Wages and the Reality of Working Poverty

 

Homelessness is one of the biggest humanitarian failures of our time — and it’s a crisis of policy, not morality.

 

For decades, housing policy has been gutted, wages have stagnated, and costs have exploded.
The root causes of homelessness aren’t addiction or mental illness — those are symptoms. The real causes are skyrocketing housing costs, stagnant pay, and a massive shortage of affordable homes.

 

When people can’t afford a roof over their heads, it’s not because they’ve failed — it’s because our system has.

 

Most Americans experiencing homelessness aren’t “unemployed” — they’re working. But they can’t afford to live anywhere near where they work. They’re sleeping in cars, on couches, or in shelters.
If you’re working full-time, you should not be homeless.

 

We can fix this.
By investing in affordable housing.
By ensuring every job pays a living wage.
By funding programs that prevent homelessness before it starts — not just reacting once people are already on the street.

 

Homelessness isn’t inevitable. It’s a choice our government keeps making through inaction — and it’s time to choose differently.

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