ChosenFast.com » housing

Living wage and fair market rent

Michele (CM) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:13:38 +0000

I was talking to someone recently about employment and housing. How do you know the minimum hourly wage that you need to earn and what amount should you expect to pay for rent? Here are some links for Living Wage (the hourly rate that an individual must earn to support themselves or their family, if they are the sole provider and are working full-time) and Fair Market Rent (the amount that is required to rent a modest and standard apartment): Living Wage, Fair Market Rent.

Coincidentally, I just finished re-reading Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America.

Guilford County homeless service providers receive $1.5 million in HUD funding

Michele (CM) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 18:26:04 +0000

US Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today awarded $1.47 billion in renewal funding to more than 7,100 local homeless programs across the country. Homeless service providers in Guilford County will receive $1.5 million.

Guilford County HUD funding recipients:

Alcohol and Drug Services of Guilford, Inc.; High Point; Project Home Front; SHP; $34,996
City of High Point; High Point; Housing First; S+C; $77,352
Family Service of the Piedmont, Inc.; Jamestown; Clara House; SHP; $70,218
Greensboro Housing Authority; Greensboro; Grace Homes; S+C; $427,536
Greensboro Housing Authority; Greensboro; Supportive Housing; SHP; $477,369
Greensboro Housing Authority; Greensboro; Supportive Housing; SHP; $43,730
Greensboro Urban Ministry; Greensboro; Partnership Village I; SHP; $59,850
Mary’s House, Inc.; Greensboro; SHP; $135,982
Open Door Ministries of High Point, Inc.; High Point; Arthur Cassell Transitional Housing Program; SHP; $48,919
Open Door Ministries of High Point, Inc.; High Point; HMIS – High Point; SHP; $13,750
Open Door Ministries of High Point, Inc.; High Point; ODM Permanent Supportive Housing Project; SHP; $62,159
The Salvation Army; Case Management/After Care; High Point; SHP; $19,274
The Servant Center, Inc.; Greensboro; Servant House; SHP; $47,586
Youth Focus Inc.; Greensboro; Youth Focus Transitional Living Program; SHP; $51,700

TOTAL $1,570,421.00

SHP = The Supportive Housing Program is designed to develop supportive housing and services that will allow homeless persons to live as independently as possible.
S+C = The Shelter Plus Care Program provides rental assistance for hard-to-serve homeless persons with disabilities in connection with supportive services funded from sources outside the program.

Homeless in Greensboro: State of the street, 11/21/11

Michele (CM) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 16:28:24 +0000

Doing street outreach the past couple of weeks at homeless camps in Greensboro (and at a tent city with multiple homeless camps), I’ve seen long-familiar faces and lots of new faces. I’ve seen homeless camps spring back up in places that had emptied out for a while. I’ve seen homeless seniors and homeless teens. Homeless men and homeless women. Multiple races and ethnicities. On everyone’s wish list: jobs and housing.

But there’s the unspoken: mental illness, alcoholism, addiction, trauma, family dysfunction. Obtaining or maintaining a job or housing is difficult (and out of reach for some). A number of folks I’ve seen just this week are newly released from jail or prison. Their chances for jobs and housing seem to rise and fall with the economy.

I think of the words a homeless friend once said to me, “If we could get a job, we’d have one.” And another, referencing Greensboro’s wealth of free meal sites and dearth of affordable housing, “We appreciate the food. But you can’t cover up with a chicken wing.” True word.