By Kirsten Elliott

Guest Opinion

I’ve been helping people live in affordable homes for 25 years. It pains me to say my job has never been so difficult.

Local organizations like mine are doing their best to meet rising demand, yet the federal agencies that have traditionally supported us are being hollowed out by staffing cuts, while some localities are already seeing reductions in support.

People shouldn’t count on government support, you say? Perhaps. But the sad fact is that as many as 60% of people experiencing homelessness have jobs. Wages simply haven’t kept up with housing costs.

There is currently no county or state in the U.S. where a full-time minimum-wage worker can afford a modest one-bedroom apartment. They would need to work 86 hours a week to afford such a unit, and that

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