Mark Anderson response: Wow. Is that true? More than 60% working full-time @ an average of $7.50/hour? My impression is that these are single men Margaret's talking about. Didn't we previously establish that someone single and earning minimum wage (full-time) could pretty easily pay for an apartment with a roommate? ($7.50/hour times 2000 hours = $15,000/year. Times two = $30,000. If you use 30% of income, then one can afford $9000/year, or $750/month for two bedroom apartment.) Are these guys taking advantage of homeless shelters, when someone in real need could be using them? Or do these guys have more problems than just low wages -- they can't get along with a roommate, or they trash any apartment they live in? So maybe the problem of homelessness is the more shelters you supply, the more people decide to take advantage of free lodging? We'll never solve the problem that way. Am I wrong?
Your numbers are suspect:
* Very few of those people are going to find jobs that let them actually work 2,000 hours in a year at an average of $7.50/hour. Most are part-time or temporary.
* Although for higher paid, full time employees, 30% of ones gross income might be a fair rule of thumb, for someone on the bottom end of the scale is going to be pushing it at that rate. Take home pay on a $15,000 salary in Minnesota is about $10,000 at 2003 tax rates.
* Not all of these men are single -- there are a lot of homeless families out there.
* Finding a 1 bedroom apartment for $750/month in Minneapolis is hard; finding a 2 bedroom apartment at that price is almost impossible. The average rent for the metro area for 4th quarter of 2002 was $841. In December of 2001, the average one bedroom rented for $735.81 and the average two bedroom was $909.21. The prices are higher now, as there has been no decrease in rental rates, although the rate of increase has slowed in recent months. (All rental numbers from GVA Marquette Advisors.)
Chris Johnson Fulton
TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible.
________________________________
Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
