Quote:
Originally Posted by jtown,man
I am sorry, but here comes the evil-no-feeling-conservative in me:
If you're poor, why the hell are you in one of the most expensive cities in the country? I have discounted NYC from my "want to move to cities" for this very reason, my income is too low. Sure, NYC needs low income workers, but if they begin to move, and their positions are harder to fill, they will either raise the wage or they will just have to contend with taking more time to fill their positions.
A poor person could move 90 miles down the road to Philadelphia and your income will almost go 50% further. It just doesn't make sense.
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Several people have sort of answered this already, including kind of yourself but I must say anyone who says especially the last sentence doesn't know what it is like to be truly poor.
The whole idea of "just move somewhere else" in and of itself shows the bias of someone who is at least relatively financially stable and of moderate income. If you are poor, and by poor we are not talking about people making $40-$50K+ and claiming they are "poor" living because they live in expensive cities and cling to middle class+ suburban high maintenance lifestyles (said attitudes are pervasive on city-data).
I am talking so poor that even looking for jobs in other cities and the costs associated with the logistics of relocation are insurmountable. Let me explain; if you don't have a car and live paycheck to paycheck just to pay the basics for yourself you probably don't have the money to travel hundreds or thousands of miles to a job interview. You have airfare, trainfare, busfare to get to the city and then you have car rental/cab/public transit (if your lucky) costs to get to the job interview site. Potential lodging and food costs associated with travelling, etc. All this for a job interview for a job that most likely you have no guarantee of getting and if you don't get it you have to attempt to rinse and repeat for the next costly long distance interview. This is in addition to the simple fact that you have to pay your bills at your current place (plus take off time from your current work if you have one, possibly without pay) while you do all of this.
There are also a number of people who could technically afford a jet setting job search but don't for various reasons. For one it is cheaper to live close to your immediate/extended family/established circle of friends than to spend thousands of dollars on travelling a year to visit them for Christmas/weddings/funerals/family reunions, etc. Some people just want decent jobs and housing close to their network of family and friends, some people aren't willing to move anywhere to move up a corporate latter and/or live the typical American suburban lifestyle, some people might have career goals tied to that specific city, etc. Even in a city as global as New York City I am sure there are at least two million natives who have family roots/friends there and asking them to move is telling them to give up the support structure they need or want to keep and that is whom De Blasio's and affordable housing plans around the country are in large part meant to help.