Tomorrow, I will be homeless again, for the third time in the last two years.
As I have indicated on this blog, I was fortunate enough to have regular employment from March until this past Wednesday (August 20), when the assignment came to an end. That employment made it possible for me to leave the homeless facility where I was staying for about two months. The job was a temporary assignment in a call center with no guarantee of permanent hire. I was given the opportunity to apply for a permanent position in another area of the same call center but was not selected after an initial phone interview.
I am currently staying in an extended stay hotel and pay by the week, so there is no lease. Because my week is up tomorrow morning, I must check out.
In the past five years (since 2009), I have been homeless four times, because I have voluntarily quit a job and was unable to find other employment in time to keep paying rent on where I was living at the time. In the process, during this five-year span, I relocated from Phoenix to Austin, Austin to Houston, and from Houston back to Phoenix.
This time is different. With the position I left, I was employed, and performing at a satisfactory level, but asked to leave due to overstaffing and a business need to reduce headcount, and was told all along that there was no guarantee of permanent hire. The managers were not happy to see me leave but indicated that the situation was unavoidable.
I am cautiously optimistic about my chances of securing another job - but it may again be a process that could take 2-3 months or longer depending upon the economy and demand for employees here in Phoenix.
I am also still promoting my services as an independent graphic design/branding consultant, offering unique brand identity solutions for startups and small businesses. That process will continue regardless of the immediate situation.
I did go on a job interview today. The manager noted that I was probably overqualified for the position, but was gracious enough to offer to pass my name along to another company where she indicated an opening may come up soon. She also agreed to keep me under consideration in case she was not happy with her other applicants.
Bottom line: I should not have to face homelessness just because I am unemployed. The so-called "safety net" does not work for people in my situation, because of the means testing and other requirements that are difficult to easily meet. For example: I would like to apply for food stamps, but in order to do so I would need documentation that my income has actually ended. That might be problematic because the job was through an employment agency that I am still actively registered with. Theoretically, the agency could call tomorrow and say "please report to this new assignment." So I am a little reluctant to even apply for food stamps.
What America MUST implement - NOW - is a guaranteed basic income. Over the past few months, I have become convinced beyond any possible doubt that a guaranteed basic income is a huge step and a major solution to the problem of poverty in this country.
- A guaranteed basic income would be a more effective replacement for other welfare programs such as food stamps, Section 8, SSI and others.
- A guaranteed basic income would preserve people's ability to support themselves in the face of job loss or inability to find work. Increased productivity WILL make many jobs obsolete, and this is already happening.
A guaranteed basic income need not add to the tax burden. It can be paid for through the use of interest-free United States Notes, NOT tied to the "fractional reserve" system, and NOT canceled after they have been spent. United States Notes can be "backed" by the full faith and credit of the United States, as well as by the quantifiable productive capacity of business and industry.
A guaranteed basic income, paid for with interest-free United States Notes, can stimulate the economy, reduce or even eliminate poverty, and have little to no adverse impact on the national debt, the budget deficit or the rate of inflation. In fact, the deficit may actually decrease as economic activity is stimulated by direct injection of millions of dollars of these interest-free United States Notes into the economy.
Along with other reforms, such as single-payer healthcare, college tuition benefits, and minimum wage reform, a guaranteed basic income would keep me, and others like me, from having to again deal with 1) having no permanent home and 2) having no permanent job.
Our nation, including our political leaders, must make the guaranteed basic income a national priority. It is the modern, efficient and common sense way to solve MANY problems, and reduce or even eliminate poverty. Eliminating poverty will in turn reduce the crime rate and reduce so many other problems in our nation related to that.
Let's work on really ending poverty in our nation. We have the tools to do this NOW. All we lack is the national political will.
