qualified as poor or low-income.
As RT reported earlier this year, the number of Americans living below half, or 50 percent of the poverty level, is equally as alarming. Around 20.5 million Americans — or 6.7 percent — have personal incomes that place them in that bracket, which equates to annual incomes of less than $5,570 for an individual or $11,157 for a family of four. In Washington DC, which is part of the wealthiest metropolitan region per-capital in the country, one-in-ten residents are grouped into that category.
Don’t fret though. It isn’t all doom and gloom! Some Americans are in fact seeing a turn for the better. While half of the country might be considered poor now, some citizens recently saw pay raises in the last year that were to the tune of 40 percent. Unfortunately, they probably didn’t necessarily need that bump. According to the Guardian, the top CEOs in America saw pay hikes between 27 and 40 percent last year. The paper adds that the highest paid exec in the US racked up more than $145.2 million last year, and the median value of their profits on stock options jumped 70 percent.
Considering spending 30% of income on Housing costs is considered affordable (by HUD), it makes me sick that 30% of the Area Median Income of Richmond ($75,600), is $22,680. Basically the poverty line. Someone’s housing budget is the same as the total income for a person or family at the poverty line. Two people working 40 hours/week at minimum wage would struggle to make it above that line, if they can…
people better recognize that things need to change
(via alittlemorehope)
Notes from Thursday’s night’s rePHRAME forum: the racial and economic history of Richmond
On Thursday I was able to attend the fifth annual forum of Residents of Public Housing in Richmond Against Mass Eviction (rePHRAME), titled “Eliminating Poverty, Protecting Community”. I’m going to reproduce my notes below, but the entire evening was recorded by Silver Persinger, and should become available soon online and possibly in DVD format.
The general topics that were covered include the concerted destruction of black neighborhoods by white business interests- including the construction of I-95 through Jackson Ward and the complete erasure of Navy Hill- and the modern demographics of poverty in and around Richmond. The historical detail really informs the modern stats; once you hear what happened in terms of development and urban planning in the first half of the 1900s, the modern picture of Richmond begins to make horrible sense.
So, here is what happened, and what I learned, which is not going to be new information to most of you:
5th Annual RePHRAME Community Forum, “Eliminating Poverty, Protecting Community”
- Today, Nov 1
- 5:30pm until 8:30pm
- Good Shepherd Baptist Church 1127 N. 28th Street, Richmond, VA 23223
- A Discussion on “Unpacking the 2010 Census” & the Upcoming Mayor’s Anti-Poverty Commission’s Report
Come share your thoughts on Transportation, Housing, Education, Jobs, and more so we can work together and make real impacts in our communities
This is my Demand for a Living Wage
I’d like to start and end with a few lines from Percy Shelley’s poem The Mask of Anarchy. “What is Freedom?- ye can tell That which slavery is, too well- For its very name has grown To an echo of your own. ‘Tis to work and have such pay As just keeps life from day to day In your limbs, as in a cell For the tyrants’ use to dwell.”
According to a recent report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research, Low wage workers have gotten significantly older and more educated between 1979 and the present. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, in 2012, nowhere in the United States could a full time worker at minimum wage afford a two-bedroom apartment for themselves and their family. In this Commonwealth of Virginia, the hourly wage needed to afford a two-bedroom apartment or home is $20.26. We reside in the 9th most expensive State in the Nation. In order to afford such a home, a Worker would need to and strain and sweat for 112 hours per WEEK. This relates to working about 1.3 jobs, if you even make the “estimated mean renter hourly wage” at $15.62. The difference is $4.64, about $5. An extra Five Dollars an hour is about what it would take for most Wage Workers to just be able to afford rent and utilities and not have to worry about whether they have enough money for gas for work the next day, or if they have enough to pay for childcare, or enough to afford fresh vegetables for dinner instead of going to the drive thru or microwaving instant pasta for the third time that week. 1 in 4 people in the City of Richmond are in poverty. Something is obviously very wrong with our society when 25% of our population lives in economic poverty. This is why I demand a living wage. If we are to survive at all this at least is necessary.
But the capitalist class has thus far refused to allow this. The current institution of a minimum wage, a worthy concession of its time, sets the wage floor. In order to maintain and expand profit, the Capitalists do all in their power to keep our wages and us as close to the floor as possible, right under their shiny loafers. As we have seen so flagrantly with this so-called Great Recession, the Capitalists have taken our wages; the profits scoured from our sweat and our stress and our toil, and pocketed or lost them. Then they ran to Washington and unapologetically asked for more money to start over, and got it! This is the Workers’ money. This is the Workers’ rent check. This is the Workers’ food. This is the Workers’ education. This is the Workers’ healthcare. This is the Workers’ first vacation in three years. This is the Workers’ wants and needs and hopes and dreams. If these Capitalists really want their economy to succeed, and their “free market” to liquidate and balance, and maybe even want our society to advance a little bit, then perhaps they should liquidate their own coffers and balance our credit cards, and underwater mortgages, and student debt.
The need for a living wage is more important now than ever. With costs of simply surviving rising ever higher and wages remaining stagnant, Workers and their families are left floundering. For the first time in generations, children now are expected to have lower social and economic advancement than their parents. I demand a living wage for all Workers within the City of Richmond and State of Virginia and I personally endorse and advocate for a General Strike to reach this goal.
This however leads me to a further question still. Are we only to attempt to wrest power from others within a system designed to work against us and create division and competition? Or are we to create our own power within our own system, replacing this hegemonic capitalist structure that oppresses us every day with one that benefits and lifts us all, one that allows us to reach our true potential as human beings.
“And these words shall then become like Oppression’s thundered doom, Ringing through each heart and brain, Heard again-again-again…Rise like Lions after slumber in unvanquishable number- Shake your chains to earth like dew Which in sleep had fallen on you- Ye are many-they are few”
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