- A staggering number of people with factory jobs still need government help, By Jim Tankersley, May 10, 2016, Washington Post: “Philadonna Wade works the night shift at the Detroit Chassis plant in Avon, Ohio, finishing off truck axles before they ship off to one of the big Ford factories nearby. It is heavier work than her last job, which was stocking shelves at a Family Dollar store, and Wade says it’s helping her get in shape. ‘I enjoy the job, I enjoy the people I work with,’ she said in an interview recently. ‘But the thing is, when you go to a job, it’s not about enjoying the people you work with, it’s about earning more for your family.’ At the plant, Wade has the sort of job that Americans often associate with a blue-collar American Dream. But she’s paid more like a low-level service worker: $9.50 an hour, with no benefits. She is officially a temporary worker, sourced through a staffing agency, and she doesn’t earn nearly enough to feed, clothe and house her four children. Taxpayers help her make up the difference. ‘I get energy assistance, I get food stamps, I get Medicaid,’ she said. ‘Every bit of public assistance there is, I get it…'”
- One in three US manufacturing workers are on welfare: Study, By Jeff Cox, May 12, 2016, CNBC: “Philadonna Wade’s story plays out across middle America on a daily basis but is seldom told. It’s the story of the working poor who labor in tough jobs — like Wade’s position as an assembler for a Ford Motor plant — that don’t pay enough to keep them off public assistance. In fact, fully 1 in 3 Americans who work in the manufacturing sector are receiving some form of public assistance, according to a study released this week by the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education. Of those who came to their positions through temp agencies, a category in which Wade falls, half are on some type of safety net program…”
Day: May 13, 2016
Section 8 Housing – Minneapolis, MN
Proposal would open more Minneapolis apartments to Section 8 housing vouchers, By Eric Roper, May 11, 2016, Star Tribune: “Landlords can be picky about pets, credit scores and rental history, but Minneapolis officials are looking to bar another common stipulation of apartment listings: ‘No Section 8.’ A proposal by two City Council members would make Minneapolis the first city in the metro area to say landlords cannot turn away tenants solely for paying rent with government housing vouchers. A preliminary meeting with landlords about the idea is slated for Thursday, with a tenant-focused public meeting on Friday. Council Member Elizabeth Glidden, a co-author of the ordinance, said rejecting applicants who are using vouchers makes unfair generalizations about the program and those who rely on it…”
Family Homelessness – Washington DC
There are now more homeless kids and parents in D.C. than homeless single adults, By Aaron C. Davis, May 11, 2016, Washington Post: “The number of homeless families in the District has soared by more than 30 percent compared with a year ago, according to a federal estimate released Wednesday. For the first time since the annual census began in 2001, homeless children and their parents in the District outnumbered homeless single adults, a population beset by mental illness and disabilities that historically has loomed as the larger and more intractable problem in cities nationwide…”