How Are People Getting By?

[FrankTheTank]

Many of them aren't. 1 in 4 homeless people in America work full-time or part-time jobs. Others live in their cars, and those who can afford a roof over their heads are often stuck living week to week in motels because they can't afford the deposit for even the cheapest apartments, so they pay through the nose just waiting for some unforeseen expense, usually health-related, to cripple them.

Many just get by (to use the term loosely) on the help of others, usually their similarly destitute co-workers and friends. I remember reading in Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed that the poor give more of income percentage-wise to charity than either the middle-class or the rich (unfortunately I can't find the exact numbers right now but when I do I'll edit this post).