Homelessness still a problem in Bucks
DEBBIE HENRY
Issue date: 4/13/09 Section: Features
employment does not provide
escape from poverty
because 74 percent of jobs
pay below a living wage.
An example of this is Alicia
Saxton, 31, who has been living
at the Red Cross shelter
with her two children, ages 4
and 6, since September. She
and her husband (who is
now living with his mother
after being asked to leave the
shelter for unknown reasons)
had been living in an apartment
in Glen Hollows until
the death of a child in June
caused things to "spiral
down" and they were evicted.
A
nd even though Saxton
works full-time at Friendship
Circle, a special education
center for children, she says
they were unable to afford
another apartment and ultimately
became homeless.
The federal poverty threshold
is updated yearly by the
Census Bureau. In 2009 it
was estimated that a family
of three - two adults and one
child - would fall below the
poverty line with an annual
income of less than $18,000.
A family of five would fall
below with less than $26,000.
Economists at the laborbacked
Economic Policy
Institute place much of the
blame for rising poverty on
the federal government. "A
stagnant minimum wage has
a significant impact on the
earnings of low-wage workers
as the rising cost of living
erodes the value of their paycheck,"
writes one economist
who favors minimum wage
increases in proportion to
cost of living increases.
The Consumer Price Index,
regularly consulted by business,
labor and government,
reliably measures cost of living
increases by tracking
changes in the price of goods
and services.
Based on determinations
by a Living Wage Calculator-
- patterned after the EPI living
wage tool - a family of
four, living in Bucks County,
with a sole provider working
full time, would require an
hourly wage of $29 to provide
adequate financial support.
At an hourly rate of
$10 or less, this family lives
escape from poverty
because 74 percent of jobs
pay below a living wage.
An example of this is Alicia
Saxton, 31, who has been living
at the Red Cross shelter
with her two children, ages 4
and 6, since September. She
and her husband (who is
now living with his mother
after being asked to leave the
shelter for unknown reasons)
had been living in an apartment
in Glen Hollows until
the death of a child in June
caused things to "spiral
down" and they were evicted.
A
nd even though Saxton
works full-time at Friendship
Circle, a special education
center for children, she says
they were unable to afford
another apartment and ultimately
became homeless.
The federal poverty threshold
is updated yearly by the
Census Bureau. In 2009 it
was estimated that a family
of three - two adults and one
child - would fall below the
poverty line with an annual
income of less than $18,000.
A family of five would fall
below with less than $26,000.
Economists at the laborbacked
Economic Policy
Institute place much of the
blame for rising poverty on
the federal government. "A
stagnant minimum wage has
a significant impact on the
earnings of low-wage workers
as the rising cost of living
erodes the value of their paycheck,"
writes one economist
who favors minimum wage
increases in proportion to
cost of living increases.
The Consumer Price Index,
regularly consulted by business,
labor and government,
reliably measures cost of living
increases by tracking
changes in the price of goods
and services.
Based on determinations
by a Living Wage Calculator-
- patterned after the EPI living
wage tool - a family of
four, living in Bucks County,
with a sole provider working
full time, would require an
hourly wage of $29 to provide
adequate financial support.
At an hourly rate of
$10 or less, this family lives
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