Â§hria's Spot

I am a social problem

Today, as I was covering the release of a study about the working poor done by Dr. Gayle Broad and Seffanie Date of Algoma University, I realized I am one of the people they are talking about.

Their study, Courageous Lives: A profile of the Working Poor in Sault Ste. Marie, says that a working poor family is a family of four that earns less than $34,000 a year and/or has to spend at least 50% of its gross income on basic needs.

I earned just over $24,000 last year. The year before that, I earned almost $18,000 and about the same in 2002. In 2001 I earned $9,000. I am raising two children on my own. Those income figures also include child support from my ex-husband.

On average, my monthly income is about $2,400 gross now. Basic expenses usually come in at about $1,700 before gas, and not counting the payments I am making on a loan I had to get to replace the engine on my car. (The car was paid for by my separation agreement) There is nothing left on a month with no unusual expenses. Hit a month with car repairs, a birthday, a holiday or other special event and I am screwed. Something doesn't get paid.

Yes, I am one of the working poor.

Broad and Date say 77% of the working poor are women.

Though it's kind of a moot point, I am actually a woman.

Two-thirds of those women are single moms and I am a single mom.

Nova turned six about two weeks ago and Dana turned 12 recently. Their father can and does spend a fair amount of time with them but I am their primary provider and care-giver.

Apparently we working poor are at a much greater risk of becoming homeless.

I know this. I lived in my car for a while after I left my husband. Then, when I got my kids out, we lived at my parent's place (many of the working poor are also forced, unwillingly, to rely on the help of family, friends and charity0.

The working poor are also supposed to be more likely to live in subsidized housing, which I do.

We are also more likely to be depressed, to suffer from illness or injury that goes untreated because we don't have any medical benefits or health insurance above OHIP. Some of us work in the sex-trade industry or stay in abusive relationships to survive or take care of our children.

Many of us suffer from post-traumatic incident disorders that go untreated because we can't afford counselling, can't get the time off work or don't want to deal with the stigma of it.

I don't have to worry about that. I never get enough time between traumas to get into the whole post-traumatic thing. I also have my blog so what do I need a counsellor for?

This all comes as quite a shock to me. I had no idea I and my life was that messed up. While I am not disputing the findings in the study in the least, I am creating an opportunity to defend myself. After all, to me it's just life - like water to a fish.

So I'm poor! So what? Does that make me a bad mother/journalist/daughter/sister/friend or what-ever?

I think not. Yes, I am one of the working poor and one who has slipped through the social safety net more than a few times. Yes, I have experienced many of the negative consequences of it, but I know there is little I can do about it or even want to do about it.

I like my job, even though it takes up about 60 hours of an average week. I like my little house in my cute little neighbourhood. I like my friendly, colourful neighbours, even when they sit on their front steps drinking beer, smoking cigarettes and shouting to each other when they wake up about noon or so on any given day. I like my ugly, old furniture because a dear friend gave it to me when I got this house. I like all the stuff in this house because I got it for myself.

I like being a single mom. We girls do plenty of quality boy-free stuff that makes us happy to be together. I like the messy chaos created by our four human and seven critter lives blending, conflicting, harmonizing and coming together as something bigger, better and more alive than any of us would be alone.

Yeah, I am a working poor person. I am a mostly-happy, more-satisfied-than-not, working poor person. Sure there are things I'm working on changing about myself and my life but who isn't? And, if you are one of those people who think housing, childcare and other such subsidies are a bad investment, think again. It would have cost you a lot more to fix the damage done if us girls had stayed in the unhappy, affluent, male-dominated place we were in before. And much more would have been lost.