Mike Wright writes in the Dec. 28 letters to the editor, "...possibility of the homeless finding jobs so they can afford to house themselves."
Let's see what any person in the Okanagan needs to go to work in any given day.
The majority of employers ask for a reliable vehicle to get to work. Then the individual needs the vehicle insured.
There's acceptable clothing, more than one set of course, in more than one case a uniform of some sort like scrubs or black pants, black shoes, white top or steel-toed boots, etc. Any workplace I ever worked at had some sort of a requirement that cost me hundreds of dollars before I even made a penny. You need a laundry facility or a lot of cash for the laundromat, because every day, you better be clean and have a smile on one's face.
But, let's continue. The individual needs a fixed address for many reasons and a bank account for direct deposit in a great many cases. In some cases, criminal record checks that the individual pays to the city office, and then gets the receipt and takes it over to the police station for processing. That is hard-earned cash that has to be provided, also, before you've even made a penny. The first pay cheque, if our individual made it this far, is two weeks minimum from the first worked day. How is he or she to live for this two weeks?
Then there's food just to pack every day or the cash to buy something somewhere close by. But if they work out by Merritt on the windmills, good luck to you with that one, and then of course, there's the hundreds if not thousands of dollars for steel-toed boots and other warm layers. Where does he or she live? Whereever it is, they pay rent that is the first and last month's rent, plus the damage deposit.
Should I continue? Where does one start? I am working in three jobs and I have difficulty to make it from day to day. Mike, how you do it?
Rozalia Erdei
Vernon