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The part that people may miss, as I don't believe the article mentions it: $405/week is New York State's MAXIMUM unemployment benefit. That's the equivalent o
by rit 17y ago
The part that people may miss, as I don't believe the article mentions it:
$405/week is New York State's MAXIMUM unemployment benefit. That's the equivalent of an annual take home of just under $20k.
In 2008, New York City defined it's own poverty line as $26,138 (for a family of four - http://www.gothamgazette.com/article/socialservices/20081014/15/2674 http://www.gothamgazette.com/article/socialservices/20081014...), reflecting the fact that the Federal Guidelines are based on an average of the country as a whole. It's expensive living in New York. And the state bases it's poverty guidelines on a method that takes no account of "living/working in New York City"; the state as a whole is much cheaper than the city. It's not a surprise that the lawyer in question had to move out of New York State.
- rit 17y agoOh, and you still have to take federal taxes out of that $405... Either New York State will do it for you ahead of time or you can file with your end of year taxes. Either way, I don't recommend a long stay in the unemployment line in New York...
- yummyfajitas 17y agoNYC has extremely generous benefits for people it classifies as "in poverty"; subsidized housing (section 8 vouchers, projects) and various other forms of public assistance. A person earning $26137 probably has a far higher income if you count all this.
- ahoyhere 17y agoAnd those projects are such nice places to live, too. I sure as hell wouldn't call that generous.
- olefoo 17y agoHey now, bringing common sense into a discussion that should be ruled by the theories of the Austrian school of economics is an unfair debating tactic. ;-)
- yummyfajitas 17y agoActually, some of the projects are pretty nice places to live. I know this because I looked at several and nearly rented one. It was newly renovated, laundry in building, 24 hour security, close to the subway (135th st 2/3) and even a (east) river view (!). The only reason I didn't live in the projects was that I found a decent place closer to the 125'th st MTA, and my gf (who I lived with) worked in CT. NYC projects are nothing like what you see on "The Wire". They are too boring for TV. No matter how you cut it, subsidies amount to thousands of dollars a month (the difference between market rate and project rate for low income people) are generous. Section 8 vouchers can be used anywhere in NYC, not simply projects. Landlords are not even permitted to discriminate against tenants who use them.
- ahoyhere 17y agoSome of them may be OK, for NYC standards (lots of non-project housing there is, in my opinion, unlivable), but that doesn't make them nice. A lot of the problems that people imagine, when they think of the projects, are real. You should come to Vienna (Austria). They're clean, well-kept, entirely safe, and with gardens in the courtyards that are simply amazing. Beautiful flowers, hardwood floors, lots of windows. For the record, I lived in east Baltimore.
- rit 17y agoAdd the complexity I dealt with last year in that I'm actually currently living in New Jersey (A punishment in itself). So I can't even get any extra benefits from the city, and Jersey tells me "Oh, you worked in NY, so you're their problem". Thankfully my job search was short, but when you're looking down the barrel of barely covering rent....