The Working Poor!!

There are an abundance of stories in the media that referring to the "working poor" and while I had a basic understanding of the concept, the reality of it didn't really hit me until today. It is a very small step to go from working and having a roof over your head to working and not having that roof over your head (whether cause of financial circustances or an animal hoarding wife or any of a variety of other reasons). Once you don't have that roof over your head setting aside the money for a deposit and first months payment can be difficult. Sure you don't have the costs you had before of your home but other things can impact your income, like higher food costs, other accomodations, or not being able to make it to work because of where you have to park your head for the night.

I got up today (quite early cause it was bloody cold last night) with a sense of hope that I would come up with a housing solution today. Victim services told me the night my wife was arrested that there was a program that would help with a damage deposit, first months rent, and some furniture to get on my feet. After almost three hours at the Income Support office what I came away with was there really is no help available for me unless I want to move to Calgary (which would mean abandoning the job I have). Even the cousellor thought that would be a silly idea. That money that victim services said would be available for me is actually targeted at women and children, just like interim housing. I could make use of the homeless shelters but again that would mean being in Calgary every night at which point I wouldn't be able to afford to go back and forth to work reasonably.

This isn't being between a rock and a hard place - it's standing between two rocks that are simutaneously slamming into the sides of my head. If you can't already tell I am pretty pissed, and even more depressed. I have not been able to stop shivering since last nights cold spell, I am exhausted cause I can't get a good nights sleep. I am ready just to walk away from it all.

I understand why there may be more support programs available for women and children but shouldn't there be something out there for men. And how do support programs help if all they do is take people out of their community and warehouse them in the big city. This province has a large rural population and a lot of that population works in their local rural area. Do they have to abandon these jobs and regions just to access safety net programs?

Some things to think about I guess, but I am not much up to thinking right now. In fact I am struggling just to hold myself together at this point. Its going to be a very long six days.