This message was self-deleted by its author

[hobbit709]

48. When I first came to Austin in 1974

you could work 20-25 hrs a week at minimum wage and make enough to pay your rent, eat, and go out once or twice a week.
Now a 40 hour minimum wage job here means you're sleeping under an overpass because it won't even pay the rent.
Average rent in Austin is$1000/mo not even counting deposits and none are all bills paid anymore.
High rents, lousy public transportation, make Austin very expensive today.

I'm lucky, my house is paid for but it still costs me $300/mo to cover taxes and insurance. I get $923/mo from social security and I have medical coverage through the VA(My meds alone would cost me over $800 a month if I had to pay list price) but there plenty of people here who don't have that and are about 1/2 a paycheck or an illness away from being out on the street.