Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Yes, and unfortunately not many news companies do this kind of long-form stories, and not many readers read them, since so many attention spans can't focus beyond the length of a tweet.
I read this when it came out - it was heartbreaking.
There is no way that poor people can afford to live in NYC. So why did this woman and her boyfriend choose to stay there, moving from shelter to shelter, especially since she clearly had no family support, and was trying to stay away from an abusive ex? There are any number of low-rent towns in the Northeast, within a couple of hours of NYC, where they could have gotten full time jobs, each earning about 1600/month, where they could have rented a two bedroom apartment (without rats or roaches or bedbugs or drug dealers) for about a thousand a month, a one bedroom for $800. $3200/mo income, plus food stamps, plus utility assistance, they could have even afforded a car. And her son would have had stable housing, stable schooling. WHY DID SHE STAY THERE?
It's very difficult to move when you have no money. How could they move themselves along with some of their things, save up first/last/security, get jobs before they even arrive, get on food stamps and utility assistance immediately, and purchase a car, when they can't afford to buy food for their hungry child?
It's very difficult to move when you have no money. How could they move themselves along with some of their things, save up first/last/security, get jobs before they even arrive, get on food stamps and utility assistance immediately, and purchase a car, when they can't afford to buy food for their hungry child?
If you read the article you'll see that they did move out of state and then went through all the trouble and expense of moving back to NYC. As I posted previously I cannot fathom why two able bodied young people would subject their children to this. From the article it appears they have been homeless for years.
Also, my husband and I have been on the giving side of meals for homeless and indigent families through volunteer work with organizations like Rotary. There are tons of organizations, many of which are faith based, that provide food to families on an ongoing basis and the food is fantastic - sometimes cooked by volunteers in their own community kitchens and given to people in need with a whole lot of love and compassion.
Accessibility of services can be an issue for families who move out of urban areas. We expected a huge spike in requests at our charity when things shut down in March. Client counts actually dropped. Mass transit routes were severely curtailed, and people couldn't get to us. Even now, months later, the buses they relied on are not running anything close to their normal schedules, so they are using taxis and Uber to reach our pantry.
A*decent meal, a decent school, and a decent bed should be something we strive to make sure every American has access to.
That may be, but guaranteeing that everyone has a decent meal, a decent school, and a decent bed *in the location of their choice* just is not possible. If the entire country wants to live in New York City, no amount of government support will be able to make that happen.
As another poster said, this family needs to move to an area where they can get said decent meal, decent school, and decent bed. There are plenty of places like that in the US. They just aren't as "exciting".
If you read the article you'll see that they did move out of state and then went through all the trouble and expense of moving back to NYC. As I posted previously I cannot fathom why two able bodied young people would subject their children to this. From the article it appears they have been homeless for years.
Also, my husband and I have been on the giving side of meals for homeless and indigent families through volunteer work with organizations like Rotary. There are tons of organizations, many of which are faith based, that provide food to families on an ongoing basis and the food is fantastic - sometimes cooked by volunteers in their own community kitchens and given to people in need with a whole lot of love and compassion.
I can only imagine that they must have had family in Florida or something. How else could they have done that? If they had saved up several thousand dollars in order to move and they picked somewhere 1500 miles away where they knew no one, then I would agree with you. I doubt that happened, though.
Some of the above posters have clearly never went to bed hungry or slept in a shelter.
I'd say that's a good thing.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
