Working Poor

While homeless and living in a shelter, one of my neighbors was a woman not much older than my Mom. One day, I learned that she was a certified full-time medical assistant. Her husband, disabled, was not able to work. Due to rising rents in New York City, they couldn’t afford to pay their rent anymore. That’s how they eventually landed a few doors down from me. At the time, it just seemed so unbelievable that a medical professional wasn’t able to afford a place to live. Eventually, I realized that most of us in that shelter, aside from those who were disabled or elderly, were working.