How to get the homeless off the streets

[redfox]

They just announced on the news that there are 30,000 homeless children in Washington, and more homeless families every day. Last night's news announced that rents are being raised by enterprising landlords to two and three times what they were as buildings are being sold. Jobs are scarce, and employers want to hire people who already have them. Middle-aged people may age out of the job market. Often, families can't shelter together due to scarcity of appropriate housing. Just untidy collateral damage of the rich getting richer, it seems.

Yes, the concentration of wealth at the top is surpassing that of the Robber Baron era. The last 40 years of undoing fiscal constraints has not yielded the promised rising tide that would float all boats. It is time to reinstate Glass-Steagall, among other policies. It's shameful that working families cannot afford the basics, and that children suffer.

I am a part of the movement for a $15/hour minimum wage in Seattle. The Feds estimate that it takes $18/hr to pay for basic housing, food, transportation and health care in our county. $15 is an improvement over the current $9+ change. I believe that everyone deserves a living wage.

[catherine]

Yes, definitely seems like a reasonable solution: Provide jobs at a living wage. Duh.

[redfox]

Yes, definitely seems like a reasonable solution: Provide jobs at a living wage. Duh.

Would you please run for public office?

[bae]

How do these jobs get created?

What happens if a job isn't worth $15/hour to do?

[redfox]

How do these jobs get created?

What happens if a job isn't worth $15/hour to do?

Applies to existing jobs. "Worth" is a highly subjective concept. If it isn't "worth" $15 to do, then no one will do it.
The wage market is currently controlled via law. This only changes the dollar value.

[bae]

Workers of the future, unite...



(Actually, those workers are from an existing, modern-day restaurant...)

And here's what McD's counter workers look like in higher-wage/benefits parts of the world:



I wonder how much job creation/contraction we will see.

[Rogar]

I don't a good answer. I'm only known two homeless people with any great familiarity. Both were pretty much homeless by choice and had some affinity to the lifestyle, and neither had drug or alcohol problems that I knew of.

One was normal through college and got a degree but developed mental problems. In spite of family help from both mental professionals and start up money to get her settled into an apartment, she seemed to always end up back on the street. The other seemed to like the carefree lifestyle and didn't mind sleeping in junk cars or flop houses of some sort and would drift from one city to another often following the weather. His father was a doctor and a decent man and the son pretty much had access to money if he wanted or needed it.

I do have an idea for Detroit. I think it should be opened up to some sort modified homestead act.

[redfox]

I wonder how much job creation/contraction we will see.

Minimum wages have been established for over a half century, and have changed multiple times since then, with each iteration generating doomsday warnings that don't bear fruit. We will likely see some of both, and over what stretch of time do you consider the data? The first week? Month? Quarter? Year? 3-5 years?

How also do we calculate the multiplier effect of higher wages going into the local economy? Will there be a balance of higher wages/diminution of jobs in the short run, then as the market adapts, more jobs? Will this drive area prices up?

Most important to me is establishing wages by law which reflect the values of people being able to pay for their basic livelihoods, and meet their basic needs. It will lessen the impact in the public sector over time, to be sure.

The Seattle Mayor has established a working group to look at all these questions, as well as phasing in an increase. There seems to be reasonable representation from several sectors, including business, labor, and citizen advocates. I see an argument to establish the law for larger businesses first; Amazon, Microsoft, Starbucks, ( Costco already sets the standard for livable wages & benes. They are an example!) etc., and a later start for smaller businesses, with slimmer margins.

[bae]

Minimum wages in my lifetime haven't been set with the intent to "provide a living wage". Raising the Seattle-area minimum wage from ~$9 to ~$15 seems a qualitative difference.

And why $15? Why not make it $25?

[redfox]

Minimum wages in my lifetime haven't been set with the intent to "provide a living wage". Raising the Seattle-area minimum wage from ~$9 to ~$15 seems a qualitative difference.

And why $15? Why not make it $25?

Yes, it is a shift in values, providing a living wage. Regarding the number, I honestly don't know why $15 was chosen and not $25.