Fast math: I get a minimum wage job ($7.25/hr) that schedules me for 40 hours a week. Minimum wage jobs never give 40 hours, they don't want to call you a full time employee if they can help it.
Okay, 80 hours at $7.25 is $580. Figure a person gets paid twice a month, that's $1160 a month.
So let's see, you could rent 334 Water Steet for $250/mo, it's a storage garage built in 1910. Or how about 9 Lavina Trl for $1,050/mo "This 300 square foot multi family home has 1 bedrooms and 1.0 bathrooms." Where do I sign?
Alright, realistic. You want a simple one bedroom in a complex. You want to live somewhere safe so we're gonna exclude HUD housing and places like Paterson and Newark. You also want to stay close until you're stable enough to go wherever you want.
So you get: 20 Railroad Ave #2, 2bd 1br $1,300/mo. http://photos3.zillowstatic.com/p_h/IS9pl2ru7y5o1w0000000000.jpg Actually looks pretty nice right? Here's the whole listing: http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/20-Railroad-Ave-2-Wanaque-NJ-07465/2100361924_zpid/
Those large stairs? They're so long because the property shares a wall with a really seedy dive bar. Like, seedy even by my standards. Above that bar there are apartments owned by someone else mostly occupied by shady characters. But hey, it's clean, it's in a safe place even with the seedy bar, it's near a lot of services, even includes some utilities.
But...wait...you can't afford it. $1160 a month, remember? Car insurance, gasoline to get to the crappy job, health insurance, food and drink...and you can't even make rent before any of that.
You won't find a place for rent that isn't a shit hole above a bowling ally and below another bowling ally. If you look at the HUD housing in Paterson, you really don't want to live there, you're still looking at $400/mo at minimum for a dangerous neighborhood and a living space more akin to a hut or yurt, probably on an open air drug corner.
So, even if I bust my ass at a minimum wage job that somehow gives me an even 40 hours a week, I can't afford a roof. So I take another job, and by some miracle they too give me 40 hours. Now I make $2320/mo, yay! $2320-$1300 leaves me with $1020. We'll say I work local and with gas so cheap maybe that's $200/mo, so $820. Spending as little as possible I bet I could make $200 of food stretch a month but by the end it would be tap water and plain pasta. Fair enough.
$620 getting down there now. I don't watch TV, but if I plan on finding a job or a better job, so some crappy internet. Cheapest possible cell too since these days if your manager can't reach you, you're fired. Burner phone and cheap internet another $150/mo. $470..well probably not. See I based all this on before-tax income So you've probably got closer to maybe $200 or less left. We'll call it $200.
Assuming I haven't forgotten anything, at the end of the month, working 80 hours a week at two minimum wage jobs, you get $200 to bank. Oops, forgot that student loan payment. Make that $150.
Basically you're fucked if you make minimum wage. And before I hear any shit about 'jobs for high school kids' I suggest you take a look at the person serving you at the window next time. People take what they can get because they are either over/under qualified or don't have the required experience and no one will hire them so they can get that experience.
And the really, really sad part? There are people who are totally fine with that situation and see nothing wrong with a person not being able to support themselves even working hard and not being a leech.
