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living wage
Millions in US Toiling Under This Imposed Housing Crisis Need One Thing: Straight-Up Cash
The real-life stories of our clients moving through eviction court show us that what most struggling families really need is simple: money.
Oct 12, 2024
Katrina is the mother of three children, one of whom lives with major disabilities that require Katrina to spend most of her time as a caregiver. Katrina was already struggling to make ends meet, but then an unexpected car repair and reduced work hours caused her to fall behind on her rent.
Darren was hurt on the job and lost six weeks of pay. Now he is trying to put in as much work time as his employer will give him, but the pay is only about $17 an hour. Darren shares custody of two very young children, ages three and nine months, and he is desperately struggling to catch up on overdue rent.
Sheila‘s husband has been arrested and jailed for violently abusing her. Safe for the moment, Sheila has returned to work as a manager at a retail business. But she owes several months of back rent, plus late fees and court fees. It is more than she can pull together, so Sheila will have to move within the month. She is putting most of her possessions into storage. She is also packing a few trash bags of clothes to take with her to her new home—a friend’s unheated garage with no access to plumbing.
I teach a law school clinic in Indianapolis, where my students and I represent Katrina, Darren, Sheila and other clients in eviction court. They have a shared need, one that also applies to the nine million U.S. households that are behind on their rent right now:
They need money.
Katrina, Darren, and Sheila are among the three of every four households who qualify for subsidized housing, but do not receive it because we don’t fully fund the programs. They are forced to try to pay market-rate rent, which takes up most of their income even in the good times. In the bad times, the rent is more than what is coming in. So we see them in eviction court.
Turns out that some of the usual suspects—volunteer work, random acts of kindness—may not be as impactful as we hoped in delivering happiness. But what does work? You guessed it: money, especially for low-income folks.
We can do better than this. We know we can, because just a few years ago Katrina, Darren, and Sheila and almost everyone else we see eviction court now were safely housed. Emergency rental assistance, expanded child tax credits, maximized food stamps, and extended unemployment benefits prevented more than three million eviction cases, according to the Eviction Lab at Princeton University. In fact, poverty rates actually dropped during the Covid pandemic.
Since then, researchers from Columbia University and City University of New York, CUNY, studied the impact of those benefits, and confirmed what we saw in our clients’ lives. “We find that direct cash payments were the single most useful tool for helping people ride out the pandemic and were first and foremost, used to cover basic needs, including rent or mortgage payments, utilities, and food,” they said.
That is powerful evidence pointing us toward what we can do to help. Add that to the pile of research showing that strings-free cash leads to dramatically positive outcomes. Specifically to housing, studies have shown that unconditional cash given to unhoused persons both reduced homelessness and saved money that would have been spent on government programs the recipients. Cash is so effective because this and other studies show that low-income people are far more likely to spend cash assistance on rent, food, and transportation than “temptation goods” like alcohol or drugs.
More broadly, analysis in the Annual Review of Psychology reviewed multiple studies examining what actually makes human beings happier. Turns out that some of the usual suspects—volunteer work, random acts of kindness—may not be as impactful as we hoped in delivering happiness. But what does work? You guessed it: money, especially for low-income folks.
“A growing number of rigorous preregistered experiments suggest that such cash transfers and other forms of financial support can provide an efficient mechanism for enhancing happiness,” wrote Dunigan Folk and Elizabeth Dunn, professors of psychology at the University of British Columbia. “Cash seems to be as good or better than other interventions that carry similar costs, including psychotherapy and job training.”
This analysis matches what we see in court. Would Katrina and Darren and Sheila benefit from psychotherapy? Maybe. But for most clients it appears that their financial crises are causing their mental health struggles, more so than the other way around. Would job training help? Again, maybe. But these people are already doing work in the community—home healthcare, food, service, retail work, warehouse work, etc.—that is essential for our economy. So, shouldn’t those jobs pay a living wage?
As we evaluate presidential candidates’ responses to our housing crisis and the clamor over building more housing, it is worth keeping this simplicity in mind. Until and unless we create much more subsidized housing, which is the real solution to the crisis, what our clients need most is straight-up cash.Keep ReadingShow Less
Workers Who Help Americans Get Healthcare Benefits Deserve Fair Compensation
Companies like Maximus that are getting so much government money should have to create good jobs with liveable wages, decent benefits, and the right to unionize.
May 24, 2024
I love my job.
Every day I get to answer phone calls from some of the tens of millions of Americans who rely on the Affordable Care Act and help them get the healthcare benefits they need.
Even though I do an essential job, my employer—the federal call center run by Maximus in Tampa, Florida—does not pay me enough or provide me with the healthcare benefits needed to be able to treat my own health condition.
Maximus signed a 10-year deal worth $6.6 billion in 2022 to field calls about the federal healthcare marketplace and Medicare. The company has 10,000 employees across 12 call centers, mostly in the South and Southwest.
I’m supposed to visit the doctor every three months to treat a chronic health condition, but because our deductibles are so high, I haven’t been in two years.
Companies like Maximus that are getting so much government money should have to create good jobs with liveable wages, decent benefits, and the right to unionize—the same conditions that federal workers enjoy. President Joe Biden has taken some important steps, especially to set high standards for construction workers on new big infrastructure and clean energy projects. But more needs to be done to make sure service contract workers like me get a fair reward for our labor—instead of letting so much of public money go to rich executives and shareholders.
While many of us at Maximus who field calls all day make around $17 an hour, our CEO, Bruce Caswell, got a 17% raise last year to $7.3 million. Over the past four years combined, Maximus has awarded Caswell over $27 million and spent over half a billion dollars on stock buybacks and dividends to enrich shareholders.
This September will mark 10 years of working at Maximus for me. My only major raise in that time came when President Biden set the minimum wage for all federal contract workers at $15 dollars in 2022. While we appreciate the pay hike, for a single mother of two the minimum doesn’t cut it, I need a real living wage. Instead, my only raise in the last two years was 22 cents.
Our healthcare benefits aren’t much better. I’m supposed to visit the doctor every three months to treat a chronic health condition, but because our deductibles are so high, I haven’t been in two years.
Because of the issues with pay and healthcare, last year I joined the campaign to unionize Maximus workers with the Communication Workers of America. The process is long, and different locations are moving at different speeds, but we’ve already had some victories.
After we protested our high health costs, Maximus dropped our health insurance deductibles significantly.
We need more help, though. I’ve participated in several protests at my call center demanding $25 an hour and increased benefits from Maximus.
I’ve also gone to Washington, D.C., to call on the Biden administration to follow through on its promise to create “good jobs” with federal money. Last fall I even got to take my daughter with me to speak with lawmakers in Congress.
I’m not going to quit because I don’t feel properly valued or because the benefits are not good. I’m going to stay and fight within the company to make it better, because the ACA is a great program that is helping millions of Americans.
And even though I know that I can be fired at any time—Maximus laid off more than 700 employees in one month last year—I’m standing up for my rights. I’m standing up for a better company and for a better future for my children.
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At Rallies Nationwide, Low-Wage Workers Tell Political Leaders: 'Our Votes Are Demands'
"Our government's refusal to fully address poverty and low wages even after the worst days of Covid is not only killing our brothers and sisters," said Rev. Dr. William Barber. "It's killing our public conscience."
Mar 02, 2024
Low-wage workers, faith leaders, and allies rallied in state capitals across the United States on Saturday as part of a mass mobilization of poor voters ahead of the pivotal 2024 election.
The nationwide demonstrations were organized by the Poor People's Campaign, a multiracial movement calling on state legislators and members of the U.S. Congress to act immediately to end the "crisis of death by poverty" in the richest country in the world. Research published last year found that poverty is the fourth-leading cause of death in the United States.
Thousands gathered and marched Saturday in 32 states—from Maine to Indiana to North Carolina—and Washington, D.C., carrying signs that read "abolish poverty" and "our votes are demands." In South Carolina and other states, activists placed mock coffins on the steps of state Capitol buildings as they demanded living wages, stronger workplace protections, and universal healthcare.
William J. Barber, national co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign, said during a demonstration in Raleigh that "the low-wage voices you hear today are living testimony... telling their stories, crying out against the forces of death."
"Our government's refusal to fully address poverty and low wages even after the worst days of Covid is not only killing our brothers and sisters," added Barber. "It's killing our public conscience."
Eric Winston, a member of the Union of Southern Service Workers and a catering cook for a minor league baseball team, told the crowd in Raleigh that he's "tired of working low-wage jobs over and over thinking just working hard would get me what I need."
"I'm tired of working 70 to 80 hours a week and still not having money for the necessity of bills," said Winston. "I'm tired of getting sick and not being able to go see the doctor."
"I organize today because I'm sick and tired of fighting by myself. There's more people in my situation who may not look like me but go through the same struggles as I do," Winston continued. "As working people, we should only vote for politicians who support the rights of workers. Period."
In Columbus, Rev. Dr. Jack Sullivan noted during remarks from the steps of Ohio's Capitol building that long-term poverty kills more than 800 people per day in the United States.
"I have to believe that if 800 politicians were to die every day, if 800 CEOs were to die every day, there would be congressional hearings, Senate subcommittee gatherings, documentation to prevent the tragic deaths of those leaders," said Sullivan. "How 'bout some documentation to prevent the tragic deaths of the poor!"
The nationwide rallies came after the Poor People's Campaign launched a 42-week mobilization of low-income voters who were critical in defeating former President Donald Trump in 2020.
"There are approximately 85 million poor and low-wage eligible voters in this country who represent at least 30% of the electorate. In so-called battleground states, it's close to and over 40%," the campaign said ahead of Saturday's demonstrations. "High percentages of poor and low-wage voters don't vote because politicians fail to enact policies or address the issues that affect their lives."
On March 4, advocates with the Poor People's Campaign are planning to gather at legislative offices in state capitals across the U.S. to deliver a "package to legislators on both sides of the political aisle documenting the conditions poor people are facing in their state and the bold actions that can be taken to address these crises."
"It is not a mistake that we are meeting here before the State of the Union address in Congress, because we intend to drive this issue right into the heart of our politics," Barber said Saturday. "Two hundred and ninety-five thousand people will die this year and have died every year for the last few years from poverty. That's on our own front door."
"Nobody ever calls their name," said Barber. "Nobody challenges this political violence."
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