Living Wage connection to homelessness

http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080411/OPINION01/804110424/1007/OPINION

Opinion piece in today's Tennessean from the Homeless Power Project on the connection between a living wage and the ability to afford basic shelter. A day's pay should be able to pay for three days of shelter if a person is going to be able to get by, argues Patricia Bryant.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force released a study in late 2006 on GLBT homeless youth and found that of "the estimated 1.6 million homeless youth, between 20 and 40 percent identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender..." http://www.thetaskforce.org/reports_and_research/homeless_youth . The realities of coming out and discrimination coupled with substandard wages creates a deep pit for GLBT youth from which few emerge with the start they need as they begin their adult lives.